Montezuma II (1466-1520):

The Facilitator and Connoisseur of Human Sacrifice

The Europe that Hernan Cortes left in the early 1500s to explore the New World was dank and dark. It’s capital cities were marked by mud-strewn streets, the rank smell of excrement, and only tens of thousands of inhabitants. And Europe’s antiquated continental travel system largely relied on the decrepit Roman roads.

In contrast, Cortes and his 300 men found in 1519 in the New World the opulent Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan. The metropolis was larger than Rome, Madrid, and London combined. It had straight canals and roadways that were immaculately clean. Even public lavatories dotted the street. However, as they approached the Great Temple in the center of the city, a familiar smell crept into the conquistadors' nostrils.

They were horrified to see a stone pyramid streaked red with blood, complete with racks of human skills. The Spaniards would later learn that at the top of these steps the high priest would cut open the chests of those marked for human sacrifice and pull out their still-beating hearts. He would then hold the heart up to the sun and kick the corpse down the steps. Captured slaves, women, and children were common human sacrifices used in religious ceremonies. Probably the most shocking spectacle was the number of children sacrificed. Archeological excavations in Mexico have confirmed that children were frequent victims because they were considered unspoiled and pure.

The overseer of this gruesome spectacle was Aztec Emperor Motecuzoma (also known as Montezuma II). Human sacrifice was a tenant of the Aztec religious system, but as a “devout” man, the emperor expanded this system greatly until it formed the backdrop of daily life in the capital. Montezuma consulted his priests on religious and political matters, built up the cities' temples, and maintained a constant stream of human sacrifices. In fact, the Aztecs fought wars to obtain prisoners for sacrifice as much as for territorial expansion, rebellion suppression, or political conflict.

Strangely enough, some of his subjects were complicit in this system of human sacrifice. Many of these cultures believed a lack of human sacrifice would trigger the apocalypse (particularly their neighbors to the south, the Mayans, who have become quite well known for their predictions of the end of the world). Furthermore, these victims would be treated as minor deities prior to their sacrifice. Forensic Anthropologist Carmen Pijoan has noted that as unbelievable as it seems, being a human sacrifice victim was something of an honor, although whether all victims felt honored as the high priest's knife came toward their chest is an open question.

Warfare was integral to Montezuma's rule. During the final years in the expansion of the Aztec Empire, Montezuma pushed the borders of his empire south to Xoconosco in Chiapas and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. On the heels of his predecessor’s orchestration of the empire’s most significant growth, Montezuma II used his resources to consolidate power in the various territories within the empire. Montezuma was clearly a skilled political leader and administrator. But his insistent demands on his citizens to pay high tributes and his tendency to pull subjects (many, many subjects) from among the general population for numerous gruesome religious sacrifices has arguably given Montezuma II a more brutal reputation than even the conquistadors, whose inhumane methods in conquering the New World precede them.

The eighteen-year reign of Montezuma II began in 1502 after Ahuitzotl effectively doubled the empire’s size. As the ninth emperor of the Aztec Empire, Montezuma invested much of his energy into establishing infrastructure. Montezuma II was described as a harsh despot, which likely explains why no allies came to his aid when he was finally taken prisoner by Cortes and the Spaniards in 1519. While Montezuma II had proven that he was a clever military strategist and ruler, he was also given to passions and superstitions, which, at times, made the seasoned warrior seem indecisive. Yet he did work to maintain a cult of personality for himself, a reasonable action considering that Aztec politics imbued its emperor with divine qualities. His costume was adorned with rare plumage and precious stones. He was constantly surrounded by his 200 elite bodyguards and many wives. According to Spanish accounts of the time (which admittedly were prone to embellishment), he was often carried on a litter and had coverings laid in his walkway to avoid his feet from touching the ground.

When Montezuma II ruled, it is estimated that there were five to six million people in his domain. Over the course of the year, the Aztecs celebrated eighteen separate festivals, many of which called for human sacrifice. In the late 1970s, an article was written by Michael Harner, founder of the Foundation of Shamanic Studies, which estimated the number of Aztec human sacrifices to be in excess of 200,000 people per year. Other sources indicate that it is possible that 20% of the children in the empire were sacrificed annually. Even low estimations gather that more than 1,000 people were likely killed at each festival or religious ceremony, which happened about every 20 days. And, as was the Aztec way, many of those sacrificed were then eaten by noblemen and warriors.

Subjects of his territory did not only have the festivals to worry about. During his rule, Montezuma II changed his labor policies to allow more of the nobility to get the best jobs by stealing them from commoners. Not only did he require hefty tributes, but he cut jobs. The sheer size of the empire that Montezuma II ruled made it very difficult to suppress revolts. He was leader of a people who were simply not pleased with the way things were going and revolts were a constant problem, cropping up consistently in different areas of the empire. Suppressions were bloody events where villagers were slaughtered by the hundreds, cementing Montezuma’s reputation as a brutal dictator.

Coincident with a prophecy that their ancestral god, Quetzalcóatl would return in 1519, Cortes arrived that same year and Montezuma II made the mistake of thinking he was a god instead of a possible enemy to be watched. The emperor sent the Spaniards gifts of gold and silver in an attempt to sate these “gods” and make them go away. Instead of leaving, they decided to stay, with plans to take the territory and its apparent riches. For months, Montezuma II invited Cortes and the Spaniards to live with him in the palace, and for reasons that are still a mystery Montezuma went from being a gracious (albeit suspicious) host to a prisoner in his own home. Montezuma’s perceived naïvete cost him the respect and trust of his subjects.

Montezuma's rule turned to that of a puppet regime, and when Cortes left the palace to fight rival Spaniards from Cuba who had come to arrest him, he left his men in the capital with Montezuma. While he was gone, they increasingly outlawed Aztec religious expression, preventing priests from entering the temples and replacing images of their gods with those of Christ. During a religious festival the Aztecs and remaining Spaniards fell into combat as the Spaniards perceived a threat and locked the Aztecs into the temple, killing thousands. Upon the return of Cortes, the conflict between the Aztecs and Spaniards forced Montezuma to referee the conflict and step out on a balcony to confront his people. It is unclear if he was killed by his own people when a hail of rocks or arrows came his way, or if it was done by the Spaniards who realized that the neutered ruler was no longer any use to them.

Cortes and his men fled the city but returned a year later with an army and captured the capital city once and for all. He established himself as the governor and Captain-General of “New Spain” and Aztec civilization fell permanently under Spanish rule. The Catholic Church established itself in the New World and worked to convert the native population, as the conquistadors looted the land. Through this conquest, in an ironic epilogue to Montezuma's bloody life, his subjects would face death from smallpox in far higher numbers (estimates go as high as 90 percent of the population) then they had from sacrifices during Montezuma’s reign. Aztec subjects had already lived under a cruel tyrant and a fierce colonial regime, but they would suffer far more from microbiology.