Huehue Zaca or Çaca (ˈweːweʔ ˈsaka), also Zacatzin (Çacatzin, [saˈkatsiːn]), was a 15th century Aztec

Aztec

The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...

 noble

Nobility

Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...

, prince and a warrior

Warrior

A warrior is a person skilled in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society that recognizes a separate warrior class.-Warrior classes in tribal culture:...

 who served as tlacateccatl

Tlacateccatl

In the Aztec military, tlacateccatl was a title roughly equivalent to general. The tlacateccatl was in charge of the tlacatecco, a military quarter in the center of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan. In wartime he was second-in-command to the tlatoani and the tlacochcalcatl...

("captain general

Captain General

Captain general is a high military rank and a gubernatorial title.-History:This term Captain General started to appear in the 14th century, with the meaning of commander in chief of an army in the field, probably the first usage of the term General in military settings...

") under the ruler Moctezuma I

Moctezuma I

Moctezuma I , also known as Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina, Huehuemotecuhzoma or Montezuma I , was the fifth Aztec emperor - king of Tenochtitlan...

, his brother. The name of Zaca is probably derived from Nahuatl

Nahuatl

Nahuatl is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl , Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua...

 zacatl, meaning "grass"; -tzin is an honorific

Honorific

An honorific is a word or expression with connotations conveying esteem or respect when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term is used not quite correctly to refer to an honorary title...

 or reverential suffix

Suffix

In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...

. Huehue is Nahuatl for "the elder", literally "old man".

Family

Zaca was the fourth child of Emperor Huitzilihuitl

Huitzilíhuitl

Huitzilihuitl was the second tlatoani of Tenochtitlan, governing from 1396 to 1417, .- Family and childhood :...

. His mother was Princess Miyahuaxochtzin

Miyahuaxochtzin

Miyahuaxochtzin of Tiliuhcan was a Queen of Tenochtitlan as a wife of King Huitzilihuitl. She was a daughter of King Tlacacuitlahuatzin and sister of Princess Matlalxochtzin and Queen Tlacochcuetzin. She was the mother of Prince Huehue Zaca and aunt of Princes Cahualtzin, Tetlepanquetzatzin,...

, the daughter of Tlacacuitlahuatzin

Tlacacuitlahuatzin

Tlacacuitlahuatzin was the first ruler of Tiliuhcan, a pre-Columbian Tepanec altepetl near Tlacopan.-Family:His father was called Huehuetzin....

, ruler of Tiliuhcan. He was the younger half-brother of Emperors Chimalpopoca

Chimalpopoca

Chimalpopoca was the third king of Tenochtitlan .-Rule:On the day of Chimalpopoca's coronation in 1417 , his brother Tlacaelel I was named high priest...

 and Moctezuma I

Moctezuma I

Moctezuma I , also known as Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina, Huehuemotecuhzoma or Montezuma I , was the fifth Aztec emperor - king of Tenochtitlan...

. His other brother was prince

Cihuacoatl (position)

The cihuacoatl was a supreme leader or advisor within the Aztec system of government....

 Tlacaelel

Tlacaelel

Tlacaelel I was the principal architect of the Aztec Triple Alliance and hence the Mexica empire. He was the son of Emperor Huitzilihuitl and Queen Cacamacihuatl, nephew of Emperor Itzcoatl, and brother of Emperors Chimalpopoca and Moctezuma I.During the reign of his uncle Itzcoatl, Tlacaelel was...

.

Moctezuma is said to have had Zaca executed

Capital punishment

Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...

 for singing and beating his drum loudly.

Zaca had two sons: Tzontemoc, who served as tlacateccatl under Moctezuma's successors Axayacatl

Axayacatl

Axayacatl was the sixth Aztec Emperor, a ruler of the Postclassic Mesoamerican Aztec Empire and city of Tenochtitlan, who reigned from 1469 to 1481.He is chiefly remembered for subjugating Tlatelolco, Tenochtitlan's sister city, in 1473....

 and Tizoc

Tízoc

Tizocic or Tizocicatzin , usually known in English as Tizoc, was the seventh tlatoani of Tenochtitlan.-Biography:...

; and Huitzilatzin

Huitzilatzin

Huitzilatzin was the first tlatoani of the pre-Columbian altepetl of Huitzilopochco in the Valley of Mexico....

, who was installed by Axayacatl as the first ruler of Huitzilopochco

Huitzilopochco

Huitzilopochco was a small pre-Columbian Nahua altepetl in the Valley of Mexico. Huitzilopochco was one of the Nauhtecuhtli , along with Culhuacan, Itztapalapan and Mexicatzinco. The name Huitzilopochco means "place of Huitzilopochtli " in Nahuatl...

 (now known as Churubusco

Churubusco

Churubusco is a neighbourhood of Mexico City. Under the current territorial division of the Mexican Federal District, it is a part of the borough of Coyoacán...

), a city near Chalco

Chalco

Aluminum Corporation of China Limited, also known as Chalco , is a multinational aluminum company headquartered in Beijing, People's Republic of China...

 whose inhabitants are said to have been cannibals

Cannibalism

Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...

 prior to the imposition of Aztec government. A descendant of Zaca through his son Huitzilatzin, Hernando Huehue Cetochtzin, was taken along with many other indigenous nobles (notably Cuauhtemoc

Cuauhtémoc

Cuauhtémoc was the Aztec ruler of Tenochtitlan from 1520 to 1521...

) on conquistador

Conquistador

Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...

 Hernán Cortés

Hernán Cortés

Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...

's expedition to Honduras

Honduras

Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...

 (Huey Mollan), during which he died.