The WRITING SYSTEM of the Aztecs

From its origin, writing has been a key value for civilizations, its use being very important to have sources on events or to communicate the different regions. To know the way of writing of one of the most important cultures of all America in this lesson from a PROFESSOR we must talk about how was the writing of the Aztecs.

Index

1. The Aztecs and their writing
2. The type of writing of the Aztecs: the Aztec glyphs
3. History of Aztec writing

Before talking about the writing of the Aztecs, we must briefly explain who were the aztecs to understand its great relevance to American and Mesoamerican history. Lto the existence of an own writing for his people it was very important for maintain your own status of empire and communicate all the regions of such a wide region.

The Aztecs or Mexica were a great civilization that existed between 1321 and 1521, born from the union of various Mesoamerican peoples in a great alliance and ending with the colonization process carried out by the arrival of Europeans to the American territory. Their birth takes place as servants of other great peoples, but thanks to their exodus looking for a new home, their

His stage of greatest splendor was the call postclassic period, achieving in its course to be the dominant culture of all Mesoamerica thanks to its warrior and conquering spirit, but it was especially dominant in the area of ​​the Valley of Mexico, being the place where it dominated the rest of the peoples of the area.

We must bear in mind that like all the peoples of the area, the Aztecs or Mexica had the influence of numerous previous or contemporary cultures, such as the Maya wave olmec and that is why the writing of the Aztec people has many characteristics of these cultures.

Image: Culture

To know what the writing of the Aztecs was like, we must talk about the main characteristic elements of this system, in order to understand its peculiarities and what made it so interesting.

Aztec or Mexica writing was the writing form of the Nahuatl language, used by the settlers of the great Aztec Empire and whose relevance was such that many surrounding towns began to use it. The Mexica script it was very complex, using both syllabaries and many iconographic elements such as pictograms and ideograms (which are known as Aztec glyphs) being therefore a much more complex language than those we know today.

Years ago it was thought that writing was something that only the upper classes of society knew how to use, but the last years of the studies of books after the conquest have shown that lower classes such as peasants or merchants were also capable of knowing writing Aztec.

Influence of other cultures on Aztec writing

The influence of other cultures on Aztec writing is clear, with Olmec-like syllabaries, the use of symbols such as some primitive Mesoamerican cultures and also the ability to write without symbols as the Mayans had achieved. All this shows that Aztec writing is another example of the great influence that Mesoamerican cultures had from their predecessors, this function being vital for civilizations to grow from the origin of other peoples.

We must bear in mind that there are not too many original Mexican codices, the vast majority being written by the colonizers after the conquest as copies of the language of the Aztecs. However, thanks to years of research if we know cases of authentic codices where we can see the reality of Aztec writing, and thanks to those who after years have been able to study the different systems of this type of writing.

Image: Pinterest

The study of the history of language has been a key factor of linguists to understand the cultural influences born of sharing a language to a greater or lesser extent, and not It is no longer interesting to talk about the history of Aztec or Mexica writing to understand its relevance.

It is thought that the birth of writing in Mesoamerica had an independent origin, thus being similar to the languages ​​used in China or Egypt. Originally, Mesoamerican languages they used hieroglyphs to refer to syllables or morphemes, there are hundreds of examples of languages ​​with this system but which differed from each other.

With the passage of time, the influence of the Mayan language was changing and forming a new language that would be Nahuatl, that is to say, the Aztec writing, since although some studies consider that there is not enough relationship between both languages ​​for them to be related. The latest research believes that the similarities between the two languages ​​demonstrate a great influence of the Mayan language in Nahuatl.

Over the years, writing became more and more common in the Aztec world and it was not until the arrival of the European colonizers that the writing of the Mexica was lost little by little. To change the thinking of the natives, the Spaniards began an indoctrination towards Catholicism and towards Spanish, destroying most of the texts with Aztec writing, and only a few or the copies made by the religious survived.

After many years of studies, in the 19th century, Aztec writing became relevant again, being the moment in which numerous studies managed to translate the Aztec texts that were still active.

If you want to read more articles similar to What was the writing of the Aztecs like, we recommend that you enter our category of Story.

https://mexico.sil.org/es/lengua_cultura/nahuatl/nahuatl-clasico

https://www.unprofesor.com/ciencias-sociales/lenguas-de-la-cultura-azteca-3937.html

https://www.portaleducativo.net/cuarto-basico/775/Sistema-de-numeracion-y-escritura-azteca#:~:text=Los%20aztecas%20abrieron%20diversos%20tipos, of% 20those% 20written% 20called% 20c% C3% B3dices.

https://www.cinconoticias.com/escritura-azteca/

http://www.mexica.net/nahuatl/writingsp.php