Barbara_E._Mundy]_The_Death_of_Aztec_Tenochtitlan

waTeR and The sacRed ciTy • 33

depressions and edges). Just as their human enemies con-
tinually threatened the Mexica, so too did their watery one,
their altepetl always subject to flooding by the tempestuous
lake during the dark rainy season, when it was swollen by
rain waters.
But those gentle streams bubbling up in the rocky out-
crop where the eagle landed would be the reason for the
Mexica to persist. These were freshwater springs, which
nurtured two freshwater-loving trees, the willow and the
ahuehuetl. And as late as the end of the sixteenth century,
residents of Tenochtitlan were still making use of the fresh-
water provided by numerous springs in their island. The
springs and other sources of freshwater would eventually

convert this island into the ideal altepetl, a cornucopia,

because they would make possible the growth of maize,

that sacred grain of Mesoamerica that allowed the Mexica

to move from a spare diet of “snakes and frogs” and begin to

eat tortillas and other delicious and sustaining food. Thus

the representation of space that Mexica historical narra-

tives and architecture offer not only contains Huitzilo-

pochtli’s military victory over his enemies, symbolized by

the sacrifices of Coyolxauhqui and Copil, where they are

figuRe 2.5. Unknown creator, diagram of the four directions of the

world, Codex Fejérváry-Mayer, p. 1, fifteenth to early sixteenth century.

Courtesy National Museums Liverpool.