Blackwell Reference Online

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[ xxv ] The most powerful and monumental Aztec shrine was what the Spanish called the Templo Mayor (1325–1521 ce ), located in the centre of the capital, Tenochtitlan. It was a huge pyramid temple, called Coatepec ( see H uitzilopochtli ), meaning Snake Mountain, supporting the great shrines to Huitzilopochtli, the sun and war god, and T laloc , the rain and agricultural god, to whom massive H uman sacrifices of warriors, women and children were made. The shape, iconography and ritual actions at the Templo Mayor commemorated the myth of Huitzilopochtli's birth at the cosmic mountain, his dismemberment of the goddess Coyolxauhqui representing the moon, and his destruction of the centzon huitznahua , the 400 gods of the south representing the stars. ... log in or subscribe to read full text