Jaguar Nights Mayan Aztec Calendar book series
	Home | Calendars | Journey | Companions | Oracle | Journal | Merchandise | Extras | Bibliography Mayan-Aztec Calendar site | Obsidian Butterfly metaphysical site
		search Jaguar Nights
	Share:     Follow:     Contact:

STONE OF TIZOC

The Stone of Tizoc is a circular slab of basalt, similar to the Aztec Sun Stone, six feet in diameter to the Sun Stone's twelve feet, with similar iconography on the face. It commemorates the lackluster 5-year reign of Tizoc, the seventh tlatoani (ruler) of Tenochtitlan (1481 to 1486).

The top is illustrated with an 8-pointed star representing the four cardinal directions and four intervening directions, as well as the rays of the sun. The sides depict 14 Aztec warriors taking prisoners, watched over by Tizoc himself. Above the warriors is a band of stars and below them a jagged, pointy depiction of the earth.

The four-foot-thick temalacatl ("spindle stone"), was used as a fighting platform prior to sacrifices. A hapless captive would have been tied to the stone and given a mock or toy weapon, and tasked to fight actual armed warriors to the death. The blood of the battles would soak into the carved sun's rays as an offering to the sun god. The hollow center of the stone was also a vessel for the hearts of sacrifices. The "crack" in the face and side of the stone is not a flaw, but deliberate. As well as feeding the hearts and blood to the sun god, the stone also nourished the earth monster, Tlaltecuhtili, as the extra fluids flowed out this void.

The Stone of Tizoc was discovered in 1791 in Mexico City's Plaza del Empedradillo and now resides at National Museum of Anthropology.