Montezuma (BBC documentary)
Encyclopedia
Montezuma is a 2009
BBC Television
documentary film
in which Dan Snow
examines the reign of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II
.
to tie in with the exhibition Moctezuma: Aztec Ruler at the British Museum
.
states that, Dan Snow jumps around from moral codes, to superstitions, to food production, to using sacrifice as a weapon of state control as he describes how the Aztec civilisation rose inordinately quickly — in less time than it took the US to become a “world leader”, and, asks: was [Montezuma] rather a tragic figure, a victim of circumstance? He concludes that, If the British Museum’s forthcoming exhibition on the Aztec leader... is anything like as intensely packed as this hour-long documentary, then its £12 entrance fee will certainly be fair game.
Enemy states were growing more powerful and conquered tribes were becoming more rebellious. Within months of taking the throne in 1502, he changed from a man of good reason into a pitiless autocrat who declared himself a god, believing that fear and ruthlessness were the only ways to stop the empire falling apart.
Yet it was at the hands of Cortes and the Spanish conquistadors that Montezuma met his downfall. But what was his relationship with Cortes, and why did such a ruthless leader submit to his captors with such relative ease? As Dan Snow visits the ruins and picks through current excavations, he pieces together the evidence of a gripping story: a divine tragedy of errors, the clash of civilisations, the end of a world - and a very human God.
2009 in television
The following is a list of events affecting American television in 2009. Events listed include television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and new channel launches.-January:-February:-March:-April:-May:-June:-July:-August:...
BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
in which Dan Snow
Dan Snow
Daniel Robert Snow is an English television presenter. He has presented and appeared in many popular history-related programmes for the BBC and is the "History Hunter" for The One Show.-Early life and background:...
examines the reign of the Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II
Moctezuma II
Moctezuma , also known by a number of variant spellings including Montezuma, Moteuczoma, Motecuhzoma and referred to in full by early Nahuatl texts as Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, was the ninth tlatoani or ruler of Tenochtitlan, reigning from 1502 to 1520...
.
Production
The film was produced by BBC WalesBBC Wales
BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the British Broadcasting Corporation for Wales. Based at Broadcasting House in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, it directly employs over 1200 people, and produces a broad range of television, radio and online services in both the Welsh and English languages.Outside...
to tie in with the exhibition Moctezuma: Aztec Ruler at the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
.
Reviews
Alex Hardy writing in The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
states that, Dan Snow jumps around from moral codes, to superstitions, to food production, to using sacrifice as a weapon of state control as he describes how the Aztec civilisation rose inordinately quickly — in less time than it took the US to become a “world leader”, and, asks: was [Montezuma] rather a tragic figure, a victim of circumstance? He concludes that, If the British Museum’s forthcoming exhibition on the Aztec leader... is anything like as intensely packed as this hour-long documentary, then its £12 entrance fee will certainly be fair game.
Synopsis
Dan Snow journeys to the ancient heart of Mexico in search of the lost civilisation of the Aztecs and their last and greatest ruler, Montezuma II (1502–1520). Montezuma inherited an empire of five million people, stretching from present-day Mexico to Nicaragua, from his uncle. His rule was marked by incessant warfare.Enemy states were growing more powerful and conquered tribes were becoming more rebellious. Within months of taking the throne in 1502, he changed from a man of good reason into a pitiless autocrat who declared himself a god, believing that fear and ruthlessness were the only ways to stop the empire falling apart.
Yet it was at the hands of Cortes and the Spanish conquistadors that Montezuma met his downfall. But what was his relationship with Cortes, and why did such a ruthless leader submit to his captors with such relative ease? As Dan Snow visits the ruins and picks through current excavations, he pieces together the evidence of a gripping story: a divine tragedy of errors, the clash of civilisations, the end of a world - and a very human God.
External links
- New exhibition challenges view of Aztec emperor Moctezuma as traitor by Maev Kennedy in The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- Montezuma finally gets his revenge by Ben Hoyle in The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...