Not so long ago, many people in our country seemed to be obsessed with the prophecies of the Maya Indians about the imminent end of the world. And for some reason they referred to the drawings depicted on … the calendar disk of the Aztecs, although they are "from a completely different opera." At the same time, few people think that the "end of the world" for these Indians was not at all what, for example, for the Christians! Moreover, for them it could come any day, it was enough human sacrificial blood not to be shed on the altars of the gods. That is, if you did not please the gods in time, then here is the "end of the world", and under all other circumstances, the gods would never allow people to perish, because they fed them !!! But where could they get so much sacrificial blood, after all, the same Aztecs did not cut literally everyone in a row ?!
Painting from Bonampak. Pay attention to the figure of the ruler on the right, in whose hand is a typical "leader's spear", covered with a jaguar skin. The defeated had their fingernails torn out so that they could not resist.
Religion and rituals of the Aztecs - the source of incessant wars!
Here it should be noted the following: the belief of the Aztecs and Maya differed from all other religions in that its goal was not to save the soul, but to save the whole world, while human sacrifice played a major role in this. Blood was shed in order to delay the death of the sun, because if it dies, then the whole world will perish! Moreover, for them it was not at all human sacrifices as such, but non-shtlahualli - payment of a debt to the gods. Once the gods gave their blood to create the sun - they believed, and without new portions of blood it will die. The blood of the gods must be replenished, otherwise they will also die, and if so, then people should have died for the sake of the life of this world, and at the same time they had no hope of salvation!
Pyramid of Kukulkan - "Feathered Serpent" in Chichen Itza on the Yucatan Peninsula.
Both young men and beautiful girls were sacrificed to the gods, but, before, prisoners captured in the war, because the priests of the Aztecs and Maya saved their own people for the most extreme cases. Therefore, the raison d'être of both peoples was war, the purpose of which was not so much plunder, although it also took place, but the capture of as many prisoners as possible, destined for sacrifice to the gods!
Took a prisoner - get your reward!
For all these peoples, war was the lot of the chosen caste - the warrior caste, and it was not at all easy for a simple farmer to become a warrior. But you can! The priests watched the games of the boys, they were specially encouraged and the most lively were selected for training and military service. It is clear that for the peasant parents it was a gift of fate and the best way to get out of poverty. It is interesting that the main essence of the "ideology" taught to future warriors was that a dead enemy does not bring any benefit and has no value. But a living, and besides, also a noble prisoner - this is the very thing that is extremely necessary. More captives, more victims, and more grace from the gods. Therefore, the status of a warrior was directly related to how many enemies he captured. Moreover, both the Aztecs and the Maya very early began to designate this with appropriate clothing and adornments.
Well, the clothes and decorations in Mel Gibson's movie "Apocalypse" (2006) are shown very realistically!
So to speak, out of order, this was also practiced, therefore, both ordinary soldiers and commanders, as a sign of the profession, had to wear a tilmatli cloak, fixed with a hairpin on the right shoulder and falling freely along the body. Anyone who managed to take one prisoner had the right to decorate him with flowers. The one who took two wore an orange tilmatli with a striped border. And so on - the more prisoners, the more difficult the embroidery on the tilmatli, the more jewelry that commoners were generally forbidden to wear! The reward for the captives was jewelry made of gold and jade, so that the soldiers who received them immediately became wealthy people, and everyone in the community respected them. Well, before the battle, each warrior put on his "uniform" - clothes of his own color, ornaments made of feathers, took a shield with a pattern assigned to him. So everyone who saw him immediately understood what "quality" he was and, most likely, it also played the role of psychological pressure on the enemy. After all, it's one thing to fight the one who took one, and quite another when you are attacked by a magnificently decorated warrior who has already captured five!
Tilmatli corresponding to the number of captured soldiers. "Code of Mendoza". Sheet 65, front side. Bodleian Library, Oxford.
Weapons to match the targets …
As for weapons, judging by the images that have come down to us, the Mayan warriors, first of all, used spears, which our national historian A. Shekhvatov counted as many as nine types. The first type is an ordinary spear (naab te) * with a flint tip at the end, below which there was a rosette of feathers. The length is the height of a person, so it was most likely a weapon for hand-to-hand combat. The second type is a spear on which hangs something like a pennant or net. The third type was distinguished by the fact that the rosette of feathers was shifted downward, and in the fourth, between this rosette and the tip there was something like a braid with protruding teeth. That is, this is clearly a weapon for hand-to-hand combat, and these teeth could serve, well, say, so that the enemy could not grab a spear or to inflict chopping blows on them. The fifth type is, most likely, the "spear of the leaders", because its entire surface behind the tip (up to the point of the grip) was either inlaid or covered with a jaguar skin. The sixth type is a richly decorated ceremonial spear, but the seventh had a tip about 30 cm long with small teeth. In the middle of the shaft there is something like a guard, and it may very well be that these "teeth" were in fact the teeth of rats or sharks, which were inserted into a wooden base. Known tips made of wood, seated on the sides with plates of obsidian - volcanic glass. Such a weapon was supposed to inflict wide cut wounds, leading to rapid blood loss. The ninth type resembled Japanese hooked devices to cling to the enemy's clothes. At the end they had a tip, and behind it are processes with hooks and teeth.
Noble warriors-Aztecs in combat attire indicating their rank and with spears in their hands, the tips of which are seated with obsidian. Mendoza Code, sheet 67R. Bodleian Library, Oxford.
Darts (h'ul, ch'yik) had a length of more than one and a half meters and were intended for throwing. They were worn in bundles or, perhaps, somehow fastened in something like a clip on the back of the shield. And they did not just throw, but with the help of an atlatl (Aztec name) - a spear thrower (h'ulche), which significantly increases the throwing range. The atlatl looked like a stick with a groove running along its entire length and with an emphasis on the end; two U-shaped parts were attached to it for the fingers. The dart was placed in this groove, then the atlatl was jerked sharply in the direction of the target in a movement similar to a whip blow. As a result, he flew at the target with a force twenty times the force of a normal throw and hit much harder! Very often he was depicted in the hands of the gods, which suggests that the Indians thought this device was very effective. Many images of this device are known, moreover, sometimes they were richly decorated and, apparently, played the role of a kind of wands.
Painting in Bonampak. Battle scene.
Onions were known to the Maya Indians, although they are not found in the famous frescoes in Bonampak. But the Aztecs considered the bow "low weapon" of wild hunting tribes, unworthy of a real warrior. The bows were smaller than human height, but large enough. Arrows - reed, in the part where there was a flint or bone tip, they were reinforced with a wooden insert. The plumage was made of eagle and parrot feathers, and glued to the shaft with resin.
The sling (yun-tun) was used along with other throwing devices, although the Spanish priest Diego de Landa, to whom we owe much information on the history of this people, wrote that the Maya did not know sling. It was woven from plant fibers, and the stone could be thrown as much as 180 m with its help. But both archers and slingers were never used as the main forces in battle, since they were easily scattered by soldiers in heavy weapons.
Warriors of the Aztecs with makuavitl swords in their hands. From Book IX of the "Florentine Codex". Medici Laurenziana Library, Florence.
In addition to the spear, the “heavy weapon” included a “sword” - a makuavitl, which looked like … our Russian peasant roll for beating clothes during washing, but only with obsidian plates inserted into its narrow edges. It was possible to hit the enemy both with the flat side and stun, and with a sharp and serious wound, or even kill. Landa again argued that the Maya did not have them in the 16th century. However, they can be seen on reliefs and even on murals in Bonampak. The Aztecs even had two-handed samples of this weapon, which possessed truly terrible destructive power!
Axes (ch'ak) could even have a metal pommel made of forged copper, an alloy of gold and copper, or even classical bronze. They were richly decorated with feathers and were often used for ceremonial purposes.
Aztec obsidian sacrificial knife with inlaid handle. Anthropological Museum in Mexico City.
The knife was, first of all, the weapon of the priests with which they performed their barbaric sacrifices. But, of course, simple knives made of flint and obsidian plates were used in all social strata of the Mesoamerican Indians.
