Montezuma's Gold

I love my treasure stories. This is my fave. Hence the User Name. Here's a quick tale of 1 of the tellings of the story.

Hernan Cortez arrived on the out skirts of Tenochtitlan.

The Emperor Montezuma of the Aztec Empire,welcomed Cortez and his men. But they weren't seen as just men. They were seen as God's to the people of The Aztec Empire.
Cortez himself was considered a reincarnated God "Quetzalcoatl"

As you do. When somebody thinks your a God and treat you with all the honour the Empire could offer. You get greedy, and start treating the people badly (Sound Familiar?)
Montezuma went Into panic mode and offered 882 identical Aztec marked Gold pieces to Cortez, if he left and never came back.

But instead of leaving. Cortez and his men decided to ransack all the houses in the Empire, to see if they could gather more precious metals and other valuable goods.

Sooner or later you cross a line. In a ransacking during a religious event. Cortez men destroyed a temple, which caused an uprising among the Aztec people.

The Spanish Cortez decided to use Montezuma as a hostage to stop the Aztecs from taking to War. (Montezuma was placed under house arrest upon the overtaking after the treasure was given )

However the people didn't care and fought the Spaniards out of their Empire. Subsequently, Montezuma was killed during this encounter.

Cortez lost many men as well as most of the treasure. Upon leaving the men had to throw their loot into the causeway to lighten the load. All of which has never been found today.

The events that surrounded the 882 pieces of Aztec Gold has earnt it a Cursed Treasure label.

Hope you enjoyed the tale....