Aztec Politics, Iconography, and Religion:  Images of two Gods on a Great Sacrificial Stone

Emily Umberger

School of Art - Arizona State University

Abstract

Study of the anthropomorphic figures on the a great sacrificial stone called the Tizoc Stone, throws into question the modern practice of iconographical analysis.  This is particularly true of the images of the Aztecs' most powerful gods, Tezcatlipoca and Huitzilopochtli, who are represented multiple times on the monument.  Standard methods of identification by visual attributes do not work for political imagery.  Identity was fluid and manipulated in Aztec Mexico, and the attributes worn by a figure project a variety of messages, including allusions to supernatural powers, names, former identities, and generic classifications.  These attributes were not read by the Aztec audience in the same ways that they are by modern researchers, who in an act of circular reasoning impose Western analytical categories on a non-Western society.