Harbinger of the Storm (47 page)
T
Teomitl (Ahuizotl)
: Brother of Axayacatl and Tizoc
Tezcatlipoca (Smoking Mirror)
: God of War and Fate
Tizoc-tzin
: Brother of Axayacatl and Teomitl, Master of the House of Darts, heir apparent to the Mexica Empire
Tonatiuh (the Fifth Sun)
: Huitzilpochtli’s incarnation as the Sun God
Tlaloc (the Storm Lord)
: God of Rain and Lightning
U
Ueman
: Fire priest, second-in-command of Quetzalcoatl’s Wind Tower in Tenochtitlan
Y
Yaotl
: Ceyaxochitl’s head slave
X
Xahuia
: Princess from Texcoco, Axayacatl’s wife
Xochipilli (the Flower Prince)
: God of Youth and Games
Z
Zamayan
: Son of Xahuia
A BRIEF GLOSSARY OF AZTEC TERMS AND CONCEPTS
Ahuizotl
: A beast living in Lake Texcoco, feasting on the eyes and fingernails of the dead.
Calmecac
: (Lit. House of Tears) a school where the children of the wealthy and those destined to the priesthood were educated.
Calpulli
: Clan. In reality, a clan had both a geographical extent (the calpullis owned their land, and Tenochtitlan was split along the lines of calpulli lands), and a political and religious one (the elders of the calpulli were responsible for basic justice as well as for worship).
Chinamitl
: (Also chinampa, Floating Garden), an artificial island used to grow crops.
She-Snake (Cihuacoatl)
: Mexica equivalent to viceroy. Symbolising the female order, he was in charge of domestic affairs. When the Emperor went to war, the She-Snake ruled the city in his stead. The two of them never left Tenochtitlan at the same time.
Iyac
: (Lit. Leading Youth), a warrior who has proved his worth in combat by taking a prisoner, either singly or in combat.
House of Youth
: The counterpart to the calmecac. Trained warriors not of the nobility.
Knights
: elite corps of warriors, reserved for those with strong prowess in battle. Includes the Jaguar Knights, the Eagle Knights and the Arrow Knights.
Macuahitl
: A wooden sword with an edge made of embedded obsidian shards; the traditional Aztec weapon.
Master of the House of Darts
: the House of Darts was an armoury (the darts referring to the throwing spears kept inside). There were actually several of these in the capital: one in the Imperial Palace and three around the Sacred Precinct at the entrance of the causeways that were the only link between Tenoctitlan and the mainland. The Master of the House of Darts was the commander of the armies, a step below the Revered Speaker. He coordinated the movement of troops, decided tactics and planned the campaign once the Revered Speaker had decided to declare war on a city.
Mictlan
: The Aztec underworld, destination of most of the dead. In Aztec mythology, those who had died in peculiar circumstances – battle, sacrifice, drowning or in childbirth, for instance – went to various heavens. The remainder went into Mictlan.
Nahuatl
: Language spoken in the Basin of Mexico. The dominant Nahuatl dialect was that of the Mexica, but their neighbours such as the people of Tlacopan and Texcoco spoke other dialects.
Patolli
: Aztec board game, played with beans as dice.
Priests
: The priestly hierarchy had various ranks, the lowest ones being those of priestly aspirants and of calmecac students. Then came the novice priests, who served a particular god in a particular temple. With time, they could be promoted to offering priests. Those cults which offered human sacrifices had a higher rank, that of fire-priest, responsible for choosing the victims and for lighting a fire in their chests. Finally came the High Priests.
Tlatoani
: Revered Speaker; the Mexica Emperor
Triple Alliance
: formed by the cities of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and Tlacopan, the Triple Alliance was the main military body of the Valley of Mexico. A mostly military alliance, it had very few political ties, and each city remained independent, but they sent joint armies to war and shared in the tribute that came back.
Tzin
: Aztec honorific, equivalent to “Lord”. I have taken the liberty of using those as marks of reverence (much in the way of the Japanese “sama”), and not as actual titles.
FURTHER READING
Paper Sources
Manuel Aguilar-Moreno,
Handbook to Life in the Aztec World,
Oxford University Press, 2006
Frances F. Berdan and Patricia Rief Anawalt,
The Essential
Codex Mendoza
, University of California Press, 1997
Warwick Bray,
Everyday Life of the Aztecs
, B.T. Batsford Ltd, 1968
Elizabeth M. Brumfiel and Gary M. Feinman,
The Aztec
World
, Abrams, 2008
Roy Burrell,
Life in the Time of Moctezuma and the Aztecs
, Cherrytree books, 1992
Inga Clendinnen,
Aztecs: An Interpretation (Canto)
, Cambridge University Press, 1991
Aurélie Couvreur, “La Description du Grand Temple de Mexico par Bernardino de Sahagún (Codex de Florence, annexe du livre II)”,
Journal de la Société des Américanistes
, 2002
Nigel Davies,
The Aztecs: A History
, University of Oklahoma Press, 1973
William Gates,
An Aztec Herbal: The Classic Codex of 1552,
Dover, 2000
Christopher P. Garraty, “Aztec Teotihuacan: Political Processes at a Post-classic and Early Colonial City-State in the Basin of Mexico”,
Latin American Antiquity
, 2006
Ross Hassig,
Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control
, University of Oklahoma Press, 1988
David M. Jones and Brian L. Molyneaux,
Mythologies des
Amériques
, EDDL, 2002
Roberta E. Markman and Peter T. Markman,
The Flayed God:
the Mythology of Mesoamerica
, HarperSanFrancisco, 1992
Jacques Martin and Jean Torton,
Les Voyages d’Alix: Les
Aztèques
, Casterman, 2005
Colin McEwan,
Moctezuma, Aztec Ruler
, The British Museum Press, 2009
Mary Miller and Karl Taube,
An Illustrated Dictionary of the
Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya
, Thames & Hudson, 1993
Charles Phillips,
The Complete Illustrated History of the Aztecs
and Maya
, Hermes House, 2006
Jacques Soustelle,
Daily Life of the Aztecs
, Phoenix Press, 2002
G.C. Vaillant,
Aztecs of Mexico
, Pelican, 1965
Online Sources
Aztec Calendar:
http://www.azteccalendar.com
Sacred Texts:
http://www.sacred-texts.com
, and most particularly the “Rig Veda Americanus” by Daniel G. Brinton
ANGRY ROBOT
A member of the Osprey Group
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Our father the sun
An Angry Robot paperback original 2011
Copyright © Aliette de Bodard 2011
Aliette de Bodard asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
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Table of Contents
AUTHOR’S NOTES
THE HISTORICAL SETTING
A BRIEF PRONUNCIATION GUIDE TO NAHUATL
LIST OF CHARACTERS
A BRIEF GLOSSARY OF AZTEC TERMS AND CONCEPTS
FURTHER READING