Aztecs Burn Historical Codices

1428

Itzcoatl and his advisor Tlacaelel ordered the destruction of older painted histories and the production of new ones centered on Mexica glory. The past was literally reissued. It is why modern archaeologists, sifting through pre-Triple-Alliance strata, find so little continuous historical memory in Mexica sources. The destruction ensured subsequent accounts were filtered through Triple Alliance ideology, making earlier Aztec political life nearly impossible to reconstruct.