阿兹特克的双重权威的性别属性

正如男性掌管战争，女性掌管家庭的社会结构，阿兹特克的政治上也表现出两性的象征。 Tlatoani和Cihuacoatl分别掌管战争与内政，对应的是男性和女性的社会角色。
Warfare and ‘external’ matters were the man’s realms of men, while the domestic sphere was female-identified and organized. Warfare was, in all but the most extraordinary of circum- stances, an entirely male province, mirroring the tlatoani’s primary role as commander-in-chief of Aztec military affairs. The tlatoani was the archetypal warrior, leader and patriarch, commanding the armies on their foreign expeditions, organizing the workforce, and maintaining the dynasty by fathering a host of children. As the huey tlatoani, or ‘great speaker’ of Tenochtitlan, the ruler kept the nation’s history alive, and was the public face of the Aztec world, leading, controlling and disci- plining society. The female realm, on the other hand, lay within the community, and the cihuacoatl functioned as the symbolic woman,counsellor, organizer and aide. 
虽然Cihuacoatl是男性担任，但他却展现出女性的特质，在仪式中以女性的服饰呈现，并成为女性神灵的化身，是国家的女主人。
 The office of cihuacoatl was held by a man, but so important was his feminine identification that the cihuacoatl even adopted women’s dress on ceremonial occasions, attired as the goddess who was his namesake.
 ‘Like his goddess, he was the aide that surpassed all aides, the honored matron of the city.’
但在帝国后期，Tlatoani的权力膨胀，可能是由于阿兹特克的军事成功加强了军事威望在社会价值中的重要性，与之对等的，被排斥在军事活动之外的妇女的影响力随Cihuacoatl权威一同衰退。随着妇女地位的边缘化，以军事登记制度为主导的男性权威被构建。
Status was increasingly emphasized at this time and the emergence of a social structure based upon military hier- archy in some senses marginalized women, whose influence was founded in other spheres. Excluded from the social hierarchy of prestige and prominence by virtue of its progressively combat-orientated nature, the significance of female figures became increasingly symbolic.