Mesoamerica is one of only three world regions to have developed pristine cities, that is, without outside influence. Mesoamerica scholarship, especially the influential work of Richard E. Blanton, has vigorously applied world systems theory to the region in a way reminiscent of Mesopotamia studies. Teotihuacan, for which this analysis is apt, bears similarities to today’s migrant magnets, replete with expat neighborhoods and multilingual apartment blocks. Moreover, it reaped the benefit of trade relations outside its sphere, growing to massive size. The chapter culminates with Tenochtitlan, the apogee of Mesoamerican urbanism, at its height when Europeans arrived in 1519. It did not directly hold territory, making the Spanish-derived term “Aztec Empire” somewhat misleading. This chapter stresses the multiplicity of exchanges between cities. Environmental scarcity was central to the ebb and flow of urbanization. Tenochtitlan, like modern world cities, inspired European imaginations much the way Venice did. Its imagery fascinated renaissance figures in Europe such as Albrecht Dürer, in this sense making it the first “global” city.

This chapter first looks at the primary sources available for the study of sexuality in Tenochtitlan in the sixteenth century, including paintings, sculptures, buildings, prayer books, legal codes, letters, chronicles, and judicial documents. Among the sources, the work directed by the Franciscan Fray Bernardino de Sahagún is the most prominent. The chapter then addresses Nahua principles of sexuality, which were linked to fertility, pleasure, and moderation in sexual activities. When the principle of moderation was not followed, the consequences could be fatal for the community. The differences between social classes in regard to how people should conduct their sexual lives are looked at next; then, the different sexual practices, paying particular attention to attitudes towards these in moral discourses and texts written shortly after the Spanish conquest. In particular, abundant information is given about adultery, prostitution, gender identity, and same-sex relations. Finally, discourses aimed at women exalted virginity before marriage and fidelity to one’s spouse afterwards. By contrast, discourses addressed to men acclaimed the early self-discipline that would be rewarded with a successful marriage and beautiful children.

In the early 1790s, three momentous discoveries of Aztec monoliths took place in the Mexico City central plaza, now commonly known as the Zócalo. The stones reemerged into the light of day after centuries underground due to Viceroy Revillagigedo’s ambitious plans to renovate this plaza into a clean and organized space. He carried out this plan by removing market stalls, as well as trying to prevent flooding by installing and improving the stone paving in the zócalo and the surrounding streets. Workers on these projects uncovered dozens of artifacts, including the monoliths known today as the Stone of Tizoc, the Aztec Calendar Stone, and the Coatlicue statue. The emergence of the artifacts took place over the course of sixteenth months, from mid-August of 1790 to mid-December of 1791.