Image: Coronation Stone of Motecuhzoma II

Description: The primary function of this stone was to commemorate the reign of Emperor Motecuhzoma II. This stone legitimizes Mocteczuma’s rule and contextualizes his reign with the cosmological view of Aztec history. On the annotated image, the 5 suns of the Aztec are indicated. They are significant in their timeline of Aztec civilization. Each sun represents the belief of the Aztec people that the world has gone through 5 distinct cycles of creation and destruction. One should read the stone starting with the first sun in the bottom right and moving counterclockwise (following the blue arrows in the annotation). The 5th sun in the center of the stone represents the present era of the Aztec.
Title: Coronation Stone of Motecuhzoma II
Credit: Own work
Author: Jlevine13
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
License: CC BY-SA 4.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
Attribution Required?: Yes