Bonds of Blood Gender, Lifecycle, and Sacrifice in Aztec Culture

The history of the Aztecs has been haunted by the spectre of human sacrifice. As bloody priests and brutal warriors, the Aztecs have peopled the pages of history, myth and fiction, their spectacular violence dominating perceptions of their culture and casting a veil over their unique way of life. Reinvesting the Aztecs with a humanity frequently denied to them, and exploring their religious violence as a comprehensible element of life and existence, Caroline Dodds Pennock integrates a fresh interpretation of gender with an innovative study of the everyday life of the Aztecs. This was a culture of contradictions and complications, but in amongst the grand ritual we can find the personal and private, the minutiae of life which make the world of these extraordinary people instantly familiar. Despite their violent bloodshed, the Aztecs were a compassionate and expressive people who lived and worked in cooperative gendered partnership.

CAROLINE DODDS PENNOCK is a Lecturer in Early Modern History at the University of Leicester, UK. She was previously a Research Fellow at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and is the author of a number of articles on Aztec and Atlantic History.

List of Figures and Tables
Note on Translation and Terminology
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Glossary
Introduction
Living with Death
Birth and Blood
Growing Up
Tying the Knot
Marriage and Partnership
Outside the Norm
Aging and Mortality
Conclusion