Ross Hassig’s latest work, Polygamy and the Rise and Demise of the Aztec Empire, contemplates links between elite polygyny among the Mexica of Tenochtitlán and the politics and social organization of the Aztec Empire. Specifically: how did elite polygyny—wherein powerful men took multiple wives—facilitate the Aztecs’ rapid rise to power in the fifteenth century, and what were the social and economic effects of enforced monogamy following the imposition of Spanish control in the sixteenth century? Hassig’s comprehensive treatment of these questions builds upon anthropological models regarding the effects of polygyny in human societies generally. The book is therefore less an exposition or elucidation of new evidence than an extended hypothesis that establishes and structures the conceptual groundwork for future research.

Hassig’s primary sources are the well-known codices and chronicles of the early colonial period pertaining to the imperial history of Tenochtitlán, such as the Florentine Codex and the works...

You do not currently have access to this content.