Draft:Pre-Columbian Iconoclasm

Overview

Iconoclasm is the action of attacking or rejecting the cherished beliefs, institutions, or established values of practices of religious images or icons. Iconoclasm spans over several centuries and various cultures. The diversity of iconoclasm ranges from Ancient to Byzantine to medieval and early modern. The following article will focus on specific instances of Iconoclasm within a pre-Columbian context. Pre-Columbian iconoclasm refers to the era of Indigenous tribes in Central America and modern-day Mexico before Christopher Columbus arrived in the 16th century or 1492. For instance, civilizations such as the Mayans, Inca, Aztecs, etc. will be focused on in this article. Each tribe had strong religious and mythical ties that were the foundations of their beliefs which created a multitude of symbolism. Researchers were able to see iconoclasm in this era as the destruction of temples and religious idols that were associated with tribes for political and religious reasons. While pre-Columbian iconoclasm has little documentation, what is left tells researchers that Iconoclastic acts played a hand in the civilization's sociopolitical and religious dynamics.

Historical Context

The Maya civilization in the Yucatan Peninsula through southern Guatemala expanded to the low and highland regions as they established their society. Their culture can be seen through pyramids, temples, religion, and advancements in mathematics and astrology. This civilization consisted of many cities whose residents spoke around 30 languages and had 2 million inhabitants at its peak. Their social-political structure entailed a hierarchal state head emphasizing centralized government given to royal households. The collapse of the Mayan civilization started with the abandonment of many cities, scholars believe that there can be many explanations for the abandonment which consist of overpopulation, environmental depletion, warfare, and other factors. Lastly, the Spanish conquistadores came in the early 1500s to take over the last Mayan city.

The Aztecs, that is now present-day Mexico, was established in the 13th century and established their city capital which they called Tenochtitlan. They are known for their cities being built on top of a land of water which was used for agriculture. The Aztec agriculture can be deemed sophisticated due to their irrigation method and cultivation of land. Their culture was established by religious belief and military efforts. The Aztecs believed that the Earth was the last in a series that consisted of 13 heavens and 9 underworlds. Their military was built by training young boys to learn combat and were taught to capture sacrificial victims. The social-political state of this civilization included a bureaucratic system and at the top of this system was the monarch. The fall of this civilization was when Hernan Cortes and his troops of conquistadores came in to colonize.

Geography

Pre-Columbian Iconoclasm was geographically spread out among the landscape and a diverse group of indigenous Americans. The areas of the Mayan and Aztec civilization are in Mesoamerica, which can now be said to be modern-day Mexico through Guatemala. The iconoclasm itself was influenced by geographical conditions and instances and do not necessarily are narrowed to one area.

Mayan Civilization

Modern Day Tikal

Mayan Statue representing the Mother Goddess

Two Mayan sites Tikal (Guatemala) and Copan(Honduras) were areas victims of significant iconoclastic activity. Tikal became the largest Mayan city-state after the downfall of Teotihuacan and Copan became an archaeological treasure for its preserved hieroglyphic texts. Tikal was targeted for its prominence and its geography contributed to not only its resources but also isolation from competition but also religious reform. Conflicts resulted in the defacement or destruction of religious icons to assert dominance or assert one's authority. Copan's mountainous domain provided problems with non-Mayan groups and internal power struggles. The city's traditional practices became illegitimatizes and desecrations of striations symbolically dismantled the city. Other cities such as Chichen Itza and Uxmal faced iconoclastic acts due to shifts in public power and religion.

Aztec Civilization

Arial View of Tenochtitlan

The Aztec empire faced an increase in Iconoclasm due to its aggressive tactics of geographical expansion and forced assimilation. Tenochitican was located in Lake Texcoco with natural defensive measures and control over the perimeter region. Their control led to economic dominance to support their Iconoclastic acts. The location made it simply easier to enforce their authority and force others to adopt their way of life. Tenochititwas was also a hub for religious influences and faced destruction by Spanish conquistadors to undermine their political power as an Indigenous population. Another example of forced assimilation by the Aztecs was the statue of the Templo Mayor. Templo mayor was a significant religious building within their city that represented their god's supremacy over them. Iconoclasm in this instance was replacing deities with Aztec gods to influence and infiltrate the previous religion with their ideology.

Mayan Iconoclasms

Mayan Iconoclasm focused mainly on the destruction of their inscriptions, murals, and monuments. The symbols were heavily emphasized within their culture and unfortunately were targeted to disrupt their society. The targets held the essence of past rulers and ideologies the Mayan people once worshipped or still did. Therefore, Iconoclastic acts against the icons reinforced the political power of those who dared dismember them. The effects of Iconoclasm on the Mayan civilization have long-lasting effects on the remains of evidence left for archeologists to discover.

Political Iconoclasm

Despite there being little evidence of Mayan iconoclasm, there have been instances of destruction from within the Mayan community. Many scholars have found that there has been destruction of cities by the Mayans. Some of the reasons for this can be found in overpopulation and the need for resources. Not only was survival a factor but it can be seen to be political. Through the destruction of important monuments, scholars concluded that the Mayan cities and their residents destroyed political figures to rebel against the state and its lack of resources. Looking away from within the Mayan community, there were not many incidents of iconoclasm but more of the engulfment of different cultures.

Mayan Sacrificial Iconoclasm

When the Mayans would overpower another city, they would take aspects of the cultures that they took over. A factor that should be taken into account is the sacrifice of people in military action. The Mayan military was trained to take people who held high power on the opposite side for public humiliation and sacrifice. This can be considered an act of iconoclasm because they used the people in power as a symbol of a takeover. Not only that but the Mayans believed that sacrificing those that are royalty in the other societies were thought to have sacred blood.

Abandonment or Iconoclasm

After taking over with military power, the Mayans would abandon the site of war and leave it destroyed. Many scholars debate, whether or not there were actual acts of destruction within the Mayan civilization this is because there were a lot of warfare within their own empire and the destruction does not seem to have intent of iconoclasm.

Aztec Iconoclasms

Pre-Columbian Aztec art consisted of codex, pottery, architecture, sculptures, metal art, and stamps in the form of humans, animals, deities, religious ceremonies, and plants. Artifacts buried in the Templo Mayor could have indicated significance to the Aztecs such as the Olmec jadeite mask. Aztecs were known to be violent fighters and were at constant war with neighboring tribes. They were known to destroy cities and temples if the opposing tribe refused to join the Aztec empire. The Aztec warriors also took religious idols from rival tribes as a trophy. However, most of their iconography records have been lost and destroyed throughout time.

Aztec codex

Replica of Aztec codex

Aztec codex are manuscripts that are made from fig-bark trees or deerskin. It is then folded and put together like a book. These manuscripts consisted of images and stories of history and religious myths. The codices also portrayed the mistreatment of other Indigenous tribes. In these codices, there are mainly painted pictures to depict religious ceremonies and history. Most of these Aztec codices are now destroyed and lost.

Aztec Architecture

Reconstruction model of Templo Mayor in Tenochtitlan

The Aztecs surrounded their architects with Gods and Goddesses. One of the well-known architectural buildings from the Aztec empire is the Templo Mayor which resides in a city called Tenochtitlan. It can be seen in Aztec architecture, which is symmetrical and pyramid-like. The Templo Mayor once had monoliths of gods and goddesses such as Huitzilopochtli. Aztec architecture remained nearly untouched during the pre-Columbian era and wasn't destroyed until Cortez.

The Aztecs were a big group of an Indigenous tribe that was often at war. When the Aztecs won, they would conquer the city they had defeated and take soldiers back as human sacrifices for their sun and war god Huitzilopochtli. When the Aztecs came to claim their spoils of war, they would also destroy their enemy's temples.

Aztec Sculptures

Image of Coyolxauhqui, Aztec Goddess of the moon.

Aztec sculptures were mainly sculpted around deities such as Huitzilopochtli which is the sun and war deity. The Aztecs were known to sacrifice humans to Huitzilopochtli which shows the importance of Huitzilopochtli to them. They would often sculpt Coyolxauhqui, the moon goddess as well. Aztec sculptures contained a variety of deities but one that has been a constant figure in the sculptures is Coatilcue, the Earth goddess.

A well-known sculpture from the Aztecs is the Stone Calendar also known as the Aztec sun stone which was influenced by the Mayan calendar. The monolith depicts the sun god and many Aztecan astrology. This sculpted piece was found buried in Mexico City by the Conquistadors. It can be seen that the face on the calendar had been disturbed.