Source: Atlas Obscura
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These menacing sculptures once sat at the foot of the stairs of a vast pyramid dedicated to Huītzilōpōchtli (Hummingbird’s South), the bellicose Aztec god of war with an insatiable appetite for blood.
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The Aztec civilization practiced human sacrifice on an epic scale. Enemies captured in war raids and skirmishes were brought on a daily basis to the temple, painted blue with a mineral pigment, and then led past the stone serpents to climb the steps.
Once the unlucky prisoners had reached the summit, a knife-wielding high priest wielding would tear their still-beating hearts from their chests. A fellow priest would then hold the bloody, palpitating organ aloft as an offering to the sun and sky. The dead body was then thrown down the steps…
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