AXAYÁCATL: BIOGRAPHY - ARTE - 2025

Axayácatl (1449-1481) was a Huey Tlatoani Mexica, one of the great rulers at the head of the Valley of Mexico and sovereign of Tenochtitlán. He succeeded Moctezuma Ilhuicamina, his maternal grandfather, in the command line, becoming the sixth Aztec emperor and the youngest to reach this high-ranking position.

He commanded several important conquests of the Mexica tribe throughout the central Mexican region between 1469 and 1481, serving between 12 and 13 years of mandate in which he quickly made a name for himself as an impeccable, dominant and aggressive military leader.

Axayácatl, huey tlatoani from Tenochtitlán. John Carter Brown Library

Biography

Birth

Although the exact date of Axayácatl's birth cannot be determined, various historians conclude that it dates from approximately the year 1449. What is unquestionable is that he had a short life, since he was always described by the chroniclers of the time as “young man and young ”.

Its name means in Nahuatl "face of water", in reference to a face from which a large amount of liquid gushes out, which could be attributed to its perspiring face, full of sweat.

Lineage of power

His father Tezozomoc was the son of Itzcóatl, fourth Huey Tlatoani, evidencing a very powerful family lineage that would later be confirmed with his sons Moctezuma Xocoyotzin, ninth Mexica emperor, and Cuitláhuac, tenth and penultimate Huey Tlatoani.

Axayácatl's third son, Tezozomoctli Acolnahuacatl, was the only one who did not hold a position of ruler.

Tezozomoc was never emperor, but three of his sons were: Axayácatl and his two brothers, Tízoc and Ahuítzotl.

Curiously, Axayácatl was the youngest of the three and even so he was chosen to command the military forces as Huey Tlatoani above and above his older brothers. This was a compelling display of his innate leadership.

Warlord

Landmark victories

As lord of Tenochtitlán he fought many battles, including one of the most important: The first and most momentous, the war with Tlatelolco, a neighboring region of Tenochtitlán.

The story goes that the trigger for the conflict was the contempt of Moquihuix, Huey Tlatoani de Tlatelolco towards his wife Chalchiuhnenetzin, who was Axayácatl's sister.

Moquihuix found the company of his wife unbearable, so he blatantly took refuge in all the other concubines he had, generating discontent and discomfort in his wife.

She made constant complaints to her emperor brother that would accelerate the climax of the conflict between the neighboring regions.

But beyond the motive that unleashed the violence, it was already one of Huey Tlatoani's plans to conquer that region.

Finally in 1473 a very bloody confrontation broke out in which the Mexica of Tenochtitlán dominated the Tlatelolco territory under the command of Axayácatl, who seized the area quickly and relatively easily.

They imposed a government led by a Mexica and seized the important booming market of Tlatelolco by applying the payment of taxes.

The importance of this victory is due to the moment in which it happened. By then, a tripartite alliance that dominated the military deployment of the Mexica had been drastically modified between the government of Tenochtitlán along with Nezahualcóyotl of Tetzcoco and Totoquihuaztli of Tacuba.

It had come to an end with the deaths of Nezahualcóyotl and Totoquihuaztli, so the triumph in the civil war against Tlatelolco meant a consolidation of power, a rebirth from the ashes.

After the battle, the nobles who had supported the rebellion that previously caused the separation of Tlatelolco and Tenochtitlán were assassinated and in their place were other nobles who managed perfect trade and power relations with the Mexica.

Immediately afterwards, Axayácatl commanded the conquest of the central area of ​​Matlatzinco de Toluca between 1476 and 1477. His objective: to dominate the territory that led him to seize the main objective, the Tarascan empire.

Debacle and only defeat

As anticipated, the Matlatzinco campaign was successful. The Huey Tlatoani empire of Tenochtitlán continued to expand, only this time it had a setback that would mean the beginning of the end of Axayácatl.

During one of the disputes in Xiquipilco, Axayácatl was challenged by a warrior known as Tlilcuetzpallin. In the duel, the sovereign of Tenochtitlán was seriously wounded in the leg.

However, the conquest was consummated and they took power in the area in the province of Matlatzinco, to later advance towards Xalatlaco and Tzinacantepec.

For the aforementioned great dispute for hegemonic power, Axayácatl advanced with an army of 24,000 men towards the west bound for Michoacán. The surprise he found he had not been able to anticipate: the Purepecha of Michoacán doubled their number of soldiers.

Defeat was imminent. The chroniclers of the time affirm that the Mexica of Axayácatl "fell like flies into the water" before the onslaught of the Purépecha of Michoacán, the dominant of Tarascan.

They had no choice but to withdraw the troops and return to Tenochtitlán flooded with sadness and disappointment. Mass funerals for fallen warriors marked the days after.

Axayácatl was consoled by nobles and priests in his land, who gave him the necessary strength to continue.

That is why this negative experience ended up being an essential part of its success, because through the attack strategy and military intelligence characteristic of Axayácatl, it managed to get up and move forward, advancing with small victories in other eastern regions.

But from that defeat he was never able to fully recover, and soon after became seriously ill. After a year, around 1481, his hegemony as leader came to an end.

Axayácatl traveled to the rocks of Chapultepec to appreciate the effigies of his grandfather, Moctezuma Ilhuicamina, and his own that he had ordered carved.

On the way home, his health prevented him from completing the journey and he died young and young, as he is remembered.

Achievements in the arts

His skills as a warrior and leader were curiously not the most interesting and particular attributes of Axayácatl. Historians agree that he was a ruler very interested in art and poetry.

He is credited with the carving of the monolith that is known today as Piedra del Sol, an object that contains inscriptions on the cycles of the sun and the cult that was made to the king at the time, popularly known as the Aztec calendar.

During his tenure as Huey Tlatoani, Axayácatl devoted his time outside of battles to the sciences of the calendar, ordering and supervising the work of the stonemasons who sculpted the aforementioned Stone of the Sun.

He is also recognized as a poet and forger of songs. Of his poems there are two in particular that are preserved as jewels of Aztec history, defined as songs of remembrance.

In the first one he refers to his ancestors, while the second, entitled "Song of the elderly" expresses his regret for the defeat of his army against the Purépecha of Michoacán, which he wrote with the help of an elderly poet.

His second work is deep and melancholic, showing the suffering that permeated his soul when he failed on the battlefield, where the death of warriors and captains who accompanied him in his epic conquests caused him great discomfort.

Thus, Axayácatl was marked forever with an imminent defeat, the same one that ended up taking his life in a trickle.

References

1. Fifteen poets of the Nahuatl world, Miguel León-Portilla (2015).
2. On the history of Mesoamerica, National Autonomous University of Mexico, by Miguel León-Portilla (2004).
3. From the lordship to the republic of Indians, the case of Toluca: 1500-1600, series Estudios del Ministerio de Agricultura, Margarita Menegus Bornemann (1991).
4. The conquests of Moctezuma Xocoyotzin, Estudios de cultura Nahuatl, 49, 209-221. Barlow, Robert (2015).
5. Linajes Mexicas, Arqueología Mexicana, Vol. XVII, number 98, Federico Navarrete (2009).