CHAPTER 2 LATE POSTCLASSIC MESOAMERICA 101versalism associated with abstract creative powers might be seen as an expression on
a highly symbolic level of the imperial quest for universal domination of the known
Mesoamerican world. The violent destruction and reconstruction of the Suns or cos-
mic periods—especially associated with the emerging Fifth Sun when a homely god
jumps into the fire and initiates the obligation to feed the Sun with blood—recapit-
ulated in symbolic form the history of the Aztec peoples, at first as obscure wander-
ers from the North who went on to military greatness. We should note, too, that a
cosmology in which a myriad of deities and other forces competed for supremacy was
consistent with the real Central Mexico world of struggling ethnic peoples, city-states,
and empires.
The cosmological division of the world into four sections, each associated with
a cardinal direction, was an ancient pattern in Mesoamerica (see Chapter 14). As
the Aztec specialist Richard Townsend (1993) has pointed out, the Aztecs used the
idea of the four cosmic quarters as a general model of the Mesoamerican world and
the empire’s relationship to that world. In particular, the cosmological Eastern quar-
ter, which was associated with warmth and fertility, was associated with the empire’s
most successful provincial units to the east (see Figure 6.4). The Northern and West-
ern quarters, cosmically linked with cold, death, and the underworld, were associated
with the enemies of the Aztec peoples, specifically the hated Tarascans to the west and
the recalcitrant Chichimecs to the north. The Earth itself (Tlaltecuhtli) was cosmi-
cally viewed as the back of an alligator floating on a great sea, its life-giving heart
being the very center of the world. It is not surprising that the Aztecs associated their
glorious capital of Tenochtitlan with the “heart” and center of the reptilian earth. The
Aztecs’ cosmic view of a world divided into thirteen celestial and nine underworld lev-
els might at a more general level been seen as symbolic expressions of the highly
stratified nature of Aztec imperial society and the Mesoamerican world as a whole.
Aztec society had other dimensions besides the imperial one, of course, and the
complex pantheon of Aztec religion must have provided symbolic expression of the
diverse groups and categories present in that highly pluralist society. For example,
the Huitzilopochtli deity was the patron of warriors, and as such came to represent
the highly militarized ruling class as well as the military units themselves. As noted
before, this deity provided the main rationale for conducting military actions, col-
lecting tribute, and ritually sacrificing human beings—three important preoccupa-
tions of the Aztec peoples. Other Aztec war deities with ancient genealogies in
Mesoamerica were Tonatiuh (the Sun, also an aspect of Huitzilopochtli), Mixcoatl
(the Milky Way), and the all-powerful, all-seeing warrior and sorcerer of the night,
Tezcatlipoca.
Tlaloc, the Aztec rain deity, was patron of the agriculturalists, largely made up
of commoners. Tlaloc’s consort, Chalchiuhtlicue, was conceptualized as the woman
with a jade skirt. Tlaloc’s helper-children were known as Tlaloque, the little sprinklers.
Tlaloc’s domain was said to be located in the Eastern paradise, hovering over the
mountain tops. Tlaloc was depicted with goggle eyes and a snarling upper jaw, sym-
bols that linked him to rain gods present in the most ancient of Mesoamerican
religious traditions (see Box 6.2). Tlaloc shared a spot alongside Huitzilopochtli atop