drums thunder across the temple steps of Tenochtitlan.

A crowd gathers below as priests lead a captive toward the summit.

He is laid back on cold stone.

Hands grip his limbs, a blade of obsidian flashes.

In a single practiced motion, his chest is opened and his beating heart extracted as offering to the gods.

This is the image that has, for many, come to define the Aztecs.

But how much of what we think we know is true, and how much was written by their conquerors?

From the sacrificial temple of the Aztec Empire, this is after dark. Hello and welcome to After Dark. My name is Anthony, and I am, of course, and have been for the last few months at this

point, minus Maddie, but she will be back in the near future. But for today's episode, we are

joined by Professor Caroline Dodds Penick, who is Professor of International History at the University

of Sheffield, and author of books including Bonds of Blood, Gender, Lifecycle life cycle and sacrifice in Aztec culture.

And more recently, a book that I adored, and I really do highly recommend this, go out and

read this on Savage Shores, How Indigenous Americans Discovered Europe.

Welcome, Caroline to After Dark.

Thank you very much for having me.

And I believe, now, correct me if I'm wrong here, because this is not my area of expertise,

although I am so interested in this.

Are you the only person in Britain who studies Aztec culture to the extent that you do?

Technically, I'm the only British Aztec historian, I think.

Okay.

Because Josh Fitzgerald, who is an American, has been here for the last few years, doing some Nahua, which is the

group of people that includes the Aztecs, doing some wonderful Nawa histories. But I am the only British person.

...