this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2024
713 points (98.1% liked)
Comic Strips
12597 readers
3347 users here now
Comic Strips is a community for those who love comic stories.
The rules are simple:
- The post can be a single image, an image gallery, or a link to a specific comic hosted on another site (the author's website, for instance).
- The comic must be a complete story.
- If it is an external link, it must be to a specific story, not to the root of the site.
- You may post comics from others or your own.
- If you are posting a comic of your own, a maximum of one per week is allowed (I know, your comics are great, but this rule helps avoid spam).
- The comic can be in any language, but if it's not in English, OP must include an English translation in the post's 'body' field (note: you don't need to select a specific language when posting a comic).
- Politeness.
- Adult content is not allowed. This community aims to be fun for people of all ages.
Web of links
- [email protected]: "I use Arch btw"
- [email protected]: memes (you don't say!)
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I'm damn near 40, can I please talk to you about the Aztec Empire for an hour and a half?
What's interesting about it?
The way that Mesoamerica built their civilization in isolation from the old world is intensely fascinating (example: making farm land in the middle of lakes). The uniqueness in the way they extracted resources to what was considered valuable gives insight into the way humanity develops. The Mexica Empire/Valley of Mexico Triple Alliance/The Tenochca Empire/Aztec Empire is particularly interesting due it's success being derived from an abundance of practices already in place rather than innovation (they revved up everything to an 11). Their approach to warfare emphasizing one on one combat was dramatic. Finally their methods of human sacrifice are some of the most metal things I've ever heard to the point where I find violence in fiction to be banal by comparison.
What would you recommend as intro level reading?
I suggest "Handbook to Life in the Aztec World" Manuel Aguilar-Moreno. It has a couple of outdated facts and has some misconceptions of how some of the religion worked (Ometeotl is a mistranslation and ongoing point of contention). Other than that it's a good textbook for getting a solid foundation of understanding on the subject.
Would you like to expand on resource extraction? This is of particular interest to me.
Some topics would be chinampas, their use of obsidian for tool making, the evolution of the teosinte plant into multiple maize varietals, farm forests, dung canoes, maguey plant cultivation, lake ecosystem for food (from axolotls to lake skum tortillas), dual canal aqueducts, three sisters agriculture, and the methods of distribution via marketplace & the royal state.
?
Without access to large livestock the inhabitants of Lake Texcoco needed a source of fertilizer. The only available option at scale was night soil (human dung). This led to a contender for the worst job in history, dung collector. Dung was collected at designated sites (public toilets) and transported via canoe to either farms or at large dumping (pun not intended) sites to be purchased at market.
There is some good long form documentaries on YouTube about this topic and a lot of the old History Channel content out there before it went to hell in a hand basket
As far as YouTubers I enjoy Ancient Americas and Aztlan Historian.