96 UNIT 1 PREHISPANIC MESOAMERICA
basin that were subject to imperial authority. In the center of each city-state was
constructed a palace, the symbol of political authority, along with temples and a
marketplace. The urban center was divided into wards (capulli), whose inhabitants
were required to provide services to the palace and labor on public projects. Beyond
the center itself were subject rural villages and scattered peoples also obligated to
pay tributes to the state rulers.
Relations between the city states were multidimensional, and they included mar-
ital exchanges between rulers and other members of the noble class, extensive trade,
ceremonial visits, and diplomacy. Nevertheless, warfare between the city-states was also
endemic, the primary goals being extraction of tributes from defeated city-states and
the capture of enemy warriors for purposes of carrying out human sacrifice (by tak-
ing captives, warriors achieved elite Eagle and Jauguar military rankings). The
supreme ruler of the Aztec empire and the rulers of the empire’s constituent city
states bore the title of tlatoani(plural, tlatoque). The Tlatoani was primarily a secular
figure who ruled over the affairs of state from the palace. One of the key symbols of
the Tlatoani’s supreme authority was a throne covered with reed mats or jaugar skins.
The Tlatoani had many ritual obligations as well, especially in relation to the patron
of rulers, Tezcatlipoca, for whom he was the chief spokesman. Nevertheless, religious
theology and most daily ritual were left largely in the hands of a full-time priesthood.
The Tlatoani was above all a military leader, and his first act upon taking office
was to launch a military campaign in order to demonstrate military prowess by cap-
turing prisoners. Furthermore, he was in charge of a government largely dominated
by military men. Most of the highest positions in the state hierarchy were military, es-
pecially a council of four commanders to which the Tlatoani had belonged before
his “election” as supreme ruler. Functionaries in charge of other matters of state par-
ticipated in much larger but less prestigious councils, each subject to the dictates of
the Tlatoani and his military commanders.
In addition to the important economic, military and ritual functions of the Tla-
toani, he was also the highest arbitrator in a well-organized Aztec legal system (Offner
l983). At the ward or district corporate level (calpulli) of Aztec society, a type of
common-law judicial process operated, but it was always subject to higher state agents
who made sure that it conformed to the centralized and hierarchical legal structure.
The Aztec Tlatoani had almost absolute judicial authority, not only because he was
the judge of ultimate appeal but also because he had the right to name lesser judges
and to reform the laws.
According to Aztec and Spanish sources, the Aztec judicial hierarchy at Texcoco
consisted of the Tlatoani at the top, and two superior judges who together with the
supreme ruler formed a supreme council that met each ten to twelve and eighty
days. Below them were twelve judges who functioned in six state-level districts. The
state-level judges were specialists in the law and were economically supported (and
carefully watched) by the state. Below this legal hierarchy were numerous provincial
judges, all subject to the higher political officials (Figure 2.14).
Aztec procedural and substantive laws were complex and well developed, and
they were expressed by means of a rich and subtle Nahuatl vocabulary. They were said