Aztec sun stone
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The Aztec sun stone, (Nahuatl: Ollin Tonatiuh "Movement of the Sun") often mistakenly called the Aztec calendar stone, is a large monolithic sculpture that was excavated in the Zócalo, Tenochtitlan's and Mexico City's main square.
Measuring about 12 feet in diameter, 4 feet in thickness and weighing 24 tons,[1] the original basalt version is presently on display at the National Museum of Anthropology and History in Mexico City's Chapultepec Park.
While it is called the Aztec Sun Stone, this sculpture did not originally come from Aztlan but was created by the Mexica people. And while it is often called the Aztec Calendar, it primarily depicts the four great disasters which led to the migration of the Mexica to Tenochtitlan (modern day Mexico City).
It also contains pictographs depicting the way the Mexica measured time, and was primarily a religious artifact.
The Aztec Calendar page also contains more information on how the Aztecs marked time.
Contents |
[edit] Understanding the Sun Stone
It was believed that there were four previous iterations of the Earth to the people of Mexica, and the Sun Stone depicts each one of these iterations. Historians speculate that the Sun Stone depicts the migrations of original Native Americans, who were first forced to migrate from their prosperous lands from the North to the lands of the Nahuatl, Chicomostoc and Aztlan, before arriving finally to the valley where they founded Tenochtitlan.
The Aztecs believed that they were living in the fifth and last creation of their world. To this end, the Aztec Sun Stone is dedicated to the Sun god Tonatiuh, who was believed to have been the fifth sun god, as a means to prevent further catastrophe and end of the world by performing regular human sacrifices in his honor.
[edit] Center
In the center of the sun stone is believed to be either the sun god Tonatiuh or the earth god Tlaltecuhtli. The central figure's tongue is shown to be a sacrificial knife, while the circles on either ends depict claws holding human hearts for sacrificial purposes.
[edit] The Four Worlds
The four squares around the central deity depict the previous four suns (or worlds) that perished. On the top right square is depicted the jaguar. Moving to the left is the wind, below the wind is fiery rain and in the bottom right square is water.
[edit] The Twenty Days
Continuing outward from the inner circle, the next concentric circle consists of twenty squares, each naming one of the twenty different days of the Aztec month. Clockwise, these days are:
- Snake - Coatl
- Lizard - Cuetzpallin
- House - Calli
- Wind - Ehecatl
- Crocodile - Cipactli
- Flower - Xochitl
- Rain - Quiahuitl
- Flint - Tecpatl
- Movement - Ollin
- Vulture - Cozcacuauhtli
- Eagle - Cuauhtle
- Jaguar - Ocelotl
- Cane - Acatl
- Herb - Malinalli
- Monkey - Ozomatli
- Hairless Dog - Itzquintli
- Water - Atl
- Rabbit - Tochtli
- Deer - Mazatl
- Skull - Miquiztli
Each Aztec year consisted of eighteen months and each month had 20 days. Five more dots called Nemontemi were added inside the circle, which depicted days for sacrifice, bringing up the total number of days to 365.
[edit] Gallery of 20-day signs in the Aztec sun stone
 Death, Snake, Lizard |
 Water, Rabbit, Deer |
 House, Wind, Alligator |
 Flower, Rain, Flint, Earthquake |
 Vulture, Eagle, Jaguar |
 Reed, Grass, Monkey, Dog |
[edit] The Snakes
The next concentric circle on the stone contains several square sections, with each section containing five dots which are believed to probably represent weeks of five days. There are also eight angles which divide the stone into eight parts. These are believed to represent the suns rays placed in accordance to cardinal points.
On the lower portion of the stone, there are two snakes that are shown to encircle the stone and face each other. Their bodies are divided into sections which depict the symbols representing flames and jaguar limbs[citation needed]. These sections are believed to represent fifty-two year cycles: the Aztec century consisted of 52 years.
At the top of the calendar, a square has been carved in between the tails of the large snakes. Inside the square, the date 13 Acatl has been carved. This is believed to correspond to 1479, the year in which the calendar was completed.
At the very edge of the calendar, eight equally spaced holes appear. It is believed that the Sun Stone may also have served as a sundial; the Aztecs may have placed horizontal sticks in these holes and the shadows of the sticks would fall on the figures of the calendar, depicting and marking time.
[edit] External links
- Mysteries of the Fifth Stone: The Aztec Calendar
- The Aztec Sun Stone
- The Sun Stone
- The Aztec Sunstone Calendar
[edit] References
- ^ Aztecs:Reign of Blood & Splendor. Virginia:Time Life, 1992.
