The Aztec Myths:
A Guide to the Ancient Stories and Legends
by Camilla Townsend Thames & Hudson, 208 pages, £14.99
The history of the Aztecs (or, as they would have called themselves, the Mexica) is riddled with colonial prejudice and contemporary misconception. But, as Camilla Townsend contends in this fine new book, the Aztecs’ own dramatic tales of their ferocity also contributed to these bloodthirsty stereotypes as they sought to frighten their enemies and mitigate their defeats with exaggerated claims of sacrificial and military violence.
Townsend’s Aztecs were expert storytellers, who deployed their histories strategically to teach the past and influence the present. In the case of sacrifice, argues Townsend, “their approach backfired”, and these stories have loomed over their history ever since. But, as the author ably shows, sacrifice was just one, much misunderstood, component of a vast and layered worldview where divine demands stood in tension with everyday human concerns.