Religion and Empire is an innovative and provocative study of the two largest states of the Precolumbian Americas, the Aztec and Inca Empires. By examining the causes of the formation and expansion of these two empires, the authors identify similar patterns and processes underlying their rise and decline. They demonstrate that in both examples among the critical elements in the transition from marginal people to imperial power to disintegrating society were changes in traditional religion, including the elaboration of Aztec human sacrifice and Inca worship of the corpses of their kings. The authors show that the complex interaction between such ideological shifts and political and economic factors generated the spectacular historical trajectories of these Pre-Colombian empires.
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'... compulsive reading, innovative and provoking.' New Scientist
Book Description
A provocative, comparative study of the formation and expansion of the Aztec and Inca empires. Argues that prehistoric cultural development is largely determined by continual changes in traditional religion.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Has good and bad points,
By A Customer
This review is from: Religion and Empire: The Dynamics of Aztec and Inca Expansionism (New Studies in Archaeology) (Paperback)
I read this book for a class on the emergence of state society. The book was great for its review of Aztec ideology and its resulting effects on the society. Too many authors ignore the importance of the way people think. However, archaeological evidence does not support their conclusions about the Inca's ancestor worship. But the book was good read, very fast paced and enjoyable. I recommend it.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
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This review is from: Religion and Empire: The Dynamics of Aztec and Inca Expansionism (New Studies in Archaeology) (Paperback)
The book really gets into the nuts and bolts of the empires, showing you how ideas could give birth to and help expand the two cultures. But it also shows how the same ideas could hinder and even start to destroy the empires later in their existance. Yet it is not hard to read and even delightful at some points. They answer alot of questions I had about the Aztec and Inca, making sure to support everything they say with lots of details. A must of any history library.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
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This book is excellent.,
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This review is from: Religion and Empire: The Dynamics of Aztec and Inca Expansionism (New Studies in Archaeology) (Paperback)
It explains how modern/western thought fails when applied to the cultures of the Aztecs and Incas. This book is good for beginning students for the narrative is easy to follow. However, it is outstanding for the more advanced scholar. This book would make a great companion book to broader studies of these two cultures. The authors criticise modern archaeology for its dogmatic unbending views.The authors also take modern political theory and apply it to these ancient cultures. What happens is that it falls apart. Marx, Hegel, et al have met their match against these ancient ones. What a great departure from the faulty theories of socialism & communism.
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The astonishingly rapid rise, expansion, and fall of the Aztec Empire is one of the most dramatic episodes in human history. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
panaqa members, upper pantheon, royal ayllus, royal ancestor cult, split inheritance, imperial cosmology, secondary heirs, ideological adaptations, royal mummies, economic symbiosis, demographic determinism, independent enclaves, labor taxation, territorial growth, ethnohistorical evidence, ideological reforms, cultural ecologists, burial platforms, deceased rulers, ethnohistorical sources, environmental diversity, sacrificial cult, state cult, cultural materialists Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Triple Alliance, Central Mexico, Titicaca Basin, Huayna Capac, Viracocha Inca, Valley of Mexico, Inca Empire, Topa Inca, Central Mexican, Aztec Empire, Spanish Conquest, Central Andean, Guaman Poma, Late Postclassic, Late Intermediate Period, Central Andes, Historia de los Mexicanos, Marvin Harris, Anales de Tlatelolco, Chan Chan, Lake Texcoco, Late Horizon, Harriet de Onis, Inca Urcon, Middle Horizon New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The astonishingly rapid rise, expansion, and fall of the Aztec Empire is one of the most dramatic episodes in human history. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
panaqa members, upper pantheon, royal ayllus, royal ancestor cult, split inheritance, imperial cosmology, secondary heirs, ideological adaptations, royal mummies, economic symbiosis, demographic determinism, independent enclaves, labor taxation, territorial growth, ethnohistorical evidence, ideological reforms, cultural ecologists, burial platforms, deceased rulers, ethnohistorical sources, environmental diversity, sacrificial cult, state cult, cultural materialists Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Triple Alliance, Central Mexico, Titicaca Basin, Huayna Capac, Viracocha Inca, Valley of Mexico, Inca Empire, Topa Inca, Central Mexican, Aztec Empire, Spanish Conquest, Central Andean, Guaman Poma, Late Postclassic, Late Intermediate Period, Central Andes, Historia de los Mexicanos, Marvin Harris, Anales de Tlatelolco, Chan Chan, Lake Texcoco, Late Horizon, Harriet de Onis, Inca Urcon, Middle Horizon New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
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86
books
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- Archaeological Frontiers and External Connections (Handbook of Middle American Indians, Vol. 4) by Gordon Ekholm on 8 pages
- Early State (New Babylon, Studies in the Social Sciences ; 32) by Peter Skalnik on 5 pages
- Handbook of South American Indians by Julian H. Steward on 4 pages
- Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy by Karl Marx in Front Matter, page 229, and Back Matter
- An Essay on the Principle of Population (Great Minds Series) by Thomas R. Malthus on page 165, and Back Matter
See all 100 books this book cites
- Mexico: Volume 1, From the Beginning to the Spanish Conquest (v. 1) by Alan Knight on 17 pages
- Notes of a Potato Watcher (Texas A&M University Agriculture Series) by James Lang in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Brutality and Benevolence: Human Ethology, Culture, and the Birth of Mexico (Contributions in Latin American Studies) by Abel A. Alves on page 62, page 97, and Back Matter
- Aztecs: An Interpretation (Canto) by Inga Clendinnen in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- The Discovery and Conquest of Peru (Chronicles of the New World Encounter) by Pedro de Cieza de Leon on page 227, page 232, and Back Matter
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