Barbara_E._Mundy]_The_Death_of_Aztec_Tenochtitlan

inTRoducTion • 21

altepeme, who upon their defeat were required to render
tribute—often in the form of feathers or feathered cos-
tumes like the headdress—as often as five times a year to
their new valley overlords. The geographic expanse of this
tribute empire is captured in a modern map in figure 1.15.
Upon the arrival of Hernando Cortés, this empire revealed
itself to be an unstable one, given that the component alte-
peme retained a good degree of autonomy after conquest,
with none of the nationalist ideologies that would help
fragmentary European states adhere.
Material evidence of the successful tribute empire,
feathers were both beautiful and highly symbolic to pre-
Hispanic viewers. They were appropriate for Moteuczoma’s
garb, not only because they signaled his role as imperial
cynosure of a far-flung and materially diverse empire, but
also because their deep green color was that of freshly
sprouted maize, the stuff of life. Jade and greenstones car-
ried similar meanings, and the emperor’s body was often
hung with carefully worked jade earrings, necklaces, belts,

and bracelets. Feathers were worn in large devices like this

one and decorated enormous fans that were carried in pub-

lic processions, the iridescent feathers of the quetzal being

a sign and a reflection of the imperial presence.

But the location of the station “Moctezuma” is, at first

glance, perplexing. It sits outside the old urban core, where

this powerful emperor lived in grand style in a palace flank-

ing what is today the Zócalo, ruler of a populous city as

well as the larger empire beyond. It bears no relation to the

site where, in November of 1519, he and a bevy of lords and

retainers processed along one of the city’s great causeways to

meet and welcome Cortés, that stranger from afar who was

treated with great courtesy and hospitality, welcomed into

the palace, and given wine and women. Nor does it mark

the sites of any of the extraordinary urban features that

Moteuczoma constructed: his great zoo, which featured a

figuRe 1.14. Unknown creator, feather headdress, ca. 1520. Museum

für Völkerkunde, Vienna.