What is the Aztec Social Structure?
Question by Monique Cisneros: What is the Aztec Social Structure?
I need information about the order and details of each class.
I need information about the order and details of each class.
Can you help? Leave your own answer in the comments!
One Response to What is the Aztec Social Structure?
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If you google ‘Aztec Social Structure’ the net.will show you various pictures and descriptions of the Social Structure of Aztec Society. Roughly, the top 2% was the Royal Class and about 18% was the
Warrior Class and the remainding 80% was commoners and slaves. However, there were also artisans and farmers and various craftsmen and workers that composed the ‘commoners’ with a tiny minority being likely wealthy… Likewise, there was a small priestly class that might be considered to be between Royalty and the Warrior class in regard to wealth, prestige and power… There were many slaves that composed the ‘common class’ too. Some texts will day they treated slaves well…but
I would ignore such polishing statements because ‘slavery’ by its very definition implies mistreatment.
Most Aztec children were raised by their parents to age ten – boys by fathers, girls by mothers – and then they were often channeled into schools run by the warrior/priestly class and channeled off into various directions ie. some might go to be warriors, or some remarkable ones might go into the religious class I am grossly generalizing. While some people tend to praise the intricasy of the Aztec culture ie. its grand sophistication and artistry, I always take it with a grain of salt too ie. it could be very brutal and exploitive. It’s practice of headhunting/human sacrifice is often overstated or understated. I would just have to say it has to be faced as an Aztec reality. True, it’s a different culture and perhaps not as bad as the Roman Collosiums…BUT it’s still an atrocity and a cruel form of supersticion and evil tyranny.
Disease wiped out the Aztecs moreso than the military aspect of the Spanish conquest, but also many Aztec commoners and slaves and those people of neighboring tribes who had bee exploited and used to fulfill the quotas of Aztec sacrafice – well, they helped overthrow the Aztecs and keep that culture from rising again.
imperialpoetpurple
June 30, 2013 at 11:20 am