Aztec Empire
@AztecEmpire1520
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Mexica-Tlaxcala/Castile War by @Boilerplate1893 @bigredhair & David Hahn. Ringo & Eisner Award nominee for BEST DIGITAL COMIC. Read FREE: https://t.co/MQeQMMJ31x
Tenochtitlán
Joined January 2016
QUETZALCOATL IS REAL.
It looks like a feather boa . This snake with green fur was thought to be a new species, but it turns out that it’s a puff-faced water snake with algae growing on its body from spending too much time in a swamp.
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The upcoming video game “Ecumene Aztec” depicts Tenochtitlan as a colorless and primitive place. The “Eternals” movie, and TV show “Hernan,” are recent examples of perpetuating that terrible media myth. Here’s a comparison of that TV series’ Tenochtitlan with our webcomic series.
Like, Tenochtitlan (and Mesoamerican cities in general) straight up didn’t look like that.
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The ¡Líik’ik Talokan! hand gesture is based on ones seen in many Mesoamerican codices. Here's my comparison between a detail from the Codex Nuttall and #Namor Thanks @El_Mauri79 .#TalocanRises
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The most authentic reconstruction of Tenochtitlan that I've ever seen. Congratulations, Thomas!.
a Portrait of Tenochtitlan, my 3D reconstruction of the capital of the Aztec Empire is released!. I've been looking forward to this for a long time, and I am really curious what all of you think. Take a look:. #tenochtitlan
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Here's a rough estimate of the area controlled by the Mexica Triple Alliance placed into the European continent to compare scale.
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The reason why AI depictions of Mesoamerica are so tremendously inaccurate is because that culture has been especially, visually, distorted online. Reminder, AI is copying not inventing. If bad info is being fed, bad info will be regurgitated. AI is a very horrible plagiarist!.
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No Mexica texts exist, all Tenochtitlan libraries were destroyed. 60 years after that, Spanish priest Sahagun (seen below) tried to recreate Mexica cultural knowledge. But his Florentine Codex had Tlatelolco (Mexica rivals) as sources, and Catholic bias. It’s a compromised work.
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Just found out that one of my favorite Aztec historians released a new book three months ago. Camilla (Fifth Sun) Townsend’s new tome is “The Aztec Myths.” .Ordering it now!
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503 years ago TODAY: Motecuhzoma meets Cortes in Tenochtitlan. This event has been illustrated thousands of times throughout the centuries. Here's my favorite, from a staff artist for National Geographic, Ned Seidler. 1/4
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Aztecs did NOT think Cortes was a prophesied return of Quetzalcoatl, or that the Spaniards were gods. Also, Cortes did NOT have a romantic relationship with his native teenage girl translator known as Malinche.
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Dear friends in Mexico, we hope you stay safe from the wrath of Tonatiuh.
Mexico has been suffering through one of its worst heatwaves in its history for the last 7+ days and it shows no sign of letting up over the next week as a relentless heat dome stays parked overhead. Northern Mexico could soar as high as 50°C (122°F) over the next few days.
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Comparison of "Montezuma's Headdress." .The original is at the Weltmuseum in Vienna, and a reproduction is at the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City. The excuses I've seen for not repatriating this piece are nonsense.
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In the #Eternals, the capital of the Mexica empire doesn't just have one Templo Mayor, it has several. So, if this is what the Marvel Universe's Tenochtitlan looks like, then. 1/2
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@UnfadingWisdom That is a fiction invented by Spanish priest Diego Duran, a century after the event. It's logistically and numerically impossible. Yes, sacrifices happened. Cortes estimated thousand per year. Archeological evidence from INAH shows 100s per year.
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@TheKavernacle “liberate us” 👀.Confirmation that the designers have not read any history about what happened to the people who were “liberated.” .Millions were worked to death in the Economedia System.
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Reminder that this movie is a well done, but a total Hollywood horror fantasy, with just enough surface gloss to suggest historical accuracy. Don’t be fooled. Anyone using it to back up some bigotry about Mesoamerica is a fool.
Neither has fiction helped to improve the vision of the cultures of ancient Mexico rather it has managed to further ingrain that sinister and distorted image of decadent cultures fond of ritual death, denying any merit of their own and that their salvation came with the Spaniards
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45 years ago TODAY: the stone disc of Coyolxāuhqui is discovered. A major find, it led to to the excavation of the Templo Mayor. Here's my superhero interpretation of the famed battle between Coyolxāuhqui & Cōātlīcue. #Coyolxauhqui45
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Hi new followers! .This is a webcomic about how strangers from another world changed the dynamics of a years long war between Mexica and Tlaxcala, and how a teenage girl was key to the fall of Tenochtitlan. Read for FREE at
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@NotEvolution1 That’s a Mayan pyramid. 84K number was invented by Spanish priest Duran 100 years after the event. Debunked. Catholics killed more kids during St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre than Aztecs did during their entire reign. Sources: Aztec, eyewitness Cortes. Euro, eyewitness Bethune.
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This must be what the capital of France looked like in the Marvel Universe during 1521. If Tenochtitlan has half a dozen huge religious structures, why not a bunch of cathedrals in Paris? ;D 2/2 #Eternals
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Anyone have any information about this mural, where it is or who did it? The concept & execution is genius.
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504 years ago TODAY: Motecuhzoma meets Cortes in Tenochtitlan. This event has been illustrated thousands of times throughout the centuries. Here's my favorite, from a staff artist for National Geographic, Ned Seidler.
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Illustrations recreating Mexica military don’t get better than this. Sorry, everyone else—including our own art team!.
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Knight of the order of Jaguars (who’s perhaps not a knight in the strictest sense), fights a certain Spaniard fugitive in armor (who’s definitely not a knight in the strictest sense).
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Reminder that Tenochtitlan had multiple libraries on various subjects. All totally destroyed. There’s no surviving Mexica texts. None. Only colonial era reconstructions of Mexica culture & history.
Word. Ever wondered what happened to the sciences and arts so prized in ancient civilizations? People destroyed them. On purpose.
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The legendary figure, in a disturbing depiction that's more accurate than history wants you to know.
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The Mask of Xiuhtecuhtli should be sent to Mexico’s National Museum of Anthropology. #Repatriation #DomingoDeMuseos.
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505 years ago TODAY: .Motecuhzoma meets Cortes. The world would never be the same. Illustration by @PescadorJL
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Ten years ago, there was wildly ambitious project about the Aztecs. "The Mark of the Jaguar" was to be an animated film trilogy, followed by six TV seasons. What happened to it? They even made a demo reel you can watch on their still existing website:
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reference vs art
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@loganclarkhall Except that this Hollywood horror fantasy has almost nothing to do with Maya. Seriously, it’s like believing Inglourious Basterds shows how we won WW2, or that gangs in NY have outfits like in The Warriors. Apocalypto is on that level of nonsense—realistic, but nonsense.
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@0xAlaric Cortes walked into a long war between Aztecs & Tlaxcala, joining the latter to end a stalemate. Other city-states joined after Motecuhzoma was killed, seeing how the wind was blowing. Cortes rallied no one. He knew zero about Mesoamerica politics. Source: Cortes, Diaz, Aguilar.
Cortes was a pawn of Tlaxcala for years. Tlaxcala provided the means for Cortes’ success and saved the Spanish mercs from destruction—several times. Late in the campaign, during Siege of Tenochtitlan, Cortes usurped Tlaxcala leadership. The rest is history written by the victors.
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Check out my @HelioscopePDX studiomate @TerryBlas' Aztec Superman and Wonder Woman art! Buy prints through his website
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A gladiatorial contest in Tenochtitlan. Illustration by Jean Torton.
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Kids going to school in Tenochtitlan. The Mexica had universal education, for both commoners and nobles. Illustration by Pierre Joubert.
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Aw, who’s a good little psychopomp that guides one through the underworld? .You are. Yes you are!.
Xolos, one of the most ancient dog breeds in the world, originally from what is now Mexico. The 3k yr old Xoloitzcuintli (pro) (“show-low-eats-QUEENT-lee"),. Ancient Aztec dog of the gods, is today a loving companion & vigilant watchdog. 💙🙏🏽
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The Aztec Empire is one of the most requested settings by the Assassin's Creed community. Ubisoft is listening and may set a game between 1519–1521. If this game ever releases, expect to play as an Aztec assassin, trying to take down the Spanish invaders.
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502 years ago TODAY. The Fall of Tenochtitlan. "On the roads there are broken bones, torn hair, roofless buildings, houses covered with blood. Worms crawl the streets, brains slide down the walls. The water is stained red."
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Did not know that Uxmal has been in private hands since. the Spanish Conquest! .So was Chichen Itza, until it was sold to the Mexican government only a decade ago. Check out this thread.
1/ Mexican President AM Lopez Obrador announced yesterday that the Mexican government has entered into negotiations to purchase the ancient Maya archaeological site of Uxmal. What does it mean? A background thread.
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Eagle Knight from an alternate history. I particularly like the shin claws, which are directly inspired by the famed eagle warrior statue on display at the Templo Mayor Museum. An excellent illustration by Manuel Castañón.
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Cortes was a pawn of Tlaxcala for years. Tlaxcala provided the means for Cortes’ success and saved the Spanish mercs from destruction—several times. Late in the campaign, during Siege of Tenochtitlan, Cortes usurped Tlaxcala leadership. The rest is history written by the victors.
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I love “Clash of Two Cultures” so much, we homaged Camarena's painting for our series’ cover image.
If you see this tweet you have to mention one of your favorite paintings. The Clash of Two Cultures by Jorge Gonzáles Camarena
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"As long as the world lasts, so long shall last the renown, the glory, of Mexico-Tenochtitlan." .-Malinalxochitl
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Mexica military commander with the rank of tlacochcalcatl. Compare our version with the one in the Mendoza Codex. #CodexToComics
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A very rare 1935 color image of Teotihuacan's Temple of the Moon, before it was restored. The Temple of the Sun was restored in 1910, work on the Citadel & Temple of Quetzalcoatl began in the 1920s. Excavation on the Temple of the Moon began in the 1940s.
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A rare self-portrait of legendary illustrator J. C. Leyendecker and a "Lady Quetzalcoatl." This magazine cover was made during a wave of public interest in the 1905 excavations and restorations at #Teotihuacan
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"QRT with your wing art!".Our series makes certain the birds shown are accurate to the location we're depicting. #ObsessiveResearch
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A view from Mazatzintamalco looking east along the Tlacopan causeway toward Tenochtitlan. Note the outhouse and the collection boat that will take away the waste for use as fertilizer. Illustration by Jean Torton.
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This Maya figurine clearly proves that there was contact in the 6th century between Mexico and the European Order of the Knights Who Say NI. #MontyPython #PseudoArchaeology
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Tezcatlipoca knows no borders.
Huge jaguar news. This stunning new cat has been detected north of the border!. This magnificent creature is the 8th cat spotted in the US since the 90’s. We must protect the cross-border wildlife corridors jaguars & so many other species need to survive.
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Reminder that the Mexica had universal education centuries before the rest of the world.
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Casting announcement for the upcoming 4-episode Amazon TV series "Mexica." Javier Bardem as Cortés, Tenoch Huerta as Moctezuma, and Yoshira Escárrega as Marina.
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Mammoth related story: .While in Tlaxcala, the Spaniards were shown an ancient mammoth thigh bone as proof giants once existed. Cortes believed it, and gave orders for it to be sent to Spain. It’s now lost.
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"As long as the world lasts, so long shall last the renown, the glory, of Mexico-Tenochtitlan." .-Malinalxochitl
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I only criticized the depiction of Tenochtitlan as too primitive and colorless. But, oh, there’s so much more to be said about this mess. For further criticism, check this thread:.
Bueno raza, por que no me lo pidieron y lo quiero hacer; ahí les va un hilo de todos los errores históricos e inspiraciones que tiene el trailer del nuevo juego "Ecumene: Aztec" . Abro hilo 🧵
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Not hundreds, but thousands of Tlaxcala. Spanish victory was secured because Tlaxcala informants provided key clues for a win, which involved how signal flags worked on a battlefield. Aztecs had become too ritualistic to properly deal with dishonorable Euro concepts of warfare.
On this day in 1520, 500 Spanish conquistadores with several hundred native allies defeat 20,000 Aztec warriors at the Battle of Otumba. The stunning victory paves the way for the fall of Tenochtitlan and the collapse of the Aztec civilization.
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@PJavierOR Apocalypto is a Hollywood horror fantasy. There’s nothing accurate in it. No serious Mayanist takes it seriously. It’s like thinking Godzilla is a real creature.
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Excellent thread about an agricultural method used by the Mexica known as chinampas.
Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, was founded in 1325. Until Spanish arrival, it was one of the world's largest cities and the hub of a powerful empire. The Aztec empire was able to grow rapidly in size and dominance thanks to their ingenious floating gardens or chinampas.
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32 years ago, the statue of conquistador Diego de Mazariegos was torn down in Chiapas. The statue's head was paraded in the streets of San Cristóbal de las Casas for the 500th anniversary of Columbus' arrival in the Americas.
Un 12 de octubre pueblos originarios de Chiapas derribaron la estatua de un conquistador de la zona, el hecho se conocería como el incipiente EZLN. #díadelaraza.
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The residence of Governor Teuhtlil, the House of Snakes, the House of Eagles, and the palace of Motecuhzoma. Locations in our #webcomic
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Obsidian blades are sharper than modern surgical steel, but reports these swords could decapitate a horse is an exaggeration.
The Ancient Aztecs made terrifying weapons, called Macuahuitl, by embedding shards of sharpened obsidian into boards of wood. The pieces were as sharp as modern razor blades, and could easily slice through any leather armor used at the time.
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Comparing a section of the Temple of Quetzalcoatl in Teotihuacan with a beautiful polychrome reproduction in the Museo Nacional de Antropología.
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@uknow_game That’s not Aztec, that’s Maya. They had schools & higher ed centuries before Oxford.
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@MCU_Direct Just a few African countries, not all, and in alphabetical order: .Algeria .Chad .Dahomey .Gambia .Nigeria .Senegal .Sudan .Guess what they have in common?.
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Preview of upcoming page 78, which takes place in front of the House of Eagles. Here's a comparison of the plaza at the archeological site and the scene in our #webcomic
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@UnfiltdTruth Interesting, considering the land in the map you posted used to be “New Spain,” that is, MEXICO.
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The Bagdad and Alexandria (in its waning phase when destroyed) libraries contained information that had copies elsewhere. Still a tragic loss. However, the libraries of Tenochtitlan had unique information that was totally irreplaceable. A loss far beyond any Eurasian equivalent.
The Library of Alexandria isn't the only library lost to time. There was also the "House of Wisdom", built 1,000 years ago in Baghdad when it was the world's largest city. What did it contain? What happened to it? This is the story of history's other great library.
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Conquistador vs Ocelotl Warrior .Cover image for our #webcomic
ARTISTS you can only use one Art picture to convince people to follow you. Which art piece you using? .OK GO UWU.
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Where's Waldo? .Apparently, he's at the Siege of Tenochtitlan in 1521. I don't think he's going to survive that event!
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@JewMexAlliance There’s zero evidence for this theory. Nothing archaeological or genetic. All Mesoamerican experts reject it. That something looks like something else is just pareidolia, not proof. Also, the costumes in the AI image used in this post are very far from any Mesoamerican dress.
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@Klaus_Arminius “barren land” ???.How does a self described historian say such nonsense? .90M to 112M natives is the estimated precolumbian population. Source: Henry Dobyns, Woodrow Borah, Sherburne Cook, etc. FYI there were entire civilizations & empires. How do you not know that?.
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@Thekeksociety I’m curious about where you got the 20K annual figure. Even exaggerating eyewitness conquistadors, including Cortes, claim a couple thousand per year. Archeological evidence from INAH shows 100s per year. Also, all the imagery you showed has nothing to do with Aztec culture.
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@fiijishie There were no slums in Tenochtitlan. Their economic system precluded it. Also, the city had thousands of sanitation workers keeping everything clean.
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We use the term "Aztec Empire" to colloquially describe the Triple Alliance, known in Nahuatl as Ēxcān Tlahtōlōyān. Replacing "Aztec" with "Mexica" erases the other two groups that founded this hegemonic polity, the Tepanec and Acolhua. 1/3
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46 years ago TODAY: the stone disc of Coyolxāuhqui is discovered. A major find, it led to the excavation of the Main Temple of Tenochtitlan. Here's my superhero interpretation of the famed battle between Coyolxāuhqui & Cōātlīcue.
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So what happened between Captain from Castile in 1947 and Hernan in 2019 that now most films and tv shows set in antiquity are so dull and colorless?
So what happened between Olivier’s Henry V and now that most films and tv shows set in the Middle Ages (and increasingly in antiquity) are so dull and colourless?
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Women of Mesoamerica as seen in our series. #InternationalWomensDay .#DiaInternacionalDeLaMujer
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"ARTISTS, you can only use ONE art picture to convince people to follow you. Which art piece you using?"
"ARTISTS, you can only use ONE art picture to convince people to follow you. Which art piece you using?". I haven't yet made public like. the top 4 paintings I'd use, but for now the one below is pretty nice I think.
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