Editing Tenoch

{{Short description|Ruler of the Mexicas from c. 1325 until 1350–75}}
{{For|the actor|Tenoch Huerta}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2022}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name               = Tenoch
| image              = Tenoch.jpg
| image_size         = 135px
| alt                = Tenoch's image
| caption            = Depiction of Tenoch in the [[Codex Mendoza]].
| reign              = {{Circa|1325–1375}} (?){{Sfn|Vázquez-Gómez|1997|p=5}}
| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = {{circa|1299}}
| death_date         = 1350, 1367 or 1375
| father           = Iztac-[[Mixcoatl]]{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}
| mother = [[Ilancueye]]<ref name="dicc"/>
}}
'''Tenoch''' (or '''Tenuch''', {{audio|Tenoch.ogg|modern Nahuatl pronunciation}}) was a ruler of the [[Mexica]]s (Aztecas) during the fourteenth century during the Aztec travels from [[Aztlán]] to [[Tenochtitlan]]. The Tenochtitlan people were originally referred to as Tenochca, then the Mexica.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Chimalpahin's Conquest : A Nahua Historian's Rewriting of Francisco lopez de Go´mara's la Conquista de Mexico|url=https://archive.org/details/chimalpahinsconq00schr|url-access=limited|last=de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Cuauhtlehuanitzin 1579-1660.|first=Domingo Francisco|last2=Schroeder|first2=Susan|last3=de Gómara 1511-1564.|first3=Francisco López|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=2010|location=Stanford, Calif.|pages=[https://archive.org/details/chimalpahinsconq00schr/page/n464 444]}}</ref> He was a respected chief who was elected to power by the council of elders and died sometime between 1350 and 1375, depending on the source.

Tenoch was one of nine Mexica leaders who were told how Mexica could gain support from the forces of nature. After traveling southward for a span of 200 years, the Mexica found the sign. In honor of their leader, they named the small, reedy island in [[Lake Texcoco]], Tenochtitlan.<ref name="dicc">{{cite book|author=Cecilio A. Robelo|title=Diccionario de Mitología Nahoa|url=|date=1905|publisher=Editorial Porrúa|isbn=970-07-3149-9|language=spanish|page=501}}</ref> Tenochtitlan soon became the capital of the [[Aztec Empire]]. The [[Aztec script|Nahuatl symbol]]s of his name are found in the [[Mexican flag]]: ''Tetl'': "rock", and ''Nochtli'': "prickly pear cactus".

There is disagreement whether Tenoch is a mythological person or a real Mexica leader who was later mythologized. According to one source, Tenoch's father was Iztac Mixcoatl{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}, who had a total of seven sons with two wives, six of them giants:

{{blockquote|Surrounded the Earth by the seas and submerged in them for a long time, the old frog, with a thousand jaws and bloody tongues, and the strange name it takes, [[Tlaltecuhtli]]; Iztac-[[Mixcoatl]], the fierce white cloud serpent, who lives in Citlalco, joins her in sweet collusion. And six tlacame with love engender; the six brothers on earth dwell and are the trunk of various races: the first-born, the giant [[Xelhua]], of Itzocan and Epatlan, and Cuauquechollan, the cities he founded. Tenoch, the great Aztec claudillo, in Mexico stops the march of his people, and builds the great [[Tenochtitlan]], a lake city. The strong Cuetlachoapan founds [[Ulmecatl]], and gives its indolent people a seat. On the shores of the gulf, [[Xicalancatl]], the brave [[Mixtecatl]] takes refuge. Of Mixtecapan in the sour lands; [[Otomitl]], the xocoyotl [<i>younger son</i>], always lives in mountains near Mexico, and there it thrives in rich populations such as Tollan, Xilotepec and Otompan<ref name="oliver">{{cite book|author=Guilhem Olivier|title=Cacería, Sacrificio y Poder en Mesoamérica: Tras las Huellas de Mixcóatl|url=|date=2015|publisher=Fondo de Cultura Económica|isbn=978-607-16-3216-6|language=spanish}}</ref>|Gerónimo de Mendieta (1525–1604)}}

== References ==
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[[Category:Aztec nobility]]
[[Category:14th-century Aztec people]]
[[Category:14th-century deaths]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Mythological city founders]]