Mexica Soldier’s Equipment

Mexica soldier’s equipment for the long-distance campaign, based on Alvarado Tezozomoc’s Cronica mexicana.

After declaring the war, the huei tlatoani of the Mexica Empire ordered his people and the adjacent cities to prepare food, supplies, arms, as well as equipment for the journey. Although this was one of the most important aspects of the Aztec warfare, it is often overlooked by most discussions about the subject.

The tributary towns along the designated campaign route supplied the army en route. However, soldiers could not completely rely on their support because often these friendly towns were sparsely located. Especially when the army entered the unconquered, hostile land, they had to survive on their own. That’s why each soldier carried as much of his own food as he could to supplement the amounts he received from the army's supplies.

The most important logistical functionaries of the army were the porters (tlamemeque) who accompanied them. They provided the army with considerable logistical support through sheer numbers. However, large portion of porters were reserved for the nobles because they had more equipment and goods. Therefore, realistically, the common soldiers likely had to carry most of their supplies themselves. According to some accounts, youths from the telpochcalli (plebeian school) who were still too young to fight accompanied the army while carrying the supplies and arms. However, the amount they carried were limited compared to the professional porters, and the main reason for their accompany was for training, not the logistics.

This drawing depicts the equipment prepared by the Mexica soldier prior to his departure from Tenochtitlan. Alvarado Tezozomoc frequently lists the items that were prepared before the war. They are presented in the table below:

 The majority of the cookware is too bulky for a single soldier to carry, so they are omitted from the drawing. It is likely that the troops from each calpolli (neighborhood) transported them collectively, rather than individually.

◉ Clothing

The soldier first put on his loincloth, called maxtlatl. For protection, he wore the ichcahuipilli, a cotton quilted armor. The battle suit was then worn on top, composed of thick cloth and covered with feathers of different colors. This limb-encasing suite was tied at the back. It also had an opening at the crotch to pass through the knot of the loincloth. The quilted armor is shown next to the soldier for illustration purposes. In reality, it would have been worn underneath the suit like a European gambeson.

Soldiers also wore cloaks called tilmatli. Tilmatli was part of civilian attire, and the material, color, length, and design differed depending on the individual’s status and rank. Sources suggest that during the march, some soldiers would take off their armor and only wear a cloak for easier movement. Other soldiers, on the other hand, would wear a cloak over their armor. The drawing depicts the latter.

Sandals are called cactli in Nahuatl. Alvarado Tezozomoc mentions a specific type of sandal called tecactli, which was made of sturdy maguey fibers to withstand the long journey. In the drawing, a spare pair of sandals is shown tied to a carrying frame.

Tezozomoc also mentions a peculiar garment called tonalayatl, which he describes as “thin henequen (maguey fiber) blankets for protection against the strong sunlight and heat." Some codices, like the Azcatitlan Codex, depict troops wearing turbans. It is assumed that this was to protect their heads from the intense heat of the march. Therefore, in this drawing, this ‘tonalayatl’ is shown as a simple turban.

◉ Weaponry

The weapon most commonly used by Mexica was the macuahuitl, an obsidian sword. The obsidian blades were put into the grooves on the sides of the wooden club and fixed with tree resin. Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, a conquistador who witnessed the strength of the macuahuitl, claimed that the blades were fragile despite their sharpness. Therefore, it is probable that there was a store of extra blades in the camps in order to be able to repair their weapons before the next combat. I have also included spare blades in the drawing.

Soldiers often went into battle with an additional auxiliary weapon. For example, there are numerous depictions of warriors with a macuahuitl in their right hand and a shield and atlatl darts in their left. The secondary weapon here is a bronze axe called tlaximaltepoztli.

The shield (chimalli) is ornamented with a step-fret pattern called xicalcoliuhqui. Aztec shields were constructed of resilient and light woven cane with heavy double cotton backing. The design on the front is made with feathers like a battle suit.

◉ Foodstuff

Alvarado Tezozomoc especially details the foodstuffs in the supplies. Numerous foods are mentioned, but the majority of them are staples and condiments.

The most frequently mentioned staple is tlaxcaltotopochtli, or toasted tortilla. Similar to Old World hardtacks, the tortilla was baked several times to completely remove moisture, making it ideal for army rations. To speed up the drying process, holes are sometimes perforated prior to baking.

The next most commonly mentioned item is pinolli, which is roasted ground maize. Tezozomoc lists numerous types of pinolli. These include texhuatzolli, which are made of dried maize flour, pinolli made with maize and chia seeds, and chilpinolli, which are pinolli seasoned with chiles. Tezozomoc also categorizes other powdered foods such as ground cacao (acahuapinolli) and acorn/pin nut (ahuachpinolli) as ‘pinolli’. Beans and chia seeds were also staple foods in Mesoamerica, therefore they are mentioned here in the form of roasted ground powder.

As for spices, chili and salt are mentioned. It’s unclear whether chili is simply dried or processed into a powder, so I’ve included both. Tezozomoc also lists ‘pimienta’, which refers to allspice (Pimenta dioica).

Roasted squash seeds are also listed as a ration.

These were the most common rations that soldiers likely carried on their marches. They would combine these with fresh food from the tributary towns along the road—according to Tezozomoc, they provided tamales and barbecued venison to the troops—as well as foraged greens.

◉ Tableware

Cooking utensils are excluded from the drawing for the reasons mentioned above, but tableware is included because it is a personal item and relatively smaller. Earthenware cups and plates are mentioned. Archaeological studies show that even commoner houses in provincial city states owned polychrome potteries from Cholula. Taking this into account, I’ve included Cholula-style polychrome pottery into the drawing.

Xicara and tecomatl—called jicara and tecomate in modern Mexico—are canteens and jars made from gourds. Molcaxitl and texolotl, or molcajete and tejolote, are used to grind food products like the mortar and pestle.

◉ Beddings

Soldiers also had to carry their own personal bedding. Petlatl, a ubiquituous reed mat, and deerskin are mentioned. Tezozomoc also lists quiyotlacuextli, a more luxurious mat woven from soft plant fibers. The drawing shows a common petate and deerskin.

Although tents are not explicitly listed, Tezozomoc frequently describes how the soldiers would set up camp with tents once they reached the targeted territory. We don’t know what Mesoamerican tents looked like, but as for the common soldiers, they were probably the simplest A-frame type tents. It is depicted as a large piece of rolled fabric leaning against the carrying frame.

◉ Etc

Some items in the drawing are not mentioned by Tezozomoc, but are likely to have been carried by the soldiers. Pouches woven from maguey fibers would’ve been used to hold small items. In the codices, these pouches are often depicted as incense bags used by priests.

The plants layed out on the front of the pouch are medicinal herbs used for injury or sickness. While the general care of wounded soldiers seems to have been the responsibility of the maqui, the women who accompanied the army, some men may have had personal supplies for the basic first-aid. The herbs in the drawing are from the Codex de la Cruz-Badiano, an Aztec herbal manuscript. Four’o clock flower (Mirabilis jalapa) is for the bruising on the head. The root of the Mexican giant hyssop (Agastache mexicana) and the bark of the Alder tree are for the inflicted wound.

Finally, the equipment for transporting all of this is called cacaxtli, the carrying frame. With no pack animals, people had to carry everything on their backs. According to Warwick Bey, cacaxtli was ‘made of two stout upright poles, about a body’s width apart, with horizontal crosspieces lashed on at intervals, the weight of the burden was taken by a plaited “tump line” which passed across the porter’s forehead, and the frame could be propped up while the carrier rested.’ Most loads weighted two arroba, which is around 23kg.

Sources

- Mexica Polychrome Pottery Jar, Museo Nacional de Antropología

- Quetzalxicalcoliuhqui chimalli, Landesmuseum Wurttemberg Stuttgart

- Pottery dish with a deer glyph, Cholula, British Museum

- Codex Mendoza, 1542

- De la Cruz-Badiano Codex, 1552

Codex Tepetlaoztoc, 1553

- Bernardino de Sahagun, Primeros Memoriales, 1561

- Hernando Alvarado Tezozomoc, Crónica mexicana, 1598

Juan de Torquemada, Monarquía Indiana, 1615

- Warwick Bray, “Everyday life of the Aztecs”, 1968

- Ross Hassig, “Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control”, 1988

John Pohl, “Aztec Warrior: AD 1325-1521”, 2001

- Marco Antonio Cervera Obregon, ‘The macuahuitl: an innovative weapon of the Late Post-Classic in Mesoamerica’, “Arms & Armour Vol. 3, No. 2”, 2006

- Sandra Zetina, Tatiana Falcon, Elsa Arroyo, Jose Luis Ruvalcaba, ‘The Encoded Language of Herbs: Material Insights into the De la Cruz-Badiano Codex’, “Colors Between Two Worlds: The Florentine Codex of Bernardino de Sahagun”, 2008

- Rosario Ruiz de Esparza Villarreal, Plantas medicinales usadas en México prehispánico para tratar padecimientos del aparato musculoesquelético : una visión histórica y su presencia actual, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2019