Biart's Aztecs: History, Manners, and Customs — Book Review

Introduction and Overview

Published in 1887, The Aztecs: Their History, Manners, and Customs by Lucien Biart offers insight into Aztec scholarship at the turn of the last century. This edition of the book was translated from the original French by J.L. Garner. Biart wrote the historiography during a period of relative ignorance in scholarship and limited public knowledge about pre-Columbian Mexico. Despite these constraints, the work stands as one of the earliest and most comprehensive attempts to document Aztec civilization for both scholarly and general audiences.

Structure and Organization of the Book

The first half of the book offers a broadly chronological look at the evolution of human societies in Mexico, though Biart's organization is not strictly chronological. Chapter 1 introduces the material with a thorough evaluation of Mexico's geography, including its diverse climate and terrain. Biart suggests that geography informs the development of culture — determining which plants and crops grow and which animals flourish. Moreover, a geographic analysis helps historians understand how warring factions might have used terrain as a military advantage. Biart also suggests that geography may have influenced the interactions between indigenous Aztecs and the conquistadors.

Chapter 2 addresses the different pre-Aztec inhabitants of Mexico, including the Maya, Tarascos, Otomites, Chichimecs, Alcolhuas, Tlaxcaltecs, and Nahuan tribes. Throughout the first half of the book, Biart refers to Mexico by its Toltec name, Anahuac — a region he describes as incredibly diverse not only in geography and terrain but also in culture. He identifies four distinct kingdoms, three republics, and a number of smaller states, and notes that Hernán Cortés was able to exploit the rivalries between these various political entities.

Chapters 3 through 5 form much of the book's core, detailing the rise and fall of the Aztec empire and revealing a great deal about the kingdom's operations and political philosophies. The remaining twelve chapters cover Aztec culture in depth. Biart spends considerable time on the development of the Aztec calendar from its Toltec and Mayan predecessors. Chapter 6 centers on Aztec cosmogony, including views about the soul. Chapter 7 addresses formal religious rites and rituals, as well as the political structure of Aztec religious institutions. Chapter 8 discusses human sacrifice and other forms of ritual feasting in Aztec culture. Chapter 9 covers the election of kings and Aztec political culture more broadly, including aristocracy and class differentiation. Chapter 10 lists Aztec rites of passage from birth through burial and cremation, and also includes a discussion of marriage customs.

In Chapter 11, the author explains Aztec education systems, including the transmission of knowledge from mother to daughter and from father to son. The justice and penal systems are addressed in Chapter 12, and Chapter 13 introduces Aztec military institutions, structures, and strategies. Chapter 14 surveys Aztec transportation networks, commercial activities, and agriculture. Chapter 15 continues the discussion of commerce with a focus on labor. Chapter 16 covers language arts and performance arts, including music, sports, and other leisure activities. The final chapter examines Aztec visual arts and architecture. Biart does not offer a formal conclusion beyond a brief closing paragraph at the end of Chapter 17.

Weaknesses: Bias, Stereotyping, and Source Limitations

The Aztecs has notable flaws, many of which stem from the era in which it was written. Although Biart's language is engaging and the book is accessible to both lay and scholarly readers, several of his sources are European, making them unreliable accounts for an explication of Aztec civilization. Primary source material from the Aztecs themselves is scant, and Biart draws conclusions from archaeological evidence as much as from first-hand narratives. Biart is aware of and apologetic for these limitations, noting early in the book that primary source material for Aztec culture is restricted.

Another weakness can be attributed to the prevailing style of writing and scholarship in the 19th century. The author makes inferences about Aztec culture that read as stereotypes to modern audiences. For example, page 48 in Chapter 3 contains characterizations such as: "Like other men, the Aztecs are a prey to the passions; they are able, however, to control them with an uncommon force of will." The author continues, "Anger, love, and jealousy may trouble them, but these passions rarely make them commit the extravagances so common among Europeans" (Biart, p. 48). Here, Biart demonstrates a recurring bias — a tendency to glorify the Aztecs in ways that, paradoxically, reduce them to a foil for European behavior. At times, the book reads more as an account of European encounter with an indigenous people than as a rigorous study of Aztec civilization on its own terms. The author compares Aztec society with European society at several points throughout the text.