The Aztec University

This mural is part of the Aztec University system at Teotihuacán

How many disciplines can you identify?
Can you identify more, if the "disciplines" were called "Employment?"

Part of the University advertisement on the wall of
Atetelco at Teotihuacán

        The first discipline that can be identified is the astronomy teacher and his student taking notes, They are in the upper left corner of the mural.

Another discipline that can be identified is the

The teacher is explaining the constellations 

to his student: he who is taking notes.

   

       Another discipline that can be identified is the one above to the right of the mountain. His speech scroll maybe colored blue, so he could be explaining the work done on the snowcap below him. Are they measuring the water flow from the snows on top?

         Is that water to be syphoned into the gardens and farmlands around the flanks of the mountain? The man in the lower right and the man behind him are looking after fruitful plants that include a flowering tree, corn stalks and another kind of plant closer to the mountain.

                                       

        The next is the man to the right and just above the teacher above the mountain. A more complete picture shows him carrying a person, with what appears to be a huge butterfly on its head. The job title here is Porter; a man who is trained to properly carry people on his back over rough terrain.

A Porter

        At his feet is a man discussing crabs [lobsters?] and eels. A man who takes care of fisheries.

       To the right of the gentleman who will take charge of the fisheries, there is an acrobatic troup practicing their singing and dancing abilities.

Acrobats practicing their act.

        Just below, the troupe is a surgeon who takes care of arms and legs.

The Surgeon for Arms and Legs.

      There are more. . . Historians, Mathematicians, both elementary and advanced; Dramatists; Sculptors of stone and wood; and Merchant street sales people. Those that measure the skies and compute the time;  It is also importantt not to forget the ball players. 

      This was apparently an all male school.  The mural has been partially destroyed, but the teachers, with their Tlaloc-type googles, are also included in a panel above all.  They taught the subjects that are illustrated in their speech scrolls. 

  

      Women, could learn, but usually they held down the fort as cooks, tortilla makers, sellers of commodities, i.e.:  fruits and vegetables in the zocalo. They also had small food concessions. They were weavers, and spinners of wool and cotton. Children carried water for cooking and in general ,helped around the house and gardens. Fathers would take their young sons to the milpas to learn the farming methods used for centuries. 

         The Conquest destroyed books and manuscripts. There could be no record that these people were  just as learned as those on the Continent.