- Empire of Ritual: The Art of the Aztec

Catalog description

The visual and material culture of the Aztec of central Mexico from the founding of their capital city, Tenochtitlan, in the 14th century CE through the Spanish Conquest of 1521 CE. Students will explore the art and architecture of the capital city as important components of the Aztec Empire’s political message, and how this imperial visual program negotiated the state’s mythological past and contributed to a rhetoric of divinely-sanctioned political expansion. Through an interdisciplinary range of sources and methods, students will consider the integral relationship between aesthetics and religion, state and personal ritual practices, the role of the artist, and the legacy of Aztec culture after the Conquest.