Huehue Zaca

Infobox Nahua officeholder
name =Huehue Zaca
title =Tlacateccatl of Tenochtitlan
tlatoani =Moctezuma I
cihuacoatl =Tlacaelel
father =Huitzilihuitl
mother =Miyahuaxochtzin
children =Tzontemoc
Huitzilatzin

Huehue Zaca (Çaca; pronounced|ˈweːweʔ ˈsaka) or Zacatzin (Çacatzin; IPA| [saˈkatsiːn] ) was a 15th century Aztec noble and a warrior who served as "tlacateccatl" ("captain general" [Chimalpahin (1997): pp. 50–51] ) under the ruler Moctezuma I. [Chimalpahin (1997): vol. 1, pp. 146–147 and vol. 2, pp. 94–95.] The name "Zaca" is probably derived from Nahuatl "zacatl", meaning "grass"; "-tzin" is an honorific or reverential suffix. "Huehue" is Nahuatl for "the elder", literally "old man".

Zaca was the fourth child of ruler Huitzilihuitl. [Chimalpahin (1997): vol. 1, pp. 122–123.] His mother was Miyahuaxochtzin, the daughter of Tlacacuitlahuatzin, ruler of Tiliuhcan. [Chimalpahin (1997): vol. 1, pp. 118–119 and vol. 2, pp. 94–95.] He was thus the younger brother of the ruler Chimalpopoca, and younger half-brother of the ruler Moctezuma I and the "cihuacoatl" Tlacaelel.

Moctezuma is said to have had Zaca executed for singing and beating his drum loudly.Chimalpahin (1997): vol. 1, pp. 146–149 and vol. 2, pp. 94–95.]

Zaca had two sons: Tzontemoc, who served as "tlacateccatl" under Moctezuma's successors Axayacatl and Tizoc;Chimalpahin (1997): vol. 1, pp. 146–147.] and Huitzilatzin, who was installed by Axayacatl as the first "tlatoani" (ruler) of Huitzilopochco (now known as Churubusco), a city near Chalco whose inhabitants are said to have been cannibals prior to the imposition of Aztec government. [Isaac (2005): pp. 5–6.] A descendant of Zaca through his son Huitzilatzin, Hernando Huehue Cetochtzin, was taken along with many other indigenous nobles (notably Cuauhtemoc) on conquistador Hernán Cortés's expedition to Honduras (Huey Mollan), during which he died. [Chimalpahin (1997): vol. 1, pp. 148–149.]

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References

*cite book |author=Chimalpahin Cuauhtlehuanitzin, Domingo Francisco de San Antón Muñón |authorlink=Chimalpahin |year=1997 |title=Codex Chimalpahin: society and politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Texcoco, Culhuacan, and other Nahua altepetl in central Mexico: the Nahuatl and Spanish annals and accounts collected and recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin |others=edited and translated by Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder |series=The Civilization of the American Indian Series |location=Norman |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=0-8061-2921-2
*cite journal |author=Isaac, Barry L. |year=2005 |title=Aztec Cannibalism: Nahua versus Spanish and mestizo accounts in the Valley of Mexico |journal=Ancient Mesoamerica |volume=16 |pages=pp. 1–10 |doi=10.1017/S0956536105050030