Tunnel to Two Previously Unknown Chambers Found in Mexican Temple Mayor.Ahuitzotl: Powerful Ruler in the Aztec Golden Age.Cuauhtémoc, The Last Aztec Emperor to Fight Against the Spanish.The council, however, reserved the right to remove the tlatoani, should he prove to be unworthy. Instead, the Aztec tlaloque were elected by a city council, and once chosen, served in this position for life. Nevertheless, this office was not inherited automatically from father to son. This was important, as the Aztecs believed that a tlatoani’s right to rule rested on him being from the correct lineage. The office of tlatoani was hereditary, as it was kept within a particular lineage in each Aztec city-state. This title may be translated literally from Nahuatl to mean ‘one who speaks.’ He has a number of important prerogatives, as well as responsibilities towards his people.Īcamapichtli, the first tlatoani of Tenochtitlan, as depicted in the Tovar Codex. ‘Tlatoani’ (the plural being ‘tlatoque’) is the title conferred on the ruler of an Aztec altepetl (equivalent to the term ‘city-state’). Whilst each Aztec city-state had its own tlatoani, the tlatoque of Tenochtitlan, since the establishment of the Aztec Empire in 1430, held the title ‘Huey Tlatoani’, which means ‘Great Tlatoani’, and was the supreme leader of the land. He was the ruler or king of his people and was thought to speak for them. A tlatoani sat at the top of the Aztec city-state hierarchical structure.