Klaas-Jan BAKKER - AMORC

There is not just one Aztec calendar, there are two more or less
independent systems. One calendar, called the xiuhpohualli, has
365 days. It describes the days and rituals related to the seasons, and
therefore might be called the agricultural year or the solar year. The
other calendar was a 260 day ritual cycle. In Nahuatl, the language
of the Aztecs, it is called the tonalpohualli or the day-count. These
two cycles together formed a 52 year “century” sometimes called
the “Calendar Round.” The calendrical year began with the first
appearance of the Pleiades constellation in the east immediately
before the dawn light.
he forged alliances with the ruling lineages of
these city-states and with his mother’s relatives
among the Aztecs.
He needed a pretext to enter the land of his
birth, now part of an expanded Tepanec state. The
original Tepanec king had died and was replaced
by his son Máxtla. Pretending to be reconciled
to Tepanec rule, Nezahualcóyotl went to their
capital city of Azcapotzálco and made obeisance
to Máxtla, presenting him with a wreath of
flowers. But Máxtla spurned the offering, and
realising that he was in danger, Nezahualcóyotl
slipped out of the palace and returned to his
native city of Texcóco.
At length Máxtla’s karma caught up with
him. Tiring of his tyranny, a number of Tepanec
nobles went over to Nezahualcóyotl. A coalition was
formed and Máxtla’s forces were driven out of the
Texcocan domains. Then his enemies marched on
the Tepanec capital Azcapotzálco. Finding Máxtla
hiding in the palace baths, they unceremoniously
dragged him out and killed him.
A Kingdom Regained
Having finally attained the throne that was his
birthright, Nezahualcóyotl, the seventh king of his
Aztec cosmological drawing with the God Xiuhtecuhtli lord of
fire and of the Calendar in the centre and the other important
gods around him each in front of a sacred tree (from the Codex
Fejérváry-Mayer).
line, began to display evidence of his remarkable
abilities. His first act was to pardon those who
had sided with the Tepanecs and returned them
to their towns. So effective was this policy that
the other two Alliance members soon followed
suit. There was a stratagem behind this clemency
though, as each of the town lords had to spend
most of the year at Nezahualcóyotl’s court in
Texcóco. In this he anticipated Louis XIV’s taming
of the French aristocracy by some 300 years when
he built the Palace of Versailles to accommodate
them all.
He devised a code of laws considered so
exemplary that it was adopted by his main allies,
the Aztecs. Like Hammurabi, the king of Babylon,
he created a unified law code to replace tribal law.
His system was designed to ensure government
by severe but standardised laws that favoured
the state. The system defined behaviour and
responsibilities with punishments meted out with
strict impartiality.
In the beginning the laws were applied
strictly, but mechanically and without regard to
mitigating circumstances. The laws in the code
were supplemented with a traditional system of
justice based on notions of reasonable behaviour,
which modified the harshness of the previous
system. He determined that those of noble blood,
because of all the privileges they enjoyed, had a
heavier responsibility than the ordinary man in
the street, and accordingly, they were punished
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The Rosicrucian Beacon -- December 2007