Aztec music: Did you mean...?

An illustration from the Florentine Codex depicting Aztecs storing maize.

Xochipilli or the 'Prince of Flowers' was the Mesoamerican god of summer, flowers, pleasure, love, dancing, painting, feasting, creativity and souls. He is a benevolent manifestation of Piltzintecuhtli, the young sun god who was himself a...

Turquoise was a highly-prized material in ancient Mesoamerica, perhaps the most valued of all materials for sacred and decorative art objects such as masks, jewellery, and the costumes of rulers and high priests. Turquoise was acquired through...

View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/music-and-creativity-in-ancient-greece-tim-hansen You think you love music? You have nothing on the Ancient Greek obsession. Every aspect of Greek life was punctuated by song: history, poetry...

European explorers began to probe the Western Hemisphere in the early 1500s, and they found to their utter amazement not only a huge landmass but also a world filled with several diverse and populous indigenous cultures. Among their most...

An Aztec pendant representing an animal head and covered in turquoise mosaic and with eyes rendered in shell and pyrite. 1400-1521, Mexico. Height 10 cm. (British Museum, London)

An Aztec spouted jug. Mexico, 1450-1521 CE. (St. Louis Art Museum, Missouri)

An Aztec jade pendant in the form of a figurine. 15th century. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

The Aztec civilization of ancient Mesoamerica believed that dead warriors were reincarnated as hummingbirds or butterflies. These whistling pots often included such birds, and they were considered spiritual conduits. This fine specimen dates...

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso noted for his solo piano music. Chopin's work helped make the piano the most popular musical instrument of the 19th century. One of the great composers of Romantic music, Chopin's...