Mexican archæology : $b an introduction to the archæology of the Mexican and Mayan civilizations of pre-Spanish AmericaJoyce, Thomas Athol
History
Mexican archæology : $b an introduction to the archæology of the Mexican and Mayan civilizations of pre-Spanish America
Joyce, Thomas Athol
Mayas -- Antiquities; Mexico -- Antiquities
the year 1064 to the destruction of Tulan, then the statement that
the Chichimec migration occurred some thirty years later must be an
error. It is true that if the statements of Sahagun as to the length of
the reigns of the Acolhuan and Chichimec kings be correct, the error
is not nearly so considerable, but in that case the association of
these kings with certain epochs of Mexican history becomes impossible.
I am inclined to believe that far more reliance is to be placed on
associations of this kind in tradition than upon mere numbers of years,
and it is possible that some mistake may have arisen between Sahagun
and his informants regarding the length of a king’s life on the one
hand and the length of his reign on the other. I have therefore given
premier importance to statements regarding associations in my scheme
of dates. Moreover it seems far more likely from several points of
view that at least a century must have intervened between the downfall
of Tulan and the immigration headed by Xolotl, though there must have
been a steady drift of “Chichimec” tribes southward during that period,
having its commencement before the former event, to which it no doubt
contributed.
[Illustration:
FIG. 2.--Detail from the Boturini MS., showing the
commencement of the Aztec migration. From left to right: Aztlan
on an island; the Aztec crossing the water; the date _1.
tecpatl_; the city Colhuacan; eight other tribes, reading
downwards, the Matlatzinca, Tepanec, Chichimec, Malinalca,
Cuitlauaca, Xochimilca, Chalca, and Uexotzinca. (_After
Seler_)]
For the first half-century after their establishment at Tenochtitlan,
the Aztec were ruled by a council, composed no doubt of the heads of
clans; but in the year 1376 they elected a king. Nothing illustrates
better the idea among the Mexicans that kingly power was inherent
in certain families, than the fact that they elected Acamapitzin,
whose mother was a daughter of the ruler of Colhuacan, Coxcoxtli,
and therefore of Toltec descent. Simultaneously the inhabitants of
Tlaltelolco elected a ruler, Quaquapitzauac, said to be connected with
the ruling family of Azcapotzalco. At this time the most powerful
cities in the valley were Tezcoco, whither Quinatzin had removed the
Acolhuan court, which was now ruled by his successor Techotlala;
Azcapotzalco, ruled by the Tepanec Tezozomoc, descended from
Acolhuatzin; Coatlichan, where a member of Tzontecomatl’s family held
sway; and Colhuacan, under the kingship of Coxcoxtli, of the race of
Pochotl the son of Topiltzin the last Toltec king.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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