The Aztec Calendar Stone, currently housed in the National Anthropology Museum in Mexico City, is the most famous work of Aztec sculpture in history. This incredibly intricate stone measures 12 feet in diameter, is over three feet thick, and weighs in at a whopping 24 tons. It was carved around the year 1500 as a means to describe the origins of the cosmos and the structure of the universe as the Aztecs saw it. And to this day, the Aztec Calendar stone endures as one of the most prominent emblems of Mexican culture.
Obverse
The obverse depicts the famous Aztec Calendar stone. The design is in a circular shape resembling a sun, with rays emanating outward. In the center is the face of the Aztec solar deity, Tonatiuh, which gives the monolith its alternate name the Sun Stone. He is shown holding a human heart in each of his clawed hands, and his tongue is represented by a stone sacrificial blade. He is surrounded by a ring of 20 symbols that represent the 20 days of the Aztec month, along with four scrolled arrows pointed in the four cardinal directions.
Reverse
The reverse depicts the striking left portrait of Cuauhtemoc, the last Aztec Emperor of Tenochtitlan. The name Cuauhtemoc means “Descending Eagle”, as in the moment when an eagle folds its wings and plummets down to strike its prey. He was executed on the orders of Spanish Conquistador Hernn Corts in 1525, and his face appears on Mexican banknotes, paintings, music, and popular culture to this day. He wears the traditional headdress and ear ornaments of the Aztec elite, and is surrounded by an Aztec border as well as the inscriptions of his name and the metal content, weight, and purity.
Aztec Calendar 1oz silver round’s come packaged in tubes of 20.
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