Hello, I‘m very interested in the Aztecs again. I‘ve read some stuff regarding the Jaguar, Eagle Warriors and the Cuachic and this got me thinking. Did other civilizations around the aztecs like the tlaxcaltecs, Mixtecs, Zapotecs use similar military units like jaguar, eagle warriors and Cuachic or where those specific to the triple alliance? And if not how did those civilizations warriors look and did they also have military orders?
Teotihuacan, the great city-state in the Basin of Mexico that rose and fell during the Late Formative to Classic periods long before the Aztecs migrated to the Basin, possibly had as many as four different military orders with animal mascots. Annabeth Headrick, in her 2007 publication "The Teotihuacan Trinity: The Sociopolitical Structure of an Ancient Mesoamerican City" has argued citing Ruben Cabrera (1987) that a bird, canine, snake, and feline military order once existed in the city (Headrick 2007: 93). The bird and canine orders, however, were the most powerful and prominent in the city. We can see their prominence by the artwork scattered across the city (like the murals) and by animals offerings found with the Pyramid of the Moon. Found under the adosada, Burial 2 contained the skeletal remains of a man with his hands bound behind his back. There were numerous offerings within the burial space including greenstone, shell, and obsidian. Within the space there were also the skeletal remains of animals that had also been sacrificed. Arranged in the space were a wolf, a falcon, an owl, two pumas, three rattlesnakes, and nine eagles. All of these animals are represented in the military costumes that adorn the warriors in the murals of the city (Headrick 2007: 88).
There is ample evidence from preserved mural sections in apartments across the city that depict bird and canine military orders at the heart of the city life. The military helps to keep the elites in charge while the elites do their duty by providing for the military members and their families. While the military orders at Teotihuacan may not have been strictly hereditary, anyone could possibly join as a way to raise themselves and their social standing, coming from a lineage of warriors may have had its perks. Headrick has linked this nationalist and hereditary military tradition to the U.S. military tradition where preferential treatment is often given to those soldiers who come from a line of military serving family members (Headrick 2007: 101).
But the military orders were not just a tool wielded by the elites in order to keep themselves in power and to expand outward into Mesoamerica. Military orders were very much involved in daily and city-wide religious life. Murals not only depict warriors in formation marching, presumably to defend the city or attack an enemy, but they are also depicted dancing during religious events or performing religious rituals (Headrick 2007: 101).
A more nuanced understanding of the military orders at Teotihuacan is somewhat difficult to achieve. Teotihuacan does have a limited writing system, but there does not exist the long explanatory texts one finds in the Maya region. Instead, evidence needs to be collected from artwork, excavations, and ethnohistoric accounts to try and create a picture of the past. So while we can suggest that Teotihuacan had military orders like their later Aztec brethren, we can't yet understand Teotihuacan's military orders to the same degree.
