Ammon and the Mesoamerican Custom of Smiting off Arms

Bruce H. Yerman

Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 8/1 (1999): 44–47, 78–79.

1065-9366 (print), 2168-3158 (online)

Ammon, a Nephite missionary who chose to serve a Lamanite king as his servant, gained fame by cutting off the arms of the king’s enemies. The practice of smiting off arms of enemies as trophies fits a cultural pattern known among the later Aztecs and Maya in pre-Spanish Mesoamerica.

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46 VOLUME 8, NUMBER 1, 1999

The Book of Mormon story about Ammon smiting offthe arms of the Lamanite thieves who scattered King Lamoni’s flocks fits a cultural pattern known from pre-Spanish Mesoamerica. Cutting off an enemy’s arm in bat-tle not only rendered him utterly helpless but also nettedthe victor a grisly trophy to carry from the scene of battlethat would validate his prowess in hand-to-hand combat.Documents from Mexico and Guatemala reveal such apre-Columbian custom.

In Mexico City’s National Palace, famed artist DiegoRivera represented the life of the Aztecs and their prede-cessors in a series of colorful and accurate murals. The onein the first corridor of the palace depicts the marketplaceat Tlatelolco, a quarter of the Aztec capital metropolis thatwas made famous through vivid descriptions provided bythe Spanish conquerors.1 This carefully researched Riveramural shows a prostitute tempting men around her in themarketplace. They show off for her by flaunting tokens ofwealth and power. One displays a precious jade necklace.Another admirer, a soldier, offers the woman “an arm of a

white man, whom he surely had just defeated in combat.”2

The artist’s intimation is that the war trophy was consid-ered comparable to the piece of fine jewelry. Bernal Díaz,the conquistador author, described the sad fate of severalof his comrades who were captured in battle: After thecaptives had been sacrificed, Aztec warriors held aloft thesevered arms of the victims as they taunted and threatenedthe Spanish and their native allies who were within earshot.3

Among the Aztecs, one of the few avenues open to aman for social advancement beyond the status of his par-ents was to demonstrate valor in combat. If he provedhimself valiant, which included vanquishing his enemiesby cutting off their arms, he could gain such privileges asthe right to enjoy special foods and dress in fine clothing.It would make sense that in an earlier era among theNephites and Lamanites, superior performance in the fre-quent wars would have enhanced social prestige in a simi-lar way. One considers, for example, the high esteem in

Ammon and the

Mesoamerican

Custom of

Smiting off Arms

by Bruce H. Yerman

JOURNAL OF BOOK OF MORMON STUDIES 47

which the warrior Teancum was heldfor an act of daring (see Alma 62:37).Moroni1, another of the Nephiteheroes, was also a man of extraordi-nary military prowess—“a strong and amighty man” (Alma 48:11; compare48:13, 14, 16; 51:18; 54:12; 60:30).Ammon, whose story is noted below,was deeply admired by the Lamanites“because of his expertness [in arms]and great strength” (Alma 18:3).

One sees further evidence for theAztec practice of cutting off enemyarms in the Mexica room of theNational Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. Near theentrance sit four carvedfigures of death, LasCihuateteo—womenwho had achieved thestatus of “warriors.” Awoman obtained that rank—which assured her a special glorified statusafter death—when she died in childbirth. Acquisition ofrank was taken so seriously that, upon hearing of awoman who had just died giving birth, youthful soldierswhose return from the latest battle was not glorious wouldon occasion rush to the woman’s home, barge in, cut offan arm of the “warrior” woman, and bear it off as a trophyof their valor.4

Evidence for the arm-severing practice in earlier times israre, yet one finds traces. Notable is a mythical event in thePopol Vuh, the sacred book of the Quiché Maya of high-land Guatemala. There is evidence that at least some of thebeliefs and customs recorded in that volume of native“virtual scripture” were current as far back as 2,000 yearsago.5 (To Latter-day Saints, it may be significant that high-land Guatemala might have been the territory whereAmmon lived among the Lamanites centuries earlier.6) Atone point the Popol Vuh reports a fight between herotwins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, and the god SevenMacaw. Hidden in a tree, Hunahpu shoots Seven Macawwith his blowgun. As the twin seeks to escape, SevenMacaw twists and tears an arm off Hunahpu’s body. “Andwhen Seven Macaw had taken the arm of Hunahpu, hewent home . . . then he hung up the arm of Hunahpu,”7

most probably as a token of his victory.According to the Book of Mormon, Ammon, one of the

sons of the Nephite king Mosiah2, chose to abandon hisprincely role to serve as a missionary among the Laman-

ites (see Alma 17). Such a decision bya Mesoamerican noble would be sountypical that it would be recountedamong his people.

The Lamanite guards bind Ammonand take him before King Lamoni.Upon seeing and hearing this articu-late, noble individual, the king freeshim and offers to give him one of hisdaughters as a wife (see Alma 17:24).Ammon, however, chooses to be theking’s servant. Three days later he isout defending the king’s flocks andhis fellow servants against a band ofroughnecks who try to steal the ani-mals. Ammon quickly kills a numberof the rustlers with his sling. Armedwith clubs, the remaining thieves rush

at Ammon, who kills their leader. The Nephiteprince skilfully uses his sword to dis-

able more of his enemies,cutting off the

armsof a number andleaving them “astonished athis power” (see Alma 17:36). Later theservants of the king collect the severed limbs and takethem to the royal residence “as a testimony of” their storyabout Ammon’s skill and bravery (see Alma 17:39; 18:1–3).

The king is emotionally and spiritually shaken when hehears of the visitor’s performance; he even supposesAmmon to be a deity (see Alma 18:10, 11). Even afterAmmon corrects that mistaken notion, the impact of theNephite prince’s actions earns him respect as a very pow-erful man in Lamanite society (see Alma 19:24–27).

It is more than interesting that a similar custom existedin the ancient Near East. For instance, an Assyrian work ofart celebrating a military conquest shows soldiers cuttingoff the heads, feet, and hands of vanquished enemies, firstfor an accurate count of enemy dead and second as trophiesof war. Egyptian art shows the taking of hand trophies.8

The cultural message delivered to the Lamanites by thefellow servants of prince Ammon who took trophy armsfrom his foes reminds us forcefully of the same practiceamong later Aztecs and Maya. �

I thank Randi Reinhart for contributing to this article and discussing elements of it with me.

Rivera depicts a soldier offering a woman “an arm of a

white man, whom he surely had just defeated in combat.”

Ammon and the Mesoamerican Customof Smiting offArmsBruce H. Yerman

1. For example, Bernal Diaz del Castilloreported, "Some of the soldiers among uswho had been in many parts of theworld, in Constantinople, and all overItaly, and in Rome, said that so large amarket place and so full of people, and sowell regulated and arranged, they hadnever beheld before," Bernal Diaz delCastillo, The Discovery and Conquest ofMexico, 1517-1521, tr. A. P. Maudslay(London: Broadway Honse, 1928),302.

2. Antonio Rodriguez, Diego Rivera MuralPailltillg {Mexico: Fonda Editorial de laPIastica Mexicana, 1991),76.

3. Dfaz, Discovery and Conquest, 570.4. Discussed by Felipe Solis Olguin, archae-

ologist and curator of the Mexica Roomat the National Museum in courses at themuseum in October 1996 and May 1997.

5. See, for example, Michael D. Coe, "TheHero Twins: Myth and Image," in TheMaya ViISC Book: A Corpus ofRollo"t Plw-tographs ofMaya Vases, ed. Justin Kerr(New York: Justin Kerr, 1989), 1:161-84,esp.163.

6. John 1. Sorenson, An AncientAmericallSetting for the Book ofl\1offi10n (Salt LakeCity: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1985),138-45.

78 VOLUME 8, NUMBER 1, 1999

7. Dennis Tedlock, Papal Vuh, The Defini­tive Edition ofthe Mayan Book oftheDawn ofLife and the Glories ofGods andKil1gs (New York: Simon and Schuster,1986),92

8. ''Ammon and Cutting off the Arms ofEnemies," in John W. Vvelch, ed., Reex­ploring the Book ofMormon (Salt LakeCity: Deseret Book and FARMS, 1992) ,180-82.

JOURNAL OF BOOK OF MORMON STUDIES 79