Antiguos Mexicanos

Knowledge of history is one of the best sources of wisdom there are. Dr. Leon Portilla, a serious anthropologist and historian, recovers here many sources of the history of the ancient inhabitants of what is now Central Mexico. Certainly advanced cultures in some respects (very backwards in some other), but doomed to fall prey to the Conquerors, mainly due to two reasons: the Spaniard's more advanced technology, and the internal dissensions of the Indian cultures. This book is very important because it allows us to understand better the societies that existed before the Conquest. Leon Portilla includes original texts and interpretations of the poems, the philosophy and the cosmovision of the Nahua world. Rigorous and extremelly well-researched.

A fascinating and original book on the life of the `ancient Mexicans'. The author, Mr. Miguel Leon-Portilla reminds us all that it's important to remember that the Spanish Conquistadors conquered, ransacked and destroyed Mexico for material gains only. The Spaniards robbed the indigenous people of Mexico of their material possessions, their gold calendars, their silver chalices and jade masks. They, however, never discovered or perhaps purposely ignored a whole plethora of cultural and language riches that are now only being seriously studied and understood. Until recently, these indigenous people of Mexico, the great Aztecs of Tenochtitlan, the Toltecs of Tula, the people of Culhuacan and Texcoco were never given due credit for their cultural and spiritual accomplishments. Mr. Leon-Portilla introduces us to the ancient's achievements in writing, in songs and in poetry and discourse. He discusses their use of songs, poems and codices to keep alive their ancient customs and traditions, as well as how they maintained their unique spirituality and vision of life.Mr. Leon-Portilla also introduces us to important indigenous people such as the great orators and poets Nezahualcoyotl and Cuauhtitlan. To great leaders such as Cuauhtemoc, Itzcoatl, Tizoc and Tlacaelel and to wise men such as Tecayehuatzin and Tochihuitzin. The latter, as Mr. Leon-Portilla states... wise men of Anahuac - Valley of Mexico, like their Greek counterparts, also contemplated mans very existence and the meaning of life. This is a great book for anyone wanting to learn a side of `the ancient Mexicans' we are not told about in school in the U.S. It gives us a different and unique perspective of what happened in Mexico before the Conquest and a few years after the Conquest.