Ancient Civilizations

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorCollege, Undergraduate November 2001

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Ancient Civilizations In my essay I am going to write what I know about the Aztecs, Mayas, and the Incas. I will write a little about each of these subjects: political, social, religion, and economy.

Each one of these civilizations was run differently, that's a sure thing. Both the Incas and the Aztecs were run by warriors and highly ranked military figures, while priests and nobles ruled over the Mayas. The Incas came down from the Andes and conquered what is now Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, and parts of Chili. The Mayas lived in the tropical rainforests of Guatemala, and The Aztecs conquered central Mexico.

Next is what the three groups were like socially. The Incas had groups of families called an ayllus. The emperor of the Incas seemed to pity himself because he slept on the floor instead of his ritzy bed so he could be level with the lowliest of his subjects.

I also read that the emperor had many wives but typically his sister was his main wife. Talk about keeping it in the family. The Aztecs were a warrior people who ate snakes on their land. The Mayas were a Spanish speaking people who lived in religious centers. The majority of the people were artisans, peasants, or slaves.

The next subject on the list is religions. I'll start with the Aztecs. Their most important god Huitzilopochtly, was believed to have an appetite for human hearts. So they sacrificed people to make their god happy, and by keeping their god happy he would reward them with war victories. During battles they took prisoners to sacrifice so they could keep their god happy, win more battles, and sacrifice their god more hearts. Now the Mayas were a little bit different, instead of one general god they...