The Stone of Tizoc
About 1481 to 1486
A great drum of basalt, more than two and a half metres across, stands with a sun disc carved on its top and a continuous frieze running around its side. On the frieze the same scene repeats fifteen times: a warrior in the costume of the god Tezcatlipoca, with a smoking mirror at his temple, grips a defeated enemy by the hair. Each captive wears a place glyph naming his town. The victor is the emperor Tizoc, who ruled from fourteen eighty one to fourteen eighty six, and the stone is his boast of conquest carved in the round.
The carving is shallow but sharp, and the figures follow strict conventions: victors face left, captives face right, and their bent knees and limp arms show submission. Look at the band of stars along the top edge and the earth monster's teeth along the bottom, framing the human action between sky and underworld. The sun on the upper surface has a channel cut from the centre to the edge, which suggests that it was used as a sacrificial platform or temalacatl, where a captive tied by the ankle fought armed opponents in gladiatorial combat before being offered to the sun.
Tizoc's reign was short and, by Mexica standards, unsuccessful, and the conquests shown here include several that other rulers actually made. The stone is therefore propaganda, an attempt to write a weak emperor into the record of imperial glory. It was found in seventeen ninety one near the cathedral, close to where the Sun Stone and Coatlicue had appeared, and stood for years in the cathedral courtyard. Look for the glyph of Matlatzinco, a valley to the west, which Tizoc did in fact conquer, and count how many other victories he simply claimed.
Did You Know? Tizoc died after only five years on the throne, possibly poisoned by his own nobles, yet his stone shows him as a universal conqueror.
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