tion, ranked highest amongst the women of
the "celestial caste." Those who married did so in their own caste, led a
life of seclusion and always maintained a position of superiority over all
women of the "earthly caste." The latter, on the other hand, had the
prerogative of being the representatives of their caste, since the cult of
the earth-mother necessitated a female representative, high-priestesses
and also female chiefs in their own rights. We know that, in ancient
Mexico, an independent gynocracy had been founded at one time. From
certain native manuscripts and monuments we have positive evidence that a
number of independent female chieftains ruled over minor communities and
represented them officially, their rank and insignia being equal to that
of the chiefs of male communities. At the same time, from the standpoint
of the "upper caste," the position and moral code of these "votaries of
the earth," were always viewed as inferior.

Another factor also exerted a marked and growing influence upon the
relative positions of the two classes of women. The enforced seclusion of
the noblewomen rendering out-door occupations or work impossible, it
became necessary to relegate such to members of the lower caste who
gradually constituted a class of domestic slaves, dedicated to the service
of the nobility. In ancient Mexico, as a punishment for various crimes,
such as murder, theft, etc., an individual, even of the upper class, was
reduced to slavery as a punishment for his crime. The ranks of slaves were
also recruited from prisoners of war. On the other hand, the laws
regulating slavery were just and mild, the children of slaves were born
free and various modes of regaining freedom were afforded to those held in
bondage as an expiation for crime. The introduction of slaves
necessitating, as it did, their classification with the lower class, now
associated servitude with the female division of the community, and the
idea arose that women and the lower class existed for the benefit of the
male element of the state and a favored minority of consecrated women.

If slavery and bondage came to be regarded on the one hand as a just
punishment for crime, the idea of liberty shone as an incentive to good
conduct. An eloquent proof of the high estimate in which personal freedom
was regarded by the ancient Mexicans, is furnished by the Nahuatl word,
recorded by Olmos, for "free man"=xoxouhqui-yollotl, literally, "fresh or
green hea