City of Sacrifice: Violence From the Aztec Empire to the Modern Americas |  | Author: David Carrasco
Publisher: Beacon Press
Category: Book
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Rating:  6 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 279
Number Of Items: 1
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Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0807046426
Dewey Decimal Number: 299.78452
EAN: 9780807046425
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Product Description
At an excavation of the Great Aztec Temple in Mexico City, amid carvings of skulls and a dismembered warrior goddess, David Carrasco stood before a container filled with the decorated bones of infants and children. It was the site of a massive human sacrifice, and for Carrasco the center of fiercely provocative questions: If ritual violence against humans was a profound necessity for the Aztecs in their capital city, is it central to the construction of social order and the authority of city states? Is civilization built on violence?
In City of Sacrifice, Carrasco chronicles the fascinating story of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, investigating Aztec religious practices and demonstrating that religious violence was integral to urbanization; the city itself was a temple to the gods. That Mexico City, the largest city on earth, was built on the ruins of Tenochtitlan, is a point Carrasco poignantly considers in his comparison of urban life from antiquity to modernity.
Majestic in scope, City of Sacrifice illuminates not only the rich history of a major Meso american city but also the inseparability of two passionate human impulses: urbanization and religious engagement. It has much to tell us about many familiar events in our own time, from suicide bombings in Tel Aviv to rape and murder in the Balkans.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 6
 A Valuable Voice October 20, 2006
J. Li
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
David Carrasco's fascinating account of Aztec cosmology and religious practices, City of Sacrifice, provides the reader with an innovative look at the culture. Moving beyond the shock-value of purported human sacrifice within the religious rituals of the Aztec people, Carrasco moves to focus on the broader context of these ceremonies: the symbolism used, the relationship between "center and periphery" as expressed through the physical movement and placement of the rites, and the manipulation or renewal of time, place, and personal identity. He extends his study further by examining the association of such religious acts with other aspects of society, from social class to foreign affairs. Carrasco's examples come from archaeological findings as well as writings, images, and relics representing both European and Aztec perspectives and interpretations.
Carrasco's interpretation and arguments add a valuable voice to the discussion of the role and purpose of possible human sacrifice and consumption in the pre-colonial period. His clear and informative analyses of archaeological remains, such as the Codex Mendoza and the Coyolxauhqui Stone, illustrate compelling themes that run throughout Aztec culture and that carry great importance. Carrasco deftly applies theories from the study of religion in new and flexible ways to the evidence that he has uncovered within Aztec society. His novel ideas help to advance the study and understanding of cultures and religions across time and around the world.
 Fascinating, if grim, side of human religiousity August 17, 2000
no longer a customer
21 out of 25 found this review helpful
Fascinating study of Aztec religion in the context of the communal life of the City and the promotion of a common cosmology and morality. Unlike many authors of Aztec religion, Carrasco doesn't shy away from presenting the most grim aspects of Aztec human sacrifice, (from the drawing of thorns through the tongue to the heart wrenching sacrifice of children to the phantasmagoric ripping of hearts from chest cavities). In presenting these grim aspects, Carrasco asks the question "why" and offers one possible explanation in the context of the notion of communal city life and the preservation of a common cosmology and morality via ritual and myth, even if violent. Carrasco admits, refreshingly, that this is not the only explanation, and, in fact, we may never fully understand what would prompt any civilization to such wholesale spiritual slaughter, but Carrasco is one of very few scholars in religious studies willing to critically and objectively deal with the notion of violence in religion. One caveat: this is not a casual read and familiarity with Religious Studies and the work of Burkert and Eliade is assumed. At times the text can be hard going and the completion of the book has the abruptness of falling off a cliff. But for readers interested in the study of religion and how it shapes us, this book is an important addition to your bookshelf.
interesting Aztec ritual and cosmic geometry October 24, 2006
Christopher Hampson (Cranston, RI United States)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
In City of Sacrifice, David Carrasco explains his picture of Aztec cosmology by describing various Aztec rituals and traditions. He draws on his archaeological experience as well as his interpretation of Aztec art and myth. We may begin and end the book uncomfortable with human sacrifice, but Carrasco's understanding of the worldview behind it puts it in some perspective.
I find this work to be valuable first as a description of Aztec practices. Carrasco's accounts of the major Aztec festivals are interesting and enjoyable (the chapter titles include "Give Me Some Skin" and "Cosmic Jaws") although often macabre. I appreciate that Carrasco has worked on the archaeological dig in Ciudad de Mexico and understands firsthand the primary sources-- artifacts, remains, sculptures, paintings-- that form our basis of understanding for Aztec culture. Second, I enjoy Carrasco's picture of Aztec cosmology, a cosmology that has lines (both vertical and horizontal) as well as a center, a periphery, and a lynchpin between the worlds. Thinking of religion in terms of cosmic geometry is a really interesting exercize, and enables us to envision how others have ordered the world around them.
 Why Can't Academics Learn to Write? November 22, 2007
Cebes (Dracut, MA United States)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
The author rightly points out that scholars have largely avoided the topic of Aztec sacrifice, no doubt for political reasons (for fear that describing the horrible brutality of these practices might appear to be a justification for the European conquest). It is thus good to see someone face the topic directly. Nonetheless the book is a disappointment. Carrasco is addicted to unnecessary pseudo-technical jargon: "locative cosmology", "ortho-visus", "orientatio", "heterogeographical," etc., and to such mind-numbing phrasings such as "forefronting the locative nature of the city's final narrative." It is a challenge to choose the worst-written sentence in this book, so I'll pick two: "In this book, I extend the meaning of orientatio to include both the discovery and organization of central place and the sacrificial performances that have the power to reorganize, redistribute, and regenerate the central place as a culturally and politically meaningful environment." "The text and its interpretations suggest a redirecting of terms toward an expansion of categories to join a hierarchy of meaning to a unity of meaning when exploring synesthesias in urbanized societies." Unfortunately, all too often bad writing is an indicator of sloppy thinking. The author seems to spend as much time telling us what he will accomplish in this book as actually accomplishing it (he constantly announces that he will "carry the discussion further" or "gain some insight" or provide a "new understanding" or "enlarge our understanding"). The book does present some interesting facts about the practice of Aztec human sacrifice, but in the end, the interpretations are rather thin (and of course couched in pseudo-profound lingo, e.g."alignments are viewed as integral but subordinate to larger symmetries"). Nor does the book live up to its pretentious subtitle: "the role of violence in civilization." The author contributes little to a general theory of this profound issue. In sum, I would say that this book's performative narrative insufficiently forefronts a synesthetic orientatio of the Aztec cosmovision.
Archeology has a primary role in suppressing the truth June 27, 2009
Inayat2012 youtube (USA)
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
(This review is in support of the review by 'Customer' from 2003)
The Euro-centric vision, with it's own dissociative wounds did not know how, or did not want, to correctly interpret the MesoAmerican cultures. Why is it that the sculpture of Shiva as Nataraj standing on the demon Apasmara is clearly seen as the victory of consciousness over ignorance? But at the same time an Aztec depiction of a similar figure (quetzalcoatl or other) holding a small figure by the neck or even a skull MUST be a depiction of human sacrifice?
We can all accept that the Egyptians were very much into the afterlife and the progress of the soul. But any depiction of a knife and a heart in Mayan or Aztec art MUST be a depiction of human sacrifice. WRONG. The MesoAmerican cultures were just as tuned into the progress of the soul as the Egyptians. No archeologist has provided an accurate depiction of MesoAmerican or Andean spiritual cultures. Laurette Sejourne did come close in 'Burning Water' but she was derided by the archeological community, even by Pasztory, for not towing the line.
The 'Customer' in his review of this book from 2003 is correct. We do not know what part, or how pervasive, human sacrifice may or may not have been in Meso American cultures. We do not know all of the conditions around the death of those whose skeletons were found around sites that are attributed to human sacrifice. None of us were there and the codices that were created after the fact were done so by those who were under the control of the Europeans. But you can be sure that the Conquistidors, and their Vatican controllers, would have fabricated any version of 'history' in order to justify their lust for gold. Most of the gold in the Vatican came from 'New Spain' and was taken along with the blood and lives of the inhabitants of the region.
Ixlilxochtl, an Aztec scholar in the 16th century says it very well "I have read many histories written by the Spanish of the things of this nation and all of them are very different from the original history."
As another example of why not to trust archeologists. Archeology claims that all pyramids were tombs for leaders. There has never been a mummy found in an Egyptian pyramid. Teotihuacan has the largest pyramids in the Americas and has no tomb or even stele of it's leaders. The primary example of burials in the New World is Pakal in Tikal and The Lord of Sipan in Peru. Whenever you watch a BBC or other documentary on any MesoAmerican or Andean culture you are being programmed to enforce the lies you have been taught in school. As an example a documentary on Teotihuacan is named 'Pyramids of Death'. And for some reason documentaries produced by the BBC are usually the most blantant in their falsehoods. You are subjected to presumption after presumption with no room for alternate perspectives. The same is true for books like this one.
Archeology is a vanguard in protecting the mythology of the uninterrupted ascent of civilization. This concept was strongly pushed by Augustine who also argued in favor of original sin. Augustine held that the act of the redeemer was unthinkable to need to be done more than once. (That's building one precept or supposition upon another.) The religion of the west held that man's origins are literal as stated in Genesis with a timeline of 6000 years. When Galileo and his friends pushed back this date to the big bang the essence of the original structure of the process of a linear civilization was still held onto and still is today by religions vanguard science. Any other ideas about Atlantis or other higher civilizations do not fit into this view. And one can understand how the ascent of the religion of the west in it's genocide of the indigenous wisdom of Europe and it's mystery schools lead directly to the dark ages. The 'enlightenment' was the resurgence of a methodoloy more controllable by the religion of the west and that system, thanks to Descartes and others, had no direct experience of spirit. This is in sharp contrast both to the mystery schools of Europe and the American widsom embodied in the Toltec, Aztec, Inka and others. Any sign of a competing civilization possibly having been more advanced than Europe was at the time of the explorers and conquistidors had to be removed as works of the devil and the people subjugated under the accepted religion and customs.
My point is that archeology (as a system of enforcing the current culture) holds onto tired and false precepts, knowing it's place, because as an archeologist if you stick your head out you will not get funding. Archeology is all pack mentality, perpetuating the same old and wrong ideas, until some radical discover forces adjustments in the theories. (People like Robert Schoch and John Anthony West have provided some very radical and plausible concepts in Egyptian archeology. Schwaller de Lubicz went very deep into understanding Egyptian archeology and is sidelined because his work shows a depth that the field is not able to accept.) In comparison Astronomy is much more flexible to change because the data is not as easily locked away in museum warehouses. But still, blind faith in the current cultural religion of science in general, as McLuhan states, and McKenna echos, is like driving by looking through the rear-view mirror.
The 500 years of darkness of the rule of the Europeans and lies about the MesoAmericans and Andean and other indigineous peoples have come to an end. If you buy into the savage vision of Apocalypto (a continuation of the lie) then you are being prevented from seeing what was really going on here. And why would you want to see the truth because you are given this false bravado of disgust, blood and gore.
The truth is that the European culture cut itself off from the spiritual and visionary relationship with life. When this European culture encountered cultures in the Americas which were not cut off from life a natural conflict ensued inspired by domination of religion and lust for the gold of Eldorado. And the conquistidors cover their tracks and pave over the truth by bringing another 'truth' and 'converting' the local 'savages' and their 'blood thirsty ways' bringing the progress of civilization to the Americas.
Can you understand what Osiris, the Eleusinian Mysteries, the Rig Veda, and Xochipilli have in common? Eldorado and The Holy Grail, two primary objectives of mythical archeology, are the human heart representing the development of the soul. This view cannot be understood by archeology and has no use in our culture.
Authors like John Lamb Lash, Terrence McKenna, and Graham Hancock, have more to say on this if you want to get into it.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 6
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