The Aztec Ballgame where the Losers were Sacrificed
1,510,561
Published 2021-03-30
Whichever form the ballgame best served the society in which it was played, ōllamaliztli and pitz made up a huge part of Meso-American political and cultural life.
With the Spanish conquest, the game’s widespread adoption suffered a gradual decline, in part because the new masters saw it as barbaric.
Sacrificial victims have been documented, including defeated noble players, coaches, and sometimes entire teams!
Become a Simple History member: youtube.com/simplehistory/join
Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/simplehistory
Copyright: DO NOT translate and re-upload our content on Youtube or other social media.
SIMPLE HISTORY MERCHANDISE
Get the Simple History books on Amazon:
www.amazon.com/Daniel-Turner-%60/e/B00H5TYLAE/
T-Shirts
teespring.com/stores/simple-h...
Simple history gives you the facts, simple!
See the book collection here:
Amazon USA
www.amazon.com/Daniel-Turner/e/B00H5TYLAE/
Amazon UK
www.amazon.co.uk/Daniel-Turner/e/B00H5TYLAE/
www.facebook.com/Simple-History-549437675141192/
twitter.com/SimpleHistoryYT
Credit:
Created by Daniel Turner (B.A. (Hons) in History, University College London)
Narrator:
Chris Kane
vocalforge.com/
Music Credit:
Expeditionary by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc…
Artist: incompetech.com/
Running Waters Full Band by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Artist: audionautix.com/
Sources:
Sports, Games, and Gambling in the Aztec World By Martin Wasserman
Mayan, Incan, and Aztec Civilizations, Grades 5 - 8 By Michael Kramme
The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule: A History of the Indians of the Valley of New Mexico By Charles Gibson
"Ulama", the Survival of the Mesoamerican Ballgame Ullamaliztli
Ted J. J. Leyenaar
All Comments (21)
-
Today: it’s okay billy you will get the goal next time! Mayans and Aztecs: You won’t be making that mistake again, buddy
-
"What do we get if we win?" "You still get sacrificed but its to better gods."
-
I just got back from Mexico and tour guide said the winners were sacrificed ( not losers ) as honor. He also joked about no wonder Mexico didn’t win World Cup Soccer.
-
In Brittain people have a similar game called football. But instead of losing team getting sacrificed the losers get stabbed.
-
"Rather than going to war, Rulers could just play ball"
-
Imagine this in the world cup, a whole entire team of people will be executed
-
i went on a field trip and some guy explained this game to us in great detail and he clarified multiple times that it were the winners of the game who got sacrificed
-
Im pretty sure that hoop was just one of those "if the ball lands here everyone gets a free car" type of thing
-
The Aztec's were just looking for any excuse to sacrifice someone.
-
"Painful Bruises" Shows a man with bones sticking out of his body
-
So in other words, even the Aztecs and Mayan's knew that BALL IS LIFE!
-
Romans: our gladiator games are brutal and bloodthirsty Aztecs: hold our rubber ball
-
“Play like your life depends on it” - The Aztec emperor, probably
-
“Some of you may die, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make”-Aztec Emperor as he opens the tournament.
-
Soccer would be greatly improved with these rules
-
My grandpa explaining me how the people play soccer at his time:
-
Don’t forget that you can replace the ball with an armadillo to give yourself an advantage!
-
“I wish I lived in this time, things were much simpler.” “I take it back.”
-
Fun fact: The Mesoamerican city with the most Ball Game courts was the Olmec-Xicallanc city of Cantona, in the modern state of Puebla. It had at least 27 of them. The ruins can be visited today as an archaeological site.
-
When i was in mexico the people told me ( im spanish so i talked to the locals) that the WINNER was actually sacrificed and it was an honor to be killed for the gods
