<P> According to their own history, when the Mexicas arrived in the Anahuac Valley around Lake Texcoco, they were considered by the other groups as the least civilized of all . The Mexicas decided to learn, and they took all they could from other peoples, especially from the ancient Toltec (whom they seem to have partially confused with the more ancient civilization of Teotihuacan). To the Mexicas, the Toltecs were the originators of all culture; "Toltecayotl" was a synonym for culture . Mexica legends identify the Toltecs and the cult of Quetzalcoatl with the mythical city of Tollan, which they also identified with the more ancient Teotihuacan . </P> <P> In the process, they adopted most of the Toltec / Nahua (code) pantheon, but they also made significant changes in their religion . As the Mexica rose in power, they adopted the Nahua gods at equal status to their own . For instance, Tlaloc was the rain god of all the Nahuatl - speaking peoples . They put their local god Huitzilopochtli at the same level as the ancient Nahua god, and also replaced the Nahua Sun god with their own . Thus, Tlaloc / Huitzilopochtli represents the duality of water and fire, as evidenced by the twin pyramids uncovered near the Zocalo in Mexico City in the late 1970s, and it reminds us of the warrior ideals of the Aztec: the Aztec glyph of war is "burning water". </P> <P> Human sacrifice was practiced on a grand scale throughout the Aztec empire, although the exact figures are unknown . At Tenochtitlán, the principal Aztec city, according to Ross Hassig "between 10,000 and 80,400 persons" were sacrificed over the course of four days for the dedication of the Great Pyramid in 1487 . Excavations of the offerings in the main temple has provided some insight in the process, but the dozens of remains excavated are far short of the thousands of sacrifices recorded by eyewitnesses and other historical accounts . For millennia, the practice of human sacrifice was widespread in Mesoamerican and South American cultures . It was a theme in the Olmec religion, which thrived between 1200 BC and 400 BC and among the Maya . Human sacrifice was a very complex ritual . Every sacrifice had to be meticulously planned from the type of victim to specific ceremony needed for the god . The sacrificial victims were usually warriors but sometimes slaves, depending upon the god and needed ritual . The higher the rank of the warrior the better he is looked at as a sacrifice . The victim (s) would then take on the persona of the god he was to be sacrificed for . The victim (s) would be housed, fed, and dressed accordingly . This process could last up to a year . When the sacrificial day arrived, the victim (s) would participate in the specific ceremonies of the god . These ceremonies were used to exhaust the victim so that he would not struggle during the ceremony . Then five priests, known as the Tlenamacac, performed the sacrifice usually at the top of a pyramid . The victim would be laid upon the table, held down and then have his heart cut out . </P>

Describe ways in which the religious beliefs of the maya and aztec were similar
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