14. Polygamy Was Reserved For Wealthy Men
Throughout history, there are countless examples of cultures in which powerful men were allowed to take myriad wives. Genghis Khan had over 50 wives. The Prophet Muhammad of Islam had several wives. The Aztec Empire followed suit, with mighty men allowed to take multiple wives. This method was the only form of polygamy tolerated by the Aztecs, with lower-class men and all women prohibited from having multiple partners or spouses.
As with the cultures described above, the Aztecs typically recognized one wife as the “true” wife afforded full status while the additional wives were relegated to a status closer to that of a concubine. With Genghis Khan, he had one true wife whose children he recognized as his heirs, while the additional wives’ children were not recognized as his “true” issue for inheritance purposes.
In the Aztec Empire, having multiple wives was strongly associated with great wealth. Women were the exclusive weavers of cloth, which was highly prized and used as currency. A man with numerous weavers in his household would have a great deal more wealth than a lower-class man with only one weaving wife. The Aztec leader Motecuzoma had hundreds of wives, all of whom would have been continuously generating wealth for his household.