Social Roles and Classifications

The Aztecs followed a strict social system that consisted of nobles (Pipiltin), commoners
(macehualtin), and of course slaves. Every social class had an important and significant role as
found in the passage of Tarlton Law Library. Usually in social classes of other civilizations,
slaves don’t have much of a purpose to life in society's eyes, however, that differed in The
Mexica (Aztec) ways of life. Just like other noblemen in civilizations, the nobles for the Aztec
civilization weren’t much different. They owned land, the labour of slaves (Different compared
to most forms of slavery) and were wealthy. In any civilization there are farmers, craftsmen and
those who made jewelry or pottery. In the Aztec Society,
the commoners were important as they worked on the land
that the nobles owned, maintaining land and production is
part of economic growth. Moving up in social classes was a
normal concept for The Mexica but there were still limits of
how far a person can move up. Commoners for example can
only become warriors or priests at most, as for slaves they
also had opportunities. As mentioned before, slaves were
crucial to this civilization and not like slaves in other
civilizations. In the source Tarlton Law Library, “ Aztecs
were not born slaves and could not inherit this status from
their parents” Infact, many became slaves as a way to pay
debt or punishment. They were able to move up in their social status, if they weren’t sacrificed of
course…. Slaves were then free of their labour when their owner died or when they married off.
By law if you owned a slave in these times, you were held accountable for feeding them,
clothing them, and housing them as they had the job of personal labour and not for the
community as a whole. In Basic Aztec facts, Ian Mursell has written, “Slave owners owned the
labour NOT the individual person.” This is a key fact to how The Mexica treated their slaves.

The Women of The Aztec Civilization

Men and male were seen as different yet
equal, but that didn’t change the fact that
Aztec women still faced issues in their
civilization. They held an inferior status
compared to the men in their social classes.
A professor of Anthropology by the name
of Elizabeth M. Brumfiel, stated “ This
ideology glorified male warriors and
portrayed women as agents of cosmic
disorder and enemies destined for
conquest.” Although women had a bad
representation with ideology and some mythology, they were still able to own land. The
Aztecs understood the need of two complementary beings to produce an outcome, which
refers to both a female and a male. That applies for humans and for agricultural success.
Gender complementarity was a core belief in the Aztec belief as the concept of sexual
intercourse of man and women were needed, and for agriculture it was the dark soil that
was needed. The Aztec way of life included specific roles and jobs to females and
separately. Each of them had duties apart from one another to gain success together. In
the source it states “Male activities generally occurred outside the house: farming,
fishing, long-distance trading, and making war. Female activities were mostly connected
with the house and its associated courtyard: sweeping, cooking, and weaving.
Interestingly, childcare was not considered a particularly female activity.” Childcare was
essential to both parents, daughters with their mothers and sons with their fathers. This
created a balance even with specific jobs and roles but in many civilizations and empires,
women are expected to carry the duty of the caretaker of children.

Political Structure
The empire consisted of city-states known as “altepetl” which were ruled by leaders called
“tlatoani” and a “cihuacoatl” which was a judge for the city state. According to Tarlton Law
Library, once a Tlatoani was chosen, he served his role as the leader for his city-state his whole
life. There were requirements too even be considered for the roles of Huey tlatoani/tlatoani such
as “...to be nobles, to be over the age of 30, to have been educated at one of the elite calmecac
schools, to be experienced warriors and military leaders, and to be just.”
The main Huey Tlatoani or emperor, which would live in Tenochtitlan, he would have five
advisors with one out of the five to be a senior advisor. The noble were allowed to vote who they
wanted to be chosen for all roles, as it was important because a tlatoani (or Huey Tlatoani) was
to be a representative of the gods.
Tlatoani/Emperors Timeline Although they are all significant to the history of the empire,
some leaders stood out more in particular. The empire was established in 1325, however there
was no Tlatoani, which is translated to “Speaker’, according to History Crunch, a Huey Tlatoani
or emperor wasn’t established until 1369. The first ruler was Acamapichtli, and he is well known
for truly establishing the empire as the first ruler out of the total of 11. He contributed to the
growth of power and wealth. The source also mentions “Acamapichtli improved Tenochtitlan in
several key ways, including: building up the chinampa ‘floating garden’ system around the city
to improve agriculture, and building temples and public buildings.” He was able to be considered
for the role of Huey Tlataoni (“Great speaker”) from his mother’s noble background and his
father was a Mexica.
The fourth Huey Tlatoani, Itzcoatl, was mentioned before as he established the triple alliance to
keep Tenochtitlan as the home for the Mexica. He also boosted the trading/route systems and
made a big income for the Aztec economy.
Moctezuma l, was the son of the second Huey Tlatoani and
became fifth in rule. He was well recognized as “He is
remembered for expanding the Aztec Empire outside of the
Valley of Mexico and into parts of the coast along the Gulf of
Mexico.”
Although they may have the same name, Moctezuma ll, ninth
in rule is known for his confrontation to the Spanish
conquistadors and Hernan Cortes. Although he also had a bad
rap for charges too much for taxes, he at least did what a
leader should and not push the problem away ...that was until
he was captured.
Moctezuma ll
All the Huey Tlatoani
● Acamapichtli (1369 to 1391 CE)
● Huitzilihuitl (1391 to 1415 CE)
● Chimalpopoca (1415 to 1426 CE)
● Itzcoatl (from 1427 to 1440 CE)
● Moctezuma I (from 1440 to 1469 CE)
● Axayacatl ( 1469 to 1481 CE)
● Tizoc (1481 to 1486 CE)
● Ahuitzotl (from 1486 to 1502 CE)
● Moctezuma II ( 1502 to 1520 CE)
● Cuitlahuac (1520 CE)
● Cuauhtemoc (1521 to 1525 CE)