La muerte de los nobles y su relación con la diferenciación social entre los mexicas

Abstract

Among the Mexicas, mortuary rituals and the destination of man after death worked together to highlight social differentiation. There was no exclusive “paradise” for lords and their relatives, instead the way an individual died, decreed by the gods, determined the deceased’s final resting place. After death, the spiritual composition of the human being was dispersed to the cosmos, to the realm of the gods, the earth, or else transformed into harmful agents such as diseases. Both nobles and commoners could be chosen by the gods Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc to dwell in a “paradise.” The sources refer to the latter in the realm of the dead and simultaneously in the paradise of the Sun. If a commoner aspired to fame, he had to be an outstanding warrior or chosen by Tlaloc—which was more difficult—meanwhile a noble could attain selection by the gods through the ritual deaths of a victim to substitute his persona.