Aztecs - Blog Posts

Война и Майя.

War and Maya

Мы привыкли считать древних людей дикими. Древние правитель Майя, протыкал свой пенис и истекал кровью, до тех пор пока не начнуться галлюцинации, прежде чем отправить свой народ на войну. Японские Самураи, если их отряд проигрывал, делали Харакири. Сталин отказался вернуть из плена в Германии своего сына, так как Гитлер просил взамен прислать ему генерала. Сам же Гитлер прошел первую мировую, и ослеп на несколько лет после газовой атаки, прежде чем придти к власти. А когда Германия проиграла, наложил на себя руки. Как думаете Путин или Джордж Буш, способны на что-то подобное?)) Ответ очевиден.)) Наш мир чуть более чем полностью лишен благородства. Скорее это мы сейчас одичали.

We are accustomed to considering ancient people to be wild. An ancient Mayan ruler pierced his penis and bled until he hallucinated before sending his people off to war. Japanese Samurai, if their squad lost, did Harakiri. Stalin refused to return his son from captivity in Germany, since Hitler asked to send him a general in return. Hitler himself went through the First World War and went blind for several years after a gas attack before coming to power. And when Germany lost, he committed suicide. Our world is little more than completely devoid of nobility. It’s more likely that we’ve gone wilde now. Do you think Putin or George Bush are capable of something like that?)) The answer is obvious.))

He go :}

i didnt even know this dude could smile at all

:)

Smithsonian Magazine

Oxford University Is Older Than the Aztecs

The historical timeline you keep in your head is all messed up

Oxford isn’t the oldest university, not by a long shot. India’s Nalanda University had already operated for hundreds of years and been burnt down by invaders before Oxford got its act together. But Oxford, as one of the oldest universities in continuous operation, doesn’t feel that old. It’s a product of our time. You can still enroll at Oxford. You can still go to Merton College.

The Aztec civilization of central Mexico, on the other hand, feels like ancient history. Archaeologists dig up Aztec ruins, museums put on Aztec exhibits. But the origination of the Aztec civilization, marked by the founding of the city of Tenochtitlán by the Mexica at Lake Texcoco, didn’t come until 1325. Tenochtitlán was captured by Spanish conquerors in 1521, just 196 years later. The White House has been standing longer than the Aztecs ruled Tenochtitlán.

None of this is intended to pit civilizations against each other. But it’s an interesting way to think about how skewed our understanding of history really is—we have these timelines in our heads that are distorted and compressed, and they don’t always agree with reality. To get a clearer picture of how the world really works, sometimes it helps to keep things in context.

I noticed that Hannibal was often compared with the devil. For me, he is more like an Aztec devinity, a god of chaos who is both bestial and sublime. Tezcatlipoca, the “Smoking Mirror”, is for instance is a divinity associated to discord, war as well as memory, time and devine providence. In his honor, the Aztecs priests chose a young man who would be sacrificed and then eaten. Cannibalism was indeed quite common in the Aztec world. I believe that Hannibal would have been quite popular in such a society.