Miguel León-Portilla

Los aztecas-méxicas fueron, por así decirlo, la fachada de una civilización originaria que floreció y se diversificó de múltiples formas desde mucho antes de la era cristiana. Existió en el centro y sur de lo que ahora es México y en regiones vecinas de América Central. Muchos han sido los procesos civilizatorios que ha desarrollado la humanidad, pero solo algunos pueden reconocerse como originarios, surgidos con plena autonomía. Todas las otras civilizaciones, por muy desarrolladas que hayan llegado a ser, deben tenerse como derivadas o encaminadas por distintos núcleos civilizatorios. En la historia universal surgieron como civilizaciones originarias las de Egipto, Mesopotamia y las de los valles del río Indo y del río Amarillo, este último en China. Este libro, de la magistral pluma e ingenio, así como el rigor que lo caracteriza, permite situarnos como espectadores de primera línea en la experiencia fascinante de lo que fue esta civilización.

Desarrollo de una civilización originaria

Aztecas-Mexicas

Martin Kemp

National Gallery of Art (U.S.)

Jonathan Brown

Michael D. Coe

Stuart Cary Welch

J. H. Elliott

Richard Kagan

Giulio Carlo Argan

David Woodward

Craig Morris

Irving Rouse

Luís de Albuquerque

Martin Collcutt

Jean Michel Massing

J. J. Martín González

Ezio Bassani

J. Michael Rogers

Julian Raby

Francis Maddison

Sherman E. Lee

Gari Ledyard

F. W. Mote

José Juan Arrom

James E. Brown

Warwick Bray

Surveys the art of the Age of Exploration in Europe, the Far East, and the Americas

Art in the Age of Exploration

Circa 1492

For at least two millennia before the advent of the Spaniards in 1519, there was a flourishing civilization in central Mexico. During that long span of time a cultural evolution took place which saw a high development of the arts and literature, the formulation of complex religious doctrines, systems of education, and diverse political and social organization. The rich documentation concerning these people, commonly called Aztecs, includes, in addition to a few codices written before the Conquest, thousands of folios in the Nahuatl or Aztec language written by natives after the Conquest. Adapting the Latin alphabet, which they had been taught by the missionary friars, to their native tongue, they recorded poems, chronicles, and traditions. The fundamental concepts of ancient Mexico presented and examined in this book have been taken from more than ninety original Aztec documents. They concern the origin of the universe and of life, conjectures on the mystery of God, the possibility of comprehending things beyond the realm of experience, life after death, and the meaning of education, history, and art. The philosophy of the Nahuatl wise men, which probably stemmed from the ancient doctrines and traditions of the Teotihuacans and Toltecs, quite often reveals profound intuition and in some instances is remarkably “modern.” This English edition is not a direct translation of the original Spanish, but an adaptation and rewriting of the text for the English-speaking reader.

A Study of the Ancient Nahuatl Mind

Aztec Thought and Culture

Miguel León-Portilla

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