Calmecac

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The Calmecac ([kal'mekak] "the house of the lineage") was a school for the children of Aztec nobility (pīpiltin [pi:piltin]) in the Late Postclassic period of Mesoamerican history, where they would receive rigorous religious and military training. The calmecac is to be contrasted with the Telpochcalli ([te:lpotʃ'kalli] "house of youth") where mostly commoners received military training. Only a few commoners (mācehualtin [ma:sewaltin]) entered the Calmecac, and those who did only trained for priesthood.[1]

The calmecac of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, was located in the ceremonial center of the city and it was dedicated to Quetzalcoatl.[2]

The calmecac was the students' home for the duration of their training, and they would enter the school as young as five to seven years of age. The students received instruction in songs, rituals, reading and writing, the calendar (tonalpohualli [to:nalpo:'walli]) and all the basic training which was also taught in the telpochcalli.

Students commenced formal military training around age fifteen.[3]

Promising sons of nobles would be trained especially by the military orders of the Jaguar warriors (ocelomeh [oːce'lomeʔ]) or Eagle warriors (cuauhtin ['kʷaːwtin]) in their quarters, the cuauhcalli [kʷaːw'kalli]).[4]


[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Hassig (1988), p.34.
  2. ^ Hassig (1988), p.34.
  3. ^ Hassig (1988), p.35.
  4. ^ Hassig (1988), p.36.

[edit] Sources

  • Hassig, Ross (1988). Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-2121-1. 
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