AXAYACATL, ä'chȧ-yȧ-kä't'l (Mex., ‘Face-in-the-water’) (?-1477). An Aztec chief, styled in contemporary narratives, Emperor of Mexico. He is reported to have been the father of Montezuma, whom Cortes conquered. About 1467 he led his Aztecs to the conquest of Tehuantepec, and afterwards crushed a rebellion that threatened his capital, the City of Mexico. He died suddenly, about 1477. Half a century later the soldiers of Cortes occupied Axayacatl's ‘palace,’ which was the large communal dwelling of the section of the tribe to which Axayacatl belonged. In one of the rooms they found an immense treasure of gold and silver in ore and bars, with jewels, and many curious articles of manufacture.