"Exploring a defining moment of cultural encounter, this book offers points of departure for a comparative archaeology of empire. While many studies dwell on the Aztec gods and the bloody rituals performed in their horror, The Aztec Pantheon examines little-known episodes in which classicism mediated a dialogue both within and between Mesoamerica and Spain. The Spanish imagination of Rome and the memory of the Iberian Peninsula as a province of the Roman Empire were used to forge new understandings of Mexican society as well as to guide and critique Spain's imperial aims in the New World. The authors engage contemporary approaches to cross-cultural analogy, which sheds light on the function of monumental arts, religious spectacles, and consciously classicizing traditions within empires."--Jacket.