It strikes me there is an alternative explanation for the extraordinary coming to fruition of the Quetzelcoatl prophecy below, which is that the rulers of the Aztecs who left with Quetzelcoatl as the head were themselves the light-skinned Westerners who later returned on the proscribed date in exactly the proscribed manner. These rulers who left for whatever reason cunningly left the relevant prophecy which might come to their aid should they decide to return; included in the prophecy was the potent notion that it would be useless to fight Quetzelcoatl as he was an immortal god, & the best couse of action simply to surrender meekly.
Incidentally, quite a few of Montezuma's subjects believed it ridiculous to welcome Cortes' men into their fold as they rightly considered given their enormous numerical advantage they could easily wipe them out. Montezuma, however, believing absolutely in the prophecy, would not permit the necessary action which would have ensured the continuance of the Aztec civilisation, for a while at least.
In the total absence of my knowledge of supporting or contradicting information the above is merely an interesting hypothesis. As a possibly relevant aside, there is quite strong evidence that the New World wasn't quite as new as purported.
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2 comments:
Interesting thoughts Andrew.
There are lots of myths about connections between the new and old worlds prior to the advent of Columbus.
But, incredibly interseting though they are, I think they are usually dismissed by historians as not being backed up by enough evidence.
but it's certainly an interesting idea. I geuss I don't know enough about it to be able to nay or yay your hypothesis.
The hypothesis is merely a flight of fancy but I think as a theory it does fit very neatly into Quetzelcoatl Cortes whole episode. On the broader point about hisorians, I think most people, & maybe especialy academics, enjoy living in comfort zones & they are loathe to have certain world-orders upset. What I would find amusing is wondering which theory would upset certain types more; the true prophecy or the second explanation; extraordinary coincidence can be dismissed out of hand as in any way satisfying.
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