Similar to the Mayan Calendar--heck, it's a direct rip off! Let's see if you can decode the Aztec Sun Stone.

Cortes had help!
La Malinche
Smallpox

The follow-up lesson:
Aztecs

Many of these links are outside of www.WhatDoYaKnow.com,
be aware that websites come and websites go...just like ancient civilizations. So don't get too frustrated if a link or two on this page serve up a 404 error...

Similar to the Mayan Calendar there are differences...
The Aztec Calendar

The Aztec Calendar came from the Mayans. Just as the Romans borrowed their gods from the Greeks the Aztecs took many aspects of their culture from the Mayans. The Aztecs weren't as sophisticated in the way they used their calendar. Something was lost in the transfer from one MesoAmerican culture to the next.

You won't be as able as a Time Priest to interpret the events the calendar is capable of predicting, but you'll get a feeling for what the calendar was all about.

The picture at left is of the Aztec Sun Stone--their calendar. It is 12 feet tall! The Spanish found it in the center of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was sacked by Hernan Cortes in 1521. The stone weighs in at over 25 tons!

There is a large graphic below that explains what all the different components of the Calendar. When you're doing your interpretation consider the calendar as sets of concentric rings. Each ring stands for time or recurring events. Note too the explanations given for the various symbols--there is an explanation for why there are monkeys, how the earth was once destroyed by flood (sound familiar?,) and even how the world will end again.

I wonder what's going to happen on December 21, 2012 on this calendar?