1. It wasn’t. Although it is unknown who precisely built and
inhabited the city, there are some theories. Aztecs found the city and started
using it for various purposes but it was in ruins by the time they found it.
Building such pyramids did require large amount of cooperation between people
because there was no modern building technology and numerous people had to
participate.
2. Before agriculture was developed, people lived as hunters
and gatherers in nomadic tribes. This meant that they would use the goods from
the nature before moving to another region with more food. When agriculture was
discovered, they didn’t have to move anymore and could grow food and stay in
one place which led to rise of civilizations.
3. Mayan and Aztec religion consisted of a polytheistic
pantheon where each deity would represent a different aspect of life. They
showed respect to them in various ways, from organizing religious festivals to
building huge temples and even including various types of sacrifices to the
gods, including sometimes even human sacrifice.
4. Religion was a huge part of their lives and Mayas and
Aztecs all participated in various religious rituals to appease the gods. Both
societies were also organized into clear societal hierarchies with rulers,
farmers, priests, and similar groups. They also emphasized art as well which
often depicted everyday activities and was about being realistic.
5. In the Mayan society there was the ruler, the higher
class, and the lower class. The ruler was on top while people like priests,
judges, and government officials comprised the high class. The lower class
consisted of people like artisans or farmers or commoners. The Aztecs also had
the king as the ruler, followed by the priests who were the second highest
rank, nobles being third, while merchants and artisans were second to last. The
lowest social group were farmers and commoners, also including slaves.
6. They did have a written language but most of it was lost
unfortunately. For example, the Aztecs had a writing system that combines
ideographic writing with Nahuatl specific phonetic logograms and syllabic signs
which was mostly destroyed by emperors who did it for ideological reasons, or
later by Spaniards who conquered them
7. Chichimecas or Chichimes were people that were considered
by the Aztecs and Mayas to be barbarians, similarly to how the Romans looked at
the Germanic tribes. They were nomadic people who mostly lived in the Valley of
Mexico and were disliked by Aztecs and Mayans, later even by the Spaniards.
