[Aztlan] on the rightness or wrongness of human sacrifice

[Bertrand Lobjois]

Two books for scholar and non-scholar people interested in that topic :


   - Michel Graulich, 2005. *Le sacrifice humain chez les Aztèques*,
   Flammarion, Paris,
   - Yollotl Gonzalez Torres, 2008 (rééd), *El Sacrificio Humano Entre Los
   Mexicas*, INAH, México.

Some references of the first author who deeply studied this topic :

   - Michel Graulich, 1991. "L'inauguration du temple principal de Mexico en
   1487". In *Revista Española de Antropología** Americana* 21: 121-43.


   - Michel Graulich, 2001. "Les victimes du sacrifice humain
aztèque". In *Actes
   du premier colloque des américanistes de Belgique, 2000*, Institut de
   Sociologie, Université libre de Bruxelles, p. 91-114.
   - Michel Graulich, 2003. "El sacrificio humano en Mesoamerica". In
*Arquelogia
   Mexicana*, vol.11, num 63, INAH-Editorial Raices, p. 18-23.

Check his bibliography on Supinfor :
http://www.sup-infor.com/etudes/Quetzalcoatl/Quetzalcoatl-ine.htm

2009/2/3 Michael Smith <Michael.E.Smith.2 at asu.edu>

> I hesitate to enter the murky waters of human sacrifice debates, but let
> me make 2 quick materialist observations to stir things up:
>
>
>
> (1) On the question of whether the victims and others believed they were
> doing a sacred duty and went willingly to their deaths: I can't answer
> this question, but I do know that ancient elites always liked to try to
> convince others that commoners bought the state ideology and believed
> odd things (such as, "its ok to be sacrificed, the priests tell me that
> the gods said so, I'm cool about it"); also, the invading Spaniards
> liked to think that the Aztecs  believed (and did) odd and barbaric
> things. Finally, many modern people like to think that ancient and
> nonwestern people ("Others") spend all their time thinking about
> religion and the gods, and have crazy beliefs that no rational westerner
> would admit to. I personally require a far higher level of proof (than
> is commonly offered) that Aztec commoners really bought into the
> sacrifice ideology and went willingly to their death. Drugged victims
> and warriors to enforce security make more sense to me.
>
>
>
> (2) On the flowery war, to me the most amazing aspect of it is that so
> many modern scholars believe the Mexica lies and propaganda (i.e., that
> they weren't really trying to conquer Tlaxcala, that these were just
> ritualized practice wars, etc.). The Tlaxcalans told a very different
> story about these wars. See pages 170-171 of my The Aztecs (2nd edition,
> 2003, Blackwell).
>
>
>
> Mike
>
>
>
> Dr. Michael E. Smith
>
> Professor of Anthropology
>
> School of Human Evolution & Social Change
>
> Arizona State University
>
> www.public.asu.edu/~mesmith9/ <http://www.public.asu.edu/%7Emesmith9/>
>
>
>
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