of the continent, in the thirteenth century. The Aztecs (North American Indians are not at all savages like the colonialists-Europeans) built Tenochtitlan, the future Mexico City on a kite-ridden island, became rulers of local tribes. But in 1519 the Aztecs saw the Spaniards, and six years later their empire ceased to exist. Presumably, by this time the Indians were 95% chopped smallpox and chickenpox imported by Columbus in 1492, and spread to both continents. A huge, equal in culture to Egypt, an unknown, literally Martian world, moved to the region of legends.
For a warrior and a priest it is quite permissible to consider writing, at leisure, sublime verse. Listen to three excerpts of the author’s hymns of the ethno-linguistic group Nahua – to which our Aztecs also belong:
May our land be forever!
Yes, the mountains are unbreakable!
so says Iyokuan Kuezpaltsin
Here, in Tlaxcala, in Wesoszinco
Let them satisfy everyone without withdrawing
and ruddy maize, and cocoa.
May the Earth be forever!
(author Ayokuan Kuezpaltsin)
We got intoxicated, mezhiki, in Michuacan
We were invited to a feast, we went after the prey
we came and finally got drunk from the fight
…And they saw how our warriors fled
as the gold trembled and faded banners from the feathers of ketsal
If only warriors become prisoners it does not happen to hurry – so this was not with you
If young warriors become prisoners,
they will sacrifice them, they will doom to the slaughter
if it happens, what will we do?
We’ll bark fiercely, like jaguars
we, the eagles, the old people, with the eagles
avoid the same captivity, fear the slaughter
Hurry up – so it was not with you!
(«The Song of the Old Men», the author of the warrior Aishakatl)
I came, I get up, and now I will sing songs
I will raise songs for you, my friends
I am the voice of God, I own flowers
I am Temilocin, and I have come
make friends here
(Temilocin from Tlatelolco)
Mayan. The territory is slightly to the south of future Aztec possessions. The beginning of civilization – a thousand years BC. e. By the ninth century, the Maya society is in decline, the cause of which, as follows from the conclusions of geologists, is the long-term drought caused by the change in ocean currents. Remained truncated pyramid temples, a complex irrigation system and a perfect calendar.
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1. The city of Incas, Machu Picchu, the territory of modern Peru, the height of the location is 2.5 km. Typical polygonal masonry – stones of different shapes are precisely adjusted to each other, like puzzles or mosaic. The Incas also built pyramids, but, these temples never reached the splendor of similar Mayan buildings.
2. One of the many Mayan pyramids, in present-day Mexico. Apparently, initially they were not meant for committing bloody rituals. However, the Aztecs who came to these lands used them (as claimed by the Spaniards) for the mass executions of prisoners of war, the broadcast of horror throughout the range of habitats.
3. For comparison – the classical Egyptian pyramid of Cheops (Khufu). The name «pyramid» – from the Greek word combination «fire inside». What is this «fire», and why he was needed inside this cult, the building, we do not know. In ancient times, the Egyptian pyramids were surrounded by walls, and located, apparently, in the middle of an artificial lake.
4. Angkor (Angko-Khmer, «City of Capitals»), the territory of present-day Cambodia. It was built in the beginning of the 9th c. AD, existed as a settlement until the 15th century. The largest city in the world in the Middle Ages (and now, in size, comparable only to American Los Angeles), covers an area of 24 by 8 km. 200 sq. M. km., or even, according to some modern studies, 3000 square meters. km.
Each new governor justifies the new center of the capital, marking it with a huge five-tower temple, symbolizing the sacred Medu mountain Meru, the abode of Hindu gods, Eden, until finally the construction depletes all the tufa and sandstone in the country. In 1431, the Khmer State lost the war to neighboring Siam. Almost a million inhabitants of Angkor scatter in the jungle or, in a short time, die at the hands of enemy soldiers.
Angkor Wat – the palace and temple complex of the capital – now, despite all the efforts of archaeologists and reenactors, is sheltered by vegetation, and almost uninhabited.
5. One of the centers of the capital, reconstruction on a reduced scale. A real Angkor Wat (a paradise model for the elite, a palace and temple complex dedicated to the god Vishnu) surround the garden of a square layout, 2 by 2 km, and, along its perimeter, a system of wide (190 meters) canals.
Overview of world religions
The end of Antiquity in the chronology of some history schools is the emergence of Islam. The Messenger of the New World Religion, the Prophet Mohammed is born on April 20, 571, in Mecca (Saudi Arabia), in the influential tribe of the Kurdsit, loses his parents, receives testimonies of his mission (signs on the body). At twenty-five, he marries a forty-year-old Khadija, engaged in trade, escorting caravans and construction (in particular, repairing the Kaaba). At forty, almost every evening, Mohammed ascends a mountain near Mecca, where he prays in a cave that has survived to this day. He has enlightenment, which is performed in the surahs (verses) of the Quran. A new religion, Islam («submission to God»), accept the wife and several relatives. The first preaching by the Kaaba causes a mockery among the crowd, then Mohammed finds the right words, and the situation is somewhat straightened. For three years, the Muslim community recruited about a hundred people. After the death of his uncle, the influential Abu Talib, the patron of Mohammed, the Islamists are forced out of Mecca (the preacher claims that even his most beloved relative, since he did not convert to Islam, falls into hell, this position is not pleasant for the majority of Quraysh). The community moves to the city of Medina, where it suffers many difficulties (seven or eight dates per person per day of work). At the same time, raids on trade caravans and the struggle for the spread of faith begin. The first battles Muslims lose, but their perseverance brings fruit, and the army of Mohammed enters without a fight in Mecca. It follows a series of wars for the unification of tribes, raids on the mighty Byzantium. During the capture of one of the cities, in order to avoid the consumption of wine by the soldiers, a sura, prohibiting alcohol, is adopted.
Mohammed dies
