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The Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Peru
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Historical SummaryNowhere perhaps has the variety, continuity, and intensity of human sacrifice reached such a point as in ancient Mexico. The sun was assumed to be the source of life and the Aztecs conceived that it was important to renew the solar forces by the sacrifice of human victims and the holding aloft of their bleeding hearts. Continuous wars were waged to secure the large number of victims necessary in this huge undertaking:
When the great temple of Huitzilopochtli was dedicated in 1486, the chain of victims sacrificed on that occasion extended for the length of two miles. In this terrible massacre the hearts of no less than seventy thousand human beings were offered up! . . . These victims were nearly always captive warriors of rival nations, and it was on rare occasions only that native Mexicans were led to the stone of sacrifice unless, indeed, they were malefactors.4
The old historians disagree greatly as to the number sacrificed. Las Casas places all sacrifices at an insignificant figure, and
Zumarraga estimates that 20,000 were sacrificed annually in the capital.1
4Spence, L.n/an/an/an/an/a, , 41.
1 Bancroft, H. H., Native Races of the Pacific States, 3: 442.
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Chicago:
"The Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Peru," The Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Peru in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. Thomas, William I. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937), Original Sources, accessed July 9, 2025, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=I4KAIJ135MBKF23.
MLA:
. "The Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Peru." The Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Peru, in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, edited by Thomas, William I., New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937, Original Sources. 9 Jul. 2025. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=I4KAIJ135MBKF23.
Harvard:
, 'The Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Peru' in The Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Peru. cited in 1937, Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. , McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. Original Sources, retrieved 9 July 2025, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=I4KAIJ135MBKF23.
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