Both the Maya and Aztecs built their step pyramids to honor deities associated with the sun, the rain and the moon. These pyramids played a constant role in the lives of Aztecs and Mayans, as citizens were required to visit the pyramid for religious ceremonies throughout the year.
Typically, priests would pay homage to their deities by burning incense, sacrificing slaves or war captives, praying and making other offerings. Ball courts -- called "tlachtli" in Nahuatl and "cha'j" in Mayan -- served as physical manifestations of religious beliefs. To the Aztecs, the ball courts were a portal to Mictlan, or the underworld.
There are also many differences between these two ancient civilizations. One difference between the Mayas and the Aztecs is that they have different methods of farming. The Mayans use the method of slash and burn but the Aztecs use chinampas. Chinampas are floating gardens. Another difference between these two Ancient civilizations is that the Mayans and the Aztecs worship their gods in different ways. There are many similarities between the Aztecs and the Mayas.
One similarity is that they both have calenders. The Aztecs also have the same calender. The similarity between the Aztecs, Mayans and Incas is that all had control of massive empires that eventually ceased to exist. Other than that common factor, the groups all had different ways of life and unique languages, political agendas, religious views and ways to provide for their people.
They also both worshipped a pantheon of gods during religious ceremonies, some of which involved human sacrifice. Both groups also built similar pyramid structures for religious purposes. Aztecs were polytheistic. They build huge temples and pyramids in dedication to their god Huitzilopochtli. Inca was polytheistic. They worshiped their primary God, Inti, who they called the sun god.
The Aztecs led a more brutal, warlike lifestyle, with frequent human sacrifices, whereas the Maya favoured scientific endeavours such as mapping the stars. The Inca were based much further south in the Andean region home to modern-day Peru and Chile and were accomplished builders.
The Mayas used a writing system that combined phonetic symbols and logograms and a base 20 and base 5 numbering system. They used a day calendar based on sun movement and believed in a cyclical nature of time and in three planes: Earth, underworld and heavens above.
They also practiced human sacrifice. Most modern-day Mexicans are of mixed Aztec and European ancestry. A large amount of Aztec poetry survives, as it was collected during the conquest.
The most important collection of these poems is Romances de los senores de la Nueva Espana. Many areas in Mexico City retain the original Aztec names. Mayan languages are still spoken in rural areas in Mexico and Guatemala. The Mayas' astrological observations and calendar have also received a lot of attention recently, due to the incorrect belief that the end of the Maya calendar predicted the end of the world in Share this comparison:.
If you read this far, you should follow us:. Diffen LLC, n. Thanks so much for this! I love this site. I visited Chichen Itza yesterday and got confused between the 2 civilizations, so this really helped clear things up. Aztecs vs.
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