Abstract

JOHANSSON K., Patrick. Nenomamictiliztli: Suicide in pre-Hispanic Nahuatl world. Estud. cult. náhuatl [online]. 2014, vol.47, pp.53-119. ISSN 0071-1675.

After defining the notion of suicide in a pre-Hispanic cultural context, according to the Nahuatl terms that refer it and to what death represented for the ancient Mexicans, and after considering the epistemological problems such a study has to face, we will analyze different instances of suicide mentioned in historical sources in order to determine some aspects of self inflicted death, its probable sacrificial character and the value it had for the ancient Mexicans. We will consider as well the models of voluntary immolation which the gods set in illo tempore, the ritual protocol of collective suicide fixed by the ancestors, before examining specifically Motecuhzoma's intention to commit suicide, its frustration or realization.

Keywords : Suicide; self sacrifice; gods; ancestros; Motecuhzoma.

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