# Ancient Aztec Human Sacrifice? Myth or True? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 6, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-aztec-human-sacrifice-myth-or-true/523961 "2010-01-06T21:29:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jormungandr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@Jormungandr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jormungandr)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-aztec-human-sacrifice-myth-or-true/523961/41 "2010-02-03T19:43:09Z")
> [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > The stone knives thing conjures up a pretty gruesome and ineffective “hacking and stabbing” image, but if the Aztecs used obsidian for the knifes, as **robardin** claims, keep in mind that obsidian can be used to make very very sharp knives indeed, even with extremely primitive technology (and a lot of skill). [according to Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obsidian#Current_use), it’s being used _today_ for surgical scalpels. Hacking and stabbing is the image, but it seems to be incorrect. One objection to the impossibility of the large number of sacrifices was the time it took to cut out the heart. People assumed the Aztecs cut through the ribs and sternum to get to the heart and this would take a long time. However, one researcher, I can’t recall his name, showed it was possible if the Aztecs went below the sternum. A simple slice there and one could go in, grab the heart and cut off the arteries and veins in about a minute. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-aztec-human-sacrifice-myth-or-true/523961/42 "2010-02-03T20:47:35Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > My question: was anything like this EVER witnessed by the Spaniards? Or is it a tall tale, told by the Spanish priests (no doubt to vilify the Aztec religion)? The ised sounds too fantatic-the victim WILLINGLY goes to his death? > ? > [@outlierrn](#): > > I remember reading that when the first crusade took Jerusalem they slaughtered pretty much the entire population, blood ran ankle deep in the gutters. > > These days we have humans choosing to sacrifice themselves for religion on the news almost every fuckin’ night. What’s so hard to believe > [@Colibri](#): > > [Moderating] > > Let’s stick to the question in the OP, please, and not extend this to current events. If you want to explore that, please open a thread in GD. > > Colibri > General Questions Moderator 😕 The OP questioned the willingness to slaughter and be slaughtered for an extinct religion. I posted 2 examples of similar behaviour for existing religions, one past one current. I’m not really seeing your objection. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-aztec-human-sacrifice-myth-or-true/523961/43 "2010-02-03T21:11:16Z")
> [@Lawn\_Gnome](#): > > I remember reading my high school’s AP World History book that basically said that many of the Aztecs’ human sacrifices actually WERE voluntary. Their religious beliefs told of the Sun god and other various gods occasionally sacrificing themselves for the Aztecs, so the Aztecs in turn sacrificed themselves to give more energy, blood, and life to the gods. In this way the Aztecs found it a HUGE honor to be sacrificed for the gods in this way. I remember the book mentioning instances in which Aztecs who were designated to be sacrificed actually willingly walked up the pyramid steps by themselves all the way to the altar where they would shortly have their hearts cut out and have their bodies pushed down the side of the pyramid. This is similar to how the winning teams of their ball game, ullamaliztli, were sacrificed also. The members of the winning team were sacrificed in honor to the gods. Both were believed to be honorable deaths. > > Of course there were many other rituals during the year where people were forced to be sacrificed completely unwillingly. For example, the daily sacrifice to the sun god (for the sun to come up the next day) always used captured peoples. The Aztecs and surrounding city states and empires that shared the same culture and religious beliefs actually left certain villages and cities undefended for “flower wars” where the empires’ armies would go and steal hundreds of people to be sacrificed over time. This book also mentioned certain holidays that occurred annually or every couple of years where literally dozens or in some cases, several hundred people would be sacrificed over the span of a day or a few days in the celebrations. We currently have suicide bombers willing to die for their religion in gruesome manners. I don’t suppose the mentality between being a willing sacrifice and suicide bomber is that different. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-aztec-human-sacrifice-myth-or-true/523961/44 "2010-02-04T00:01:22Z")
> [@Jormungandr](#): > > Hacking and stabbing is the image, but it seems to be incorrect. One objection to the impossibility of the large number of sacrifices was the time it took to cut out the heart. People assumed the Aztecs cut through the ribs and sternum to get to the heart and this would take a long time. However, one researcher, I can’t recall his name, showed it was possible if the Aztecs went below the sternum. A simple slice there and one could go in, grab the heart and cut off the arteries and veins in about a minute. Heck, didn’t Mythbusters prove this? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-aztec-human-sacrifice-myth-or-true/523961/45 "2010-02-04T01:17:53Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > 😕 > The OP questioned the willingness to slaughter and be slaughtered for an extinct religion. I posted 2 examples of similar behaviour for existing religions, one past one current. I’m not really seeing your objection. [Moderating] The point had already been made in the post before yours. While it is a valid observation, I just don’t want to see this thread veer off into a hijack about modern suicide bombers. > [@ZPG\_Zealot](#): > > We currently have suicide bombers willing to die for their religion in gruesome manners. I don’t suppose the mentality between being a willing sacrifice and suicide bomber is that different. Please see my previous post in this thread. The point about modern suicide bombers has been made three times now; we don’t need to keep reiterating it. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-aztec-human-sacrifice-myth-or-true/523961/46 "2010-02-04T01:52:35Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > What a spectacle! Imagine the horror. > I still can’t imagine reaching in to someone’s innards, and ripping out the heart! I can. I think I saw it on one of the _CSI_ shows. (Seriously, for entertainment, we probably see more ooky stuff on a weekly basis than the patrons of the Roman coliseum and the throngs of Aztecs). ---
**Author:** ![Danimal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-aztec-human-sacrifice-myth-or-true/523961/47 "2010-02-04T02:10:36Z")
Will a human heart actually keep beating once it’s traumatically excised from the body? If it does keep beating, why? Wouldn’t severing the nerve connections remove the electric impulse that signals the muscle to contract? ---
**Author:** ![Getheren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Getheren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Getheren)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-aztec-human-sacrifice-myth-or-true/523961/48 "2010-02-04T02:15:11Z")
> [@Danimal](#): > > Will a human heart actually keep beating once it’s traumatically excised from the body? If it does keep beating, why? Wouldn’t severing the nerve connections remove the electric impulse that signals the muscle to contract? The heart produces its own rhythmic impulses originating in the sinoatrial node and atrioventricular nodes (the natural pacemakers) Unless these nodes are severed from the rest of the heart (difficult to do, as they are internal to the heart), the heat will continue to spontaneously beat outside the body for a short time. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-aztec-human-sacrifice-myth-or-true/523961/49 "2010-02-04T02:19:09Z")
> [@Danimal](#): > > Will a human heart actually keep beating once it’s traumatically excised from the body? Yes, for a brief period of time. In fact, excising the heart and holding it up, _still beating_, to the sun was a feature of many Aztec sacrifices. > [@](#): > > If it does keep beating, why? Wouldn’t severing the nerve connections remove the electric impulse that signals the muscle to contract? Nope. The heart contains it’s own, self-contained pacing system, called a “pacemaker”, that coordinates the contraction and relaxation from within the heart itself. (Failure of the natural pacemaker necessitates the implantation of an artificial one, which has become quite routine these days). In fact, an isolated heart _cell_ will continue to beat for a brief time, and two such that make contact will start beating in unison. Although the brain and other body signals can affect the heart rate and rhythm, the heart’s basic beating comes from within the heart itself. This, by the way, is why transplanted hearts, which have all nerve connections to a body severed, function after being implanted into their donors. The transplanted heart still self-generates a heartbeat. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-aztec-human-sacrifice-myth-or-true/523961/50 "2010-02-04T02:31:56Z")
On a related note, is there a correlation with the Spanish Conquistadors (esp. Cortes) being linked to Quetzalcoatl, one of the few gods that (iirc) was said to dislike human sacrifice? ---
**Author:** ![Danimal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Danimal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danimal)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-aztec-human-sacrifice-myth-or-true/523961/51 "2010-02-05T03:29:29Z")
Thanks to **Broomstick** and **Getheren** for fighting my ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-aztec-human-sacrifice-myth-or-true/523961/52 "2010-02-05T04:09:24Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Although the brain and other body signals can affect the heart rate and rhythm, the heart’s basic beating comes from within the heart itself. > > This, by the way, is why transplanted hearts, which have all nerve connections to a body severed, function after being implanted into their donors. The transplanted heart still self-generates a heartbeat. This gives me a totally new perspective on _My Heart Will Go On_ ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-aztec-human-sacrifice-myth-or-true/523961/53 "2010-02-05T12:30:03Z")
You could get a bumper sticker that says, “I [heart] Aztecs.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-aztec-human-sacrifice-myth-or-true/523961.md?page=2)