City of Sacrifice: The Aztec Empire and the Role of Violence in Civilization

by Davíd Carrasco

At an excavation of the Great Aztec Temple in Mexico City, amid carvings of skulls and a dismembered warrior goddess, David Carrasco stood before a container filled with the decorated bones of infants and children. It was the site of a massive human sacrifice, and for Carrasco the center of fiercely provocative If ritual violence against humans was a profound necessity for the Aztecs in their capital city, is it central to the construction of social order and the authority of city states? Is civilization built on violence?

In City of Sacrifice, Carrasco chronicles the fascinating story of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, investigating Aztec religious practices and demonstrating that religious violence was integral to urbanization; the city itself was a temple to the gods. That Mexico City, the largest city on earth, was built on the ruins of Tenochtitlan, is a point Carrasco poignantly considers in his comparison of urban life from antiquity to modernity.

Majestic in scope, City of Sacrifice illuminates not only the rich history of a major Meso american city but also the inseparability of two passionate human urbanization and religious engagement. It has much to tell us about many familiar events in our own time, from suicide bombings in Tel Aviv to rape and murder in the Balkans.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Religion, Anthropology, Archaeology

288 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1999

About the author

Davíd L. Carrasco is currently Neil L. Rudenstine Professor of Latin America Studies at Harvard. He is a Mexican-American academic historian of religion, anthropologist, and a Mesoamericanist scholar who has published widely on the Aztecs.

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was kind of hoping that this would be one of those academic books where the author had secret hopes of crossover success. So that maybe he would write in a style accessible to those who merely want to dabble, or perhaps in a style more conducive to my being able to skim this and retain a main idea. Something I could write on an index card for future reference. Sadly, not to be.
It's not that the material is boring, to be sure...Carrasco covers all sorts of different religious ceremonies involving human sacrifice in Aztec society, and the material is vivid, to say the least. I guess it was silly to hope for more of a narrative, since you can't really build a historical narrative out of the available sources for early American societies. We've got images, and archeology, and written sources composed well after the fact, and guesswork. So what you can get is what Carrasco provides - descriptions of the various ceremonies, and argument about what they meant. There is a theory here about how the sacrifices were not simply designed to keep the universe in motion, but were elaborate recreations of God myths designed to reassert the structure of the Aztec Empire and its ability to control people on its periphery. The city was a performance space, a city designed for ritual, and the rituals were conducted just so to maintain relationships between the core and the fringe. Ok. It's all very interesting. I just had a hard time retaining clear, usable ideas.

[Claudia Putnam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carrasco had a big impact on me as an undergraduate. He still seems to be interested in more or less the same questions. His own big influences remain, among others, Eliade (which is a bit embarrassing) and Mumford, as in The City in History. The basic idea is that the city is a ceremonial container--a reflection of the cosmos (and bring on Dan Brown, seriously, and I'm not dinging Carrasco here, it's just something Dan learned as well, along the way). A place of violence, where dangerous myths and rituals of sacrifice and survival are acted out. When I studied under Carrasco he saw human sacrifice as almost a basic human need, expressed in wars in most cultures. Here he is trying to link Mexico past with Mexico present.

I find that I am attempting to underline all the same things (or to disagree in the margins with them) as when I first read i K9t. Possibly my mind is still working.

[Shaun Steven · Rating 1 out of 5]

City of Sacrifice by David Carrasco is a book about the role of ritual violence (primarily in the form of human sacrifice) in the religious tradition of the Aztec civilization and how the organization of centers of ritual violence shapes and influence the Aztec way of life. To the uninitiated, this incredibly fascinating topic seems like it would make for exciting and interesting reading, but, those of us who have read it must sadly report otherwise. The abstruse, prosaic, and disorganized writing of the author, complete with confusing jargon, perplexing metaphors, and a complete disregard for any sense of focus or direction, made reading this book almost impossible. For example: during the introduction, the author complains of his predecessors’ ignorance of primary sources depicting actual human sacrifice performed by the Aztecs, saying that they use distant reports of animal sacrifice or literary sacrifices as examples, and focus more on Christian and Jewish cases rather than Mesoamerican ones. As a final note on the paragraph describing this subject, he says “In the Aztec case, violent sacrifices performed the city.” This sentence refers to the theme of following section of the text, which explains how one can view the cities themselves as a performance given by the citizens as they go about their lives and move within spheres of political and social influence, but not the paragraph which it ends. It is very confusing and could be organised much better. This is also just one example of the many over-sophisticated metaphors employed by the author, which make his writing very pretentious and difficult to understand. Still, the points he makes are interesting considerations of the notion of city and civilisation.
The first chapter of the book is an in depth analysis of the history and iconography of a particular book, called the Codex Mendoza, and the way in the images in this book (but mostly the front cover of the book) explain some fundamental relationships between the Aztec people and the other cultures they encountered during the establishment of their city, as well as describing the layout of the city. The description of these images and their implications is lengthy and verbose, and quite frankly, it makes broad assumptions about the way in which the Aztec people thought about their city, and the acts of war which led to the city’s founding, based almost solely on a particular interpretation of pictures in a very old book. Moreover, it would suffice to say that the cover of the book depicts a simplified image of an Aztec city, with a symbol representing the founding of the city in the center as the most important piece, and four quadrants corresponding to the physical layout of the city, and below this it depicts two very important military victories of the Aztecs over their neighbours. Instead of this (albeit over-simplified) explanation, the author goes on for thirty-three pages talking about how the cover and the subsequent pages of the Codex Mendoza exemplify ancient Aztec dynamics of center and periphery, and provides only an image of the cover to clarify what he is talking about. As well, this lengthy, poorly illustrated, and garbled description of how one group of individuals decided to illustrate a book does not in any way contribute to the reader’s understanding of the actual dynamics of center and periphery as experienced in the city of Tenochtitlan. The suggestions he makes based on the book may in fact be true, but even if they are it is not enough to say that they are true fact simply by the way the book is illustrated, without more appeal to other sources to back up these claims.
The second chapter of the book includes a grueling description of the “Templo Mayor,” a significant ceremonial pyramid structure that was central to the Aztec religion. The author explains the creation myths of the Aztecs and their war god Huitzilopochtli, and the way in which their creation myths explain the dynamics of center and periphery that the Aztecs experience with their neighbours, as they conquer and subjugate them. The Aztec practice of capturing and hording the treasures of its enemies stems from these creation myths, as do their notions of their own place as the center of the world and universe. After two chapters, it finally becomes possible to understand that this is the center and periphery relationship to which the author has been alluding all this time, and despite the roundabout way in which he explains this, his arguments are compelling.
In the third and fourth chapters, the interesting subject material wins out and the book becomes quite interesting. The third chapter describes a ceremony of renewal called the New Fire Ceremony. Taking place at the Hill of the Star once every 52 years, this ceremony is a celebration of the sacred fire of the sun god, and has the purpose of renewing the cosmic energy of the city and unifies the people of Tenochtitlan as they celebrate the fact that the world is not actually ending, and there is much rejoicing. This example shows yet another way in which the city is an important part of the Aztec religion, furthering the author’s thesis. In the fourth chapter, the author gives a description of the ritual sacrifice of the god Tezcatlipoca through his avatar, who is chosen from the captive warriors. The most beautiful of the prisoners, chosen for his lack of bodily flaws, is instructed over the course of one year in various Aztec arts and the ways of their culture, showered with luxury and riches, and encouraged to take part in the daily life of the city. As a bodily avatar, he facilitates communication between the city and the gods through the use of his senses. At the end of the year he is paraded through the city and the countryside, brought to a sacred place, and his still beating heart is torn from his chest and offered in a bloody sacrifice to the Sun. This compelling description is illustrated in somewhat purple prose, but it at least demonstrates the author’s intent in describing another dimension of the relationship between the city and the rituals of the people. However, the ten pages it takes to illustrate this interesting connection are followed by twenty-five pages of re-iteration and in depth explanation of what was already said. While it is common practice in academia to start off with general statements and explain in greater detail in the following pages, the structure of this chapter is very disorganized and it would have been easier to make sense of had the explanation followed along with the descriptions of the ritual. This is just one of many examples of the disorganised structure which is prevalent throughout this book. Still, it must be said that the author accomplishes what he set out to do in describing the ways in which the civilisation and the cities of the Aztecs were built through the use of ritual violence, despite the disorganized fashion in which he does so.
Chapter 5 and 6 consist of further descriptions of the dynamics of ritual sacrifice, taking the form of The Festival of the Flayed Man in Chapter 5 and the ritualistic implications of cannibalism in Chapter 6. The Feast of the Flayed Man involves the transformation of captive warriors into gods before their sacrifice, at which point the Aztec warriors don their skin to absorb their power as gods, giving honour to both them and the captors of the victims. The author goes into detail about the way in which this ritual involves the whole city, as the participants go from door to door collecting food for themselves and the captors, and participating in a city-wide theatrical performance that even involved mock battles. The dynamics of ritual cannibalism involve the ceremonial eating of the flesh of the victims, who have again been transformed into gods, in order to absorb their power. This is another aspect of the renewal of cosmic energy that is experienced in the sacrifice ritual; the consumer of the flesh gains the power of the gods and in fact are said to briefly become gods themselves. Additionally, the importance which Aztec spiritual ideology places upon the notion of the cyclic regeneration also entails that any gain in power comes in the form of a debt that is owed back to the gods, and must be paid in blood, furthering the sacrifice in the future. These two descriptive chapters again build on the theme of the role of city and sacrifice in the rituals of the Aztecs, and
In the penultimate chapter, the author briefly touches on how women were used in sacrifice to nourish the earth as aspects of fertility gods, in much the same way that the men were treated as aspects of war gods. This had implications for fertility in terms of agriculture, but also in terms of the way in which the presence of the personified fertility goddesses stimulated the warrior mentality and activity of the men, furthering the author’s ideas about how the whole city was active in aspects of the rituals involved in sacrifice. The women involved in this sacrifice were kept as happy as possible before their death in a hope to prevent any misfortune from occurring to the city. This was perhaps the most interesting chapter of the book, as it explores new themes about gender roles and relationships within the city, and indeed it is perhaps the most essential chapter. The final chapter, however, is a description of the fall of the city, and while it was interesting, it did not build on the author’s thesis very much, and served mostly as a final conclusion to the text.
Overall, while I feel that reading this book was a significant learning experience, and I have greatly increased my understanding of the nature of sacrifice and the city as a symbol in Aztec thought, I would not recommend this book to others. 

[Jonna Higgins-Freese · Rating 4 out of 5]

Argues that "the dynamic daily life of Tenochtitlan was reconstructed as a religiously meaningful landscape, in part, through the sacrifice of deity impersonators in public cermonial gatherings" (6).

Also political purposes "dramatizing the tensions of center-periphery geopolitical relations" Ritual violence became a way of managing "the unstable social and symbolic dynamics between the imperial center and the allied and enemy periphery . . . peripheral communities demonstrated their dependence on and servitude to the capital by paying large quantities of goods on a regular basis, always threatened with the pain of human sacrifice or military attack . . . at another level, this management of center and periphery was symbolized in the ritual system sof debt payments in the form of human sacrifices to the gods and under the authority of the god kings" (7). Points out that more energy was expended on dancing, singing, processions, long-distance walking, and changing costumes than the actual act of killing people.

"Violent sacrifices performed the city . . . [all] cities were religio-political performances themselves; [all] cities "unfold their histories as dramaturgical landscapes in which the major ideas, economic exchanges, political ideas, religious beliefs, personal tragediies, and hopes of the populace were acted out through ritual and daily life . . . performance spaces and cultural performances . . . re-generated and re-made the cities as meaningful landscapes. The ceremonies brought the city to life." (8) In a footnote, he explains how by going on pilgrimmages through Japan, sensitive to the physical sensations of climbing, going down, change views and foliage, etc., and informed his view that Aztec world was informed by "metamorphic vision of place" (footnote, pp. 224-225)

theories of cities: "city as cosmological symbol (Otto von Simson, Mircea Eliade, and Paul Wheatley); (2) city as religious community (Fustel de Coulanges and Emile Durkheim); (3) city as fulcrum of political power (Max Weber and Clifford Geertz); and (4) city as center of economic exhcange (Raymond Williams and David Harvey and (5) city as performance. (9)

ways in which city can become a character (Tony Morrison Jazz, 100 Years of Solitude), and in film how often American symbolism performed with reference to iconic buildings on the Mall, etc., "our cities and their monuments, streets, and ceremonial centers are backdrops, tropes, characters, symbols, and actors, suggesting that these urban spaces not only perform North American culture, they exist as an urban unconscious that infiltrates our secret wishes, desires, and dreams" (225).

Points out that Cortes brought a new mass-sacrifice society, built over the gold on which the city had been built, and which the Aztecs had understood as the excrement of the gods: "Led by the 'lord' Captain Cortes, a new style of violence, a mass-sacrifice society, sept into the city to extract it, the gods who made it, and all that was Tenochtitlan. With cannon, fire, and spanish and Indian bodies flung against the city's walls . . . all justified by a new religious vision, the invaders literally blew the city away, and then built . . . Mexico City . . . on its ruins. Performing the Colonial City" (14).

symbolic systems linking cosmic understandings to urban geography were 'protosciences whose central objective was to demonstrate the unity of all existence, offer[ing] magnificent exemplars of associative, or coordinative thinking, utlizing a logic no whit less rigorous in its own way that that of contemporary science . . . intellectuals who elucidated and elaborated them . . . were organizers of knowledge, codifiers, builders of systems, men who shared a corporate consuming passion for distinction, definition, and formalization, who conceived a [precise] universal order" (30). This symbolism was expressed in the spatial organization of the city in terms of (1) the symbolism of the center (2) its cardinal axiality and (3) architectural parallel between macrocosmos and microcosmos . . . dramatize the cosmology by reproducing on earth a reduced version of the cosmos is" structured about an existentially centered point of transition between planes, an axis mundi (30).

From 1440-1521, sacrifice increased as did rebellions. "The leaders of many allied and enemy towns were invited and forced to enter the capital to witness the sacrifices. Gods, images of gods, and the rulers they ruled, all gathered within the city for the ritual slaughter . . . . All this suggests that the profound tensions between the capital and peripheral towns, and the political threats and cosmic insecurities that Aztec elites felt as a result, contributed in a major way to the increase of human sacrifice at the Templo Mayor . . . . the exemplary center had repeated difficulties in conquering rebel rulers and rival city-states and when they did, it was equally difficult to dominate them. The chosen method of symbolic and actual domination was incremental, ritual human slaughter. In the long run, this increment served to strengthen and weaken the authority of Tenochtitlan. While many city-states were securely integrated into the Aztec sphere, some were alienated to the direction of other kingdoms, and the capacity for rebellion increased. So, when the Spaniards came,m Indian allies were not hard to find and, in fact, played vigorous roles in the conquest of Tenochtitlan" (76-77).

Cosmologically, in order to ensure the sun travelled orderly through its course, the gods decide to sacrifice themselves to ensure the movement of the sun. "The unstable cosmos that is created depends on massive ritual killing and an increment in divine death . . . war among human beings is created to ensure sacrificial victims for the gods" (81).

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of essays that focus especially in interpreting the “metamorphic vision” of place that, Carrásco submits, the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan performed in sensorily overwhelming ritual, to maintain their great “city of sacrifice” as the central power over a threatening periphery of unstable allegiances and enemies. The rituals, notoriously, involve prodigious sacrifices of men, women and children. It can be pretty horrifying. Yet Carrásco manages a careful search for what it meant — for some senses of Aztec life and cosmovision we can glimpse through the shards that survived Spanish conquest.

[Gordon Eldridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent insight into the Aztec practice of human sacrifice. Carrasco uses primary sources to investigate the practice of human sacrifice in Tenochtitlan. Different aspects of the practice are examined by looking at the details of specific festivals in the Aztec calendar and the role sacrifice played in each festival and through that in the wider cosmology of the Aztec people.

Carrasco draws in a lot of theory from other authors and the theory can at times become quite abstract and not supre easy to follow for the lay reader, but all the points he makes are illustrated with concrete details and the book overall is absolutely fascinating and insightful.

[Shane Hill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I give this a poor rating not because of the material but because of the writer and his deadly relativism....he could not once comment on the evil that was the Aztec practice of human sacrifice....he treated it like it was normal behavior from his pee cee world view...sickening....

[Cora · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a book I had to read for school, this one was pretty good. Carrasco explores some interesting topics, and the book is well-paced while providing plenty of information. Sometimes I felt like he said a lot of words while actually saying very little but I could also just be not smart.

[Brandon Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

[Hilary · Rating 3 out of 5]

While teasing out the reasons behind Aztec sacrifice is an interesting premise for a nonfiction book, the author managed to drown himself in his own acedemia. His lengthy introduction was well-paced and filled with character, but as soon as the actual text of his book started all the character and personality of the intro was buried under words like "orientatio" and other mind-numbing, Latin words. Blah. If he had continued to inject himself and his own interests into his book, it would have made for a fascinating page turner, but he didn't, so it was dull, dull, dull.
Also, as a last point, I have no clue what his intentions were in attempting to establish that the city was the most important axis in the Aztec world. He kept stating his thesis about place dictating thought, but the more he said it, the less sense it made, and I ended up ignoring that half of the narrative entirely. It seemed he had read Italo Calvino's "Invisible Cities", and decided it had amazing import in regards to the Aztecs... in his own mind.
Read it if the subject interests you, ignore it if you're looking for something interesting.

[Rocky · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Carrasco, professor of Mesoamerican Religious Studies at Harvard Divinity School, tackles the underlying symbolisms at the heart of the controversial religious practices of the Mexica people. Instead of resorting to reductionist ideas about the consolidation of state power, Carrasco delves into the meaningful relationship between the Mexica people, life, death, and the land. Taking a cue from Mircea Eliade, he sees religious ideas as primary motivating factors. This is a must read for anyone interested in the most intense manifestations of religious fervor and mysticism. His chapters include specifics on the religious necessity of sacrifice of not only the warrior class, but also of women and children and how these sacrifices were integral to the Mexica cosmology. This controversial subject is undertaken exhaustively and respectfully by the author.

[BeerDiablo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Remember how in high school/college, you’d “pad” a paper to meet the minimum length required? Some people carry that into their professional lives.

City of Sacrifice is written by a career academic, which means that it’s poorly organized with the author going in circles repeating himself. The book could’ve been reduced by probably 25% with better organization.

Though I enjoyed the book and while it does show you the role of violence in Aztec civilization, it didn’t go deep enough into speculation as to whether Aztecs differed from other cultures [and why:] or were just as violent.

[Gort · Rating 4 out of 5]

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