Throughout history, a few gifted individuals have turned momentous events into epic poems. We have the “Iliad,” the “Odyssey,” the “Epic of Gilgamesh”—and now, “Aztec Rhapsodies.”
This remarkable new work explores the fall of the Aztec Empire through Mexican eyes, in a tale arguably more bizarre than the fall of Troy. A small band of unwashed Spaniards, unable to speak the local language, walked into one of the most advanced and well-organized cities in the world—protected by the fiercest warriors in the Americas—and captured its leader with hardly any resistance. That’s a story worth telling.
Told in verse over 132 pages, and illustrated with more than 100 images drawn largely from 16th-century codices, “Aztec Rhapsodies: Flower and Song of the Mexican Conquest” was published in 2024 by Newman Springs Publishing, New Jersey. It is available on Amazon in both print and Kindle editions—and yes, it’s in English.
The author of this extraordinary work is Gabriel de la Asunción Michel Padilla, curator of a fascinating little museum in the town of El Limón, Jalisco, located halfway between Guadalajara and the Pacific coast.
Please login or subscribe to view the complete article.