Question

Which of the following statements is the most accurate evaluation of the role of war in the Aztec religion?

Answer 1

The best evaluation is that war in Aztec society was fundamentally a religious institution: it was often fought to capture prisoners for ritual sacrifice to sustain the gods (especially the sun god Huitzilopochtli) and thereby maintain cosmic order. Warfare was highly ritualized (e.g., “flower wars”), produced ceremonial captives rather than mere battlefield slaughter, and was closely tied to priestly and state ideology. At the same time it also produced political and economic benefits (territorial expansion, tribute, prestige), but those were secondary to—and deeply entwined with—its religious purpose.