Aztec Astronomy

We have some historical records of pre-Columbian Aztec astronomy demonstrated by the following pre-print:

[Submitted on 20 Aug 2020]

Eclipses in the Aztec Codices

Emil Khalisi

This paper centers on the collection of accounts on solar eclipses from the era of the Aztecs in Mesoamerica, about 1300 to 1550 AD. We present a list of all eclipse events complying with the topological visibility from the capital Tenochtitlan. Forty records of 23 eclipses entered the various Aztec manuscripts (codices), usually those of large magnitude. Each event is discussed with regard to its historical context, as we try to comprehend the importance the Aztecs gave to the phenomenon. It seems that this culture paid noticeably less attention to eclipses than the civilisations in the "Old World". People did not understand the cause of it and did not care as much about astronomy as in Babylonia and ancient China. Furthermore, we discuss the legend on the comet of Moctezuma II. It turns out that the post-conquest writers misconceived what the sighting was meant to be.

Comments:	15 pages, 10 figs, 2 tabs, 25 refs
Subjects:	History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Journal reference:	Habilitation at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, February 2020
Cite as:	arXiv:2008.08982 [physics.hist-ph]
	(or arXiv:2008.08982v1 [physics.hist-ph] for this version)