Editing Damnatio memoriae (section)

=== New Spain ===
{{See also|Mexican Inquisition}}
[[File:Petroglifo de Moctezuma Xocoyotzin.jpg|thumb|The Chapultepec portrait of Moctezuma II, made in 1519 and intentionally damaged in the middle of the 18th century, is the only surviving Chapultepec portrait of a Mexica monarch.]]

Notorious incidents of ''damnatio memoriae'' occurred during the existence of the [[Viceroyalty of New Spain]], the [[Spanish colony]] that emerged after the [[Spanish conquest of Mexico]] in 1521. Various [[List of viceroys of New Spain|viceroys]] ordered the destruction of monuments and documents depicting certain episodes of [[pre-Columbian]] [[Mesoamerica]]n history and rebels to Spanish rule over the Americas.

For instance, [[Moctezuma I]] (not to be confused with his more famous great-grandson [[Moctezuma II]]), 15th-century ''[[Tlatoani|huei tlahtoani]]'' (Great Speaker, i.e. emperor) of the ''Excan Tlahtoloyan'' ({{lit}} Triple Capital),<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Herrera Meza |first=María del Carmen |last2=López Austin |first2=Alfredo |last3=Martínez Baracs |first3=Rodrigo |year=2013 |title=El nombre náhuatl de la Triple Alianza |trans-title=The Nahuatl name of the Triple Alliance |url=https://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0071-16752013000200002 |journal=Estudios de cultura náhuatl |language=es |volume=46 |pages=7–35 |issn=0071-1675 |access-date=31 May 2024}}</ref> known by historians as the Mexica or [[Aztec Empire]] (also known as the Aztec Triple Alliance, whose inhabitants referred to themselves as Culhua-Mexica), ordered the creation of a portrait of himself and of his military and political advisor [[Tlacaelel]] at [[Chapultepec]], a historically and naturally important site which nowadays is within [[Mexico City]]. This became a tradition among subsequent Mexica rulers, and portraits of [[Axayacatl]] and [[Ahuizotl]], two of Moctezuma's successors, were also made throughout the rest of the century ([[Tizoc]]'s absence may be explained by his sudden death from poisoning). Moctezuma II would create the last portrait of this kind in 1519 (which {{harvtxt|Hajovsky|2015|p=118}} believes might be {{qi|the last Aztec monument}}), at the eve of the Spanish conquest.

[[Antonio de León y Gama]], a distinguished Mexican intellectual, wrote in the late 18th century that these portraits were well preserved up until that century. León y Gama claimed that the only portrait he got to see himself was Moctezuma II's, before its destruction was ordered by the authorities in 1753 or 1754. He mentioned that Axayacatl's portrait still existed earlier in that century before it was {{qi|broken up and removed.}} Indeed, the remains of Moctezuma's portrait, approximately 2 meters (over 6 feet) high, reveal that its damage was not accidental or natural. It was carved on pink-to-gray [[andesite]], which is {{qi|slightly harder than [[marble]],}} according to Hajovsky. The markings in the damaged parts show that apparently its destruction was executed with the dropping of a boulder, and that deep holes were drilled {{qi|perhaps in order to pry the stone apart or blow it up.}}

In another notorious instance, Spanish [[bishop]] [[Juan de Zumárraga]] ordered the destruction of a portrait depicting [[Nezahualcoyotl (tlatoani)|Nezahualcoyotl]], king of [[Texcoco (altepetl)|Texcoco]], on 7 July 1539, along with various other sculptures at the Hill of [[Texcotzingo]] {{qi|in a manner such that they would no longer be remembered,}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hajovsky |first=Patrick Thomas |title=On the Lips of Others: Moteuczoma's Fame in Aztec Monuments and Rituals |publisher=[[University of Texas Press]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-292-76668-6 |location=[[Austin, Texas]] |pages=IX, 1, 118—119, 136 |doi=10.7560/766686}}</ref> a clear example of ''damnatio memoriae''.

During the [[Mexican War of Independence]], which started in 1810, one of the earliest revolutionary leaders, [[Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla]], nowadays remembered as a [[national Hero]], was executed by the Spanish authorities in 1811. After his execution, according to contemporary accounts, the authorities declared a ''damnatio memoriae''. According to one of Hidalgo's soldiers, Pedro García (1790–1873), {{qi|the fierce war against Hidalgo's memory and his ideas}} was done through strict censorship.
{{blockquote|It became illegal to speak about Hidalgo anywhere, it became a great crime that was severely punished. This is the reason why no portrait which resembles him at all is found anywhere in the country, since the prohibition lasted nearly ten years. Nobody felt safe speaking inside their homes.}}

The Spanish efforts to erase his memory, however, were in vain. The War of Independence continued, and the leaders who continued to revolution after Hidalgo's death made great efforts to commemorate his legacy. [[José María Morelos]], for example, declared in 1813 that 16 September, the anniversary of the beginning of the war, would be celebrated every year {{qi|remembering always the merit of the great Hero [[Don (honorific)|Don]] Miguel Hidalgo and his partner Don [[Ignacio Allende]].}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Brenes Tencio |first=Guillermo |year=2010 |title=Miguel Hidalgo a la luz del arte: iconografía del héroe nacional — Padre de la Patria mexicana (siglos XIX y XX) |trans-title=Miguel Hidalgo under the light of art: iconography of the national Hero—Father of the Mexican Nation |url=https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/kanina/article/view/704 |journal=Káñina. Revista de Artes y Letras |language=es |publisher=[[University of Costa Rica]] |volume=XXXIV |issue=2 |pages=53–71 |issn=0378-0473 |access-date=31 May 2024}}</ref>