So what was the origin of their sadism? Was it genetic? How exactly did they become sadistic before they “made up their religion.”
As has been pointed out, the Aztecs were far from unique in their cruelty. Europeans at more or less the same time were burning thousands of people alive in public display, or executing them by disemboweling or other tortures.
The Aztecs developed a cultural system that worked for them, at least for a time. They instituted a Reign of Terror that served to intimidate and subdue their neighbors and conquered peoples. They didn’t invent human sacrifice or other cruel aspects of their culture; these had been practiced in Mesoamerica for centuries before them. The Aztecs however ramped them up to levels not seen before.
Isn’t it a local anesthetic, not really a “painkiller” as we think of it, like NSAIDs or opiates? Or does it actually have any kind of systemic pain-killing properties when ingested in the usual manner?
Sounds like a research project for Butch (Chopping Block).
Curare won’t actually help with the pain, but it will help with the screaming, wriggling, futile attempts to escape. Makes getting through the diaphragm easier if it is relaxed, too.
Your namesake is probably even a better example: the worse atrocities have always been invading armies sacking cities. There’s the strategic aspect, of course–make the next city give up without a fight. There’s also the pragmatic: paying soldiers in loot is cheap, and, I suspect, makes being in an army feel like buying a lottery ticket: you COULD get lucky. Some other guy did. But more than both of those, I think it’s just that to be a soldier you have to dehumanize your opponents, and that extends to his wife and children.
You do know that not everyone who died did so in the gas chambers, right? A lot of them were subject to brutal medical experiments, including vivisection. (I’d say that’s right up there with being disembowled) The worst of the camps was in Jasenovac, Croatia. They didn’t even bother with the gas chambers – there people were cremated alive.
As for gas chambers being “pretty quick and painless”, think again. The average time was about 20 minutes – not what I’d call a quick death when it’s by poisonous gas. Zyklon B, for example:
As a fan of mythology, it’s my impression that the gods of meso America were indeed particularly bloodthirsty.
For example
When Aneas falls in love with queen Dido and wants to settle his people on her island, Venus appears to him and says ‘You must leave this place and found Rome. Go. Steal away in the night without telling any outsider. This way, they won’t be able to convince you to stay.’ Full disclosure- upon finding Aneas gone, Dido commits suicide.
When the Mexica find acceptance and love in a foreign land and want to stay, a god (I can look up which one if you insist) appears to their leader and says ‘You must leave this place and go found Mexico. Kill the princess who has fallen in love with you. Go to her father dressed in her skin. Then they will kick you out and you will have no choice but to go’.
Don’t believe me? Look up Xipe Totec
Re Willing Sacrifices
According to Joseph Campbell, many sacrifices did go willingly. They believed they would dwell forever in paradise, ensure prosperity for their people, and be honored as heroes.
Re Hallucinogens
The Aztec had a god of shrooms, Teonanacatl. I have a replica statuette of the god made by McNeal Pharmaceuticals.
Panatti’s Extraordinary Endings Of Practically Everything And Everybody has most of an article written by a reporter who witnessed an execution in the gas chamber. The short version is that the condemned remained conscious and in obvious agony for around 10 minutes.
I think we need Tom Cruise to get to the bottom of it:
TC: Aztec high priest, did you pull out Santiago’s still beating heart?!
AHP: You want answers?
TC: I want the truth!
AHP: You can’t handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has temples, and those temples have to be manned by people with considerable gripping strength and yanking ability. Who’s gonna do it? You? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the high priests. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know, that Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives! You don’t want the truth, because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that temple. You need me on that temple. We use words like “human sacrifice”, “sun gods”, “continued existence of the world”. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very universe that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it! I would rather you just said “thank you”, and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a knife, and find a torso to dig around in.
Come to think of it there may be a genetic component to their sadism, the current Mexican cartel violence and beheadings come to mind. Many Mexicans are descendents of the Aztec and Mayan (who were equally sadistic) people. I have several Mexican friends and I have seen them fight in street fights and they fight with a brutality and viciousness I haven’t seen in other groups of people.