Título: The Aztec: Man and Tribe
Autor: Victor Wolfgang Von Hagen
Sinopse: Von Hagen wrote many books on ancient Central and South America. In this book, he provides details on the history, institutional structures and the daily life of the Aztecs. The Indians of the Americas populated the last large land mass after modern man migrated out of Africa and developed their cultures in isolation from Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Near East and Europe. In contrast to any popularized image of nomad Indians in tee pees, Von Hagen's book is an account of a sophisticated civilization (Tenochtitlan, now Mexico City)that rivaled if not surpassed those civilizations in the mainstream of human history, and a civilization that was also influenced by earlier Mesoamerican cities(e.g., Teotihuacan, Monte Alban) that were contemporaries of the early Greeks. Given the isolation from the main current of human history, the Aztecs provide a foundation for a comparative history of how cultures develop and, perhaps, how such cultures develop from a common biological heritage shared by all humankind. Tenochtitlan is built upon the forced tribute from as many as 371 surrounding towns and cities. Although Aztec leaders were democratically elected, they "took on semidivinity" with "power only held in check by ancient mores." Priests filled a critical role among the Aztecs, including assessing the horoscope to determine whether it was time to go to war, which, when compared to the Romans who consulted chicken livers, the author interestingly concludes that the Aztec method was "a bit more saturated with reason," and, of course, the priests conducted the human sacrifices that were necessary to appease and please the Aztec gods. Battles began with "military promenades to overawe the enemy" and, for the Aztecs, death was life that had "merely passed from one phase to another" where the dead people were "invisible, impalpable, invulnerable." The dead were, in other words, the "undead" who "become the unseen members of the clan." Von Hagen's book is an easy and informative read, with many excellent drawings and pictures.
Contexto da obra
Quando a classificação é mais ampla, o contexto do livro costuma depender ainda mais de autoria, tema e edição. “The Aztec: Man and Tribe”, de Victor Wolfgang Von Hagen, publicado pela editora Mentor Books, em 1958 e com 224 páginas, integra a categoria Livros Variados. Por isso, autoria, edição e tema acabam tendo ainda mais peso na forma de apresentar o livro.
Editora: Mentor Books
Páginas: 224
Ano: 1958
Edição:
Linguagem: inglês
ISBN:
ISBN13:
