The internet in the flat is broken, and it probably will be for at least the rest of the week while Virgin and BT try to figure out what is going on and how to fix it. So since I can't post the pictures from Austria yet, have this paragraph from one of the books I was reading at the library last week, instead:
— Understanding Early Civilizations, B.G. Trigger
Can we just all agree at this point that the Aztecs/Mexica were the craziest dudes this side of the AD/BC divide? Other people invent sports when no wars are going on, but no, that just wasn't good enough for them; they missed that invigorating atmosphere of death and bloodshed too much.
[Dreamwidth mirror]
In addition to wars of conquest, highland Mexican city-states engaged in xochiyaoyotl (flowery wars), which consisted of carefully prearranged, 'friendly' battles between rival states. Soldiers were killed in these battles and prisoners taken, but military action was restricted to the battlefield and the overt political status of the participants was not altered, at least in the short run, by the outcome. The rationale for these contests was to capture prisoners for sacrifice to the gods. Flowery wars were said to be waged when not enough wars of conquest were occuring.
— Understanding Early Civilizations, B.G. Trigger
Can we just all agree at this point that the Aztecs/Mexica were the craziest dudes this side of the AD/BC divide? Other people invent sports when no wars are going on, but no, that just wasn't good enough for them; they missed that invigorating atmosphere of death and bloodshed too much.
[Dreamwidth mirror]
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