Teotl Ixiptla In Aztec Religion

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Teotl ixiptla translates to “image of the deity” and refers to the people who were made into the image of an Aztec deity and sacrificed. These people were typically selected to have physical features that the Aztec considered to be the ideal and beautiful. They were dressed in order to make them look like deities and taught skills including public speaking and instrument playing. All of this was an effort to transform them into a god, not merely make them appear similar to one. Once the process was complete, they were sacrificed. Human sacrifice was an prominent expression of the Aztec cosmovision, which required making gifts of life force, tonnali, to the gods.

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