Aztec temples were often part of a step pyramid, and often looked west. A flight of steps led to the sanctuary and there was a sacrificial altar at the top.
The Aztecs used this altar for sacrificial rituals, including human sacrifice in honor of the numerous gods that the Aztecs worshiped. Members of the Aztec priesthood killed the victim (sometimes children) at the altar. Then they threw the corpse down the steps and presented the heart of the victim in the sanctuary of the god.
The builders built the Aztec temples using bricks and covered them with stone and plaster. The chronicles describe them as white buildings painted with bright colors. Excavations in some temples confirm these descriptions. While the Aztecs dedicated most of their temples to a single deity, they dedicated some temples to two separate gods. Some of the main worship centers of the Aztecs are in Teotihuacán, Cholula and Tenochtitlán.
Shrines were used by the Aztec to worship. pray and maintain a sense of psychic order. Religious expression was extremely important in the culture. Aztecs believed the gods played an active role in human life.
It was based on an idea that a nation's wealth and power were best served by increasing exports in an effort to collect precious metals like gold and silver
Enlightenment thinkers argued that liberty was a natural human right and that reason and scientific knowledge—not the state or the church—were responsible for human progress.
