The legend of the Aztec Jaguar Warriors

Who were the Aztecs warriors and why were they so feared ?

Zero Wolf ( source : villains.fandom.com)

You probably might recognize this face. He is Zero Wolf, the Mayan chieftain, a character played by Raoul Max Trujillo in the movie Apocalypto (2006, dir. Mel Gibson). Zero Wolf is most probably a Yucatan Mayan who sets out to hunt men for an eventual human sacrifice, seen here wearing a costume of a wolf skull over his head. He has a wooden club with something studded on either sides of it. Tattoos run on his chest, hands and legs. The armor is made of thick animal skin and bones — ornate with jaw bones— possibly human. But is this how the Mayans and Aztec warriors looked like ?

Though there are some critical historical inaccuracies when it comes to costumes and the depiction of mass human sacrifices by the Mayans in the movie — (mass human sacrifice was more of an Aztec ritual )— it (the movie) does go into depths to pay attention to lot of detail even to the depiction of the weapons and the tattoos.

Much before the movies, interest and myths poured in from popular shows and books like ‘The Hardy boys’ books — “Mystery of the Aztec warrior” —

But apart from the factual and historical deviations in movies and authors’ abuse of creative licenses, what we are sure of is that these existed a class of warriors in the Aztec society and the civilizations prosperity depended much on them and their ability to wage war with the tiny ‘kingdoms’ around them.

The legend of the Aztec Jaguar warrior, as we know, is real .

But where do these legends and the knowledge about these warriors come from ?

To know about the source and understand the Aztec warriors better, we have to travel back around 500 in to history —

The year — 1558 ; The place — around Tepeapulco , which is about 60 miles from modern day Mexico City.

The reference map — Source: MesoAmerican Cartography, Barbara E. Mundy

The Spanish Friar, Bernardino de Sahagún was commissioned by the provincial of the New Spain ( Mexico, Guatemala , Central America, Cuba, Puerto Rico and areas around ) to document the life of the indigenous Aztec population. He undertook a detailed study spanning 25 years resulting in a series of 12 books ( known as the Florentine Codex ). This along with the other literature gives us a glimpse into the rich cultural life of the Aztecs around this period.

Cover of the Florentine Codex ( Bernardino de Sahagún)

The initial pages from the Florentine Codex by Bernardino de Sahagún

The Florentine Codex is probably the most authoritative literature we have about the Aztecs, their ceremonies, culture and the life of the people before and after the Spanish Conquest of the land we know today as Mexico, as seen and documented by a European missionary who could speak and write the indigenous language — Nahuatl.

Back to the warriors

This is the picture of a Jaguar warrior. He holds a wooden club ( macuahuitl ) studded with sharp obsidian (volcano glass) blades and a shield ( chimalli ) made of animal skin and decorated with precious stones ( in some cases ).

The Jaguar warrior ( Source : The Florentine Codex, Book 2 : The ceremonies )

The Eagle warrior ( Source : The Florentine Codex, Book 2 : The ceremonies )

Ranking system of the warriors

Codex Mendoza ( written by Don Antonio de Mendoza, 1541), another prominent source of the life of the Aztecs, gives a rich illustrated description of the ranks Aztec warriors progressed through.

Your rank depended on the number of enemies you capture alive.

These were the ranks you could grow to if you were an Aztec warrior

• Tlamanih — Capture 1 enemy alive.
• Cuextecatl — capture 2 enemies —Wears a red and black suit and a conical hat
• Papalotl — capture 3 enemies —identified here with a butterfly like suit
• Cuāuhocēlōtl — the jaguar or the eagle warrior — It took many live enemy captures ( and 20 brave deeds ) to move upto the rank of a Jaguar or Eagle warrior — as seen here in the pictures — wore distinctive jaguar skin / eagle suits. These were considered to be the most fiercest and dangerous of them all.

The different ranks in the Aztec warrior hierarchy ( The Codex Mendoza, 1541 )

Here is another illustration from Codex Mendoza, depicting a jaguar warrior.

Four Aztec Warriors. source: Codex Mendoza Folio 67

The Jaguar/Eagle warriors enjoyed a special place in the Aztec society — mostly because they ‘supplied’ the subjects for the human sacrifice at the alter of the Sun God — Huitzilopochtli. ( But more about this some time later. )

Why were the Jaguar and Eagle warriors feared the most ? Read about them in the next part of this series on Aztec Warriors .