The Aztecs, as conquerors, expanded their power, influence, and territory by subjugating myriad local and tribal cultures. Ignoring the obvious violence and death, the Aztecs imposed their culture and values ​​on the conquered peoples. The cultural practices of the Aztecs centered on fertility, agriculture, ancient games, warfare, and social and political power, led to the perversion and distortion of the Aztecs' initial religious ambition by virtue of their increased use of human sacrifice. Their original spiritual cult involved minimal human sacrifice to appease their various gods of the cosmic structure; however, ultimately, human sacrifice was required in virtually every aspect of their lives. I would argue that this perversion, in the form of extensive human sacrifice, was used solely for political purposes to instill fear and had nothing to do with religious worship. The Aztecs viewed their life and the cosmic world around them as unstable and destructive; human life was meaningless and was created solely to serve the gods. The mythology of the Aztecs describes their gods sacrificing each other to create and sustain the fifth and final age of the sun in which the Aztecs lived on earth. The Aztecs assimilated the creation story from earlier Mesoamerican cultures such as the Maya and Olmec and expanded it, now practicing massive sacrificial ceremonies to re-enact the formation of suns and other sacred myths.2 Human sacrifice was essentially a reflection of the self-sacrifice that the Aztecs had learned from their gods. Since the gods had sacrificed their blood to give life to the world, the Aztecs also offered the blood of humans as sacrifices to help them maintain... half of the paper... sacrificing more than twenty-five thousand captives. In short, the Aztecs declared war to satisfy their god of war.” in their enemies, but also in their own people. Through the Aztecs the explicit use of human sacrifice quickly moved from religious worship to political intimidation in their quest for power. Although the original religious goal of the Aztecs was to pay homage to their various deities, the expansion of their political, social, and economic power required that they instill fear in the hearts of the subjugated people in their empire. As a result they implemented sacrifice into all elements of their society's cultural practices.