Teotihuacan — The Place the Gods Created
Felicia and I are in Mexico City. To see all of the photographs from Teotihuacan, click on the link.
Teotihuacan was named “the place where the gods were created” by the Aztecs, but it actually is a pre-Aztec site. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site about thirty miles northeast of Mexico City. Archeologists believe the city with its pyramids was built between the first and 7th centuries by a civilization that has not been identified. It includes the Pyramids of the Sun, the Moon, and the Feathered Serpent. Construction dates suggest that the Teotihuacan civilization predates the better-known Mayan civilization on the Yucatan peninsula. Estimates of the city’s population size vary widely. At its peak, the city may have had 200,000 inhabitants. Teotihuacan appears to have been abandoned by its inhabitants in the late 600s or early 700s. Today the area is hot and arid, which might explain why it was abandoned. The ruins of the city with its temples were discovered by the Aztecs in the 1300s, who named the city, its pyramids, and its gods using their language, Nahuatl. Modern evacuations and restoration started in the 1880s.
Statues and murals created by the Teotihuacanos show it was a polytheistic society. Its primary or Great Goddess was represented as a spider. Tlaloc was the Rain God. Xipe Totec was the God of Spring. The Feathered Serpent seems to be the deity of agriculture. Human and animal remains found by the pyramids point to ritual sacrifices made to their gods by Teotihuacan priests. About 200 people were sacrificed when the Temple of the Feathered Serpent was built in the early 3rd century A.D. Many of the victims were male warriors dressed in military paraphernalia.
Major obsidian deposits, volcanic glass, were found near Teotihuacan and they contributed to the city becoming a major center for skilled crafts and trade. Obsidian tools, including spear and dart heads probably manufactured at Teotihuacan have been discovered in other areas of Mexico.
Teotihuacan craftspeople and merchants also traded in pottery, cotton goods, cacao, and exotic feathers and shells. Teotihuacan farmers grew beans, avocados, peppers, and squash, and raised chickens and turkeys.
Teotihuacan was built in a valley overshadowed by Cerro Gordo Mountain. In Nahuatl it was called Tenan or Tonantzin which means “mother.” The city was laid out on a north-south axis with one long thoroughfare, now known as the Avenida de Los Muertos or the Avenue of the Dead. Excavations at the site have exposed buildings along a three-mile-long stretch of the city. The Pyramid of the Sun, located in the center of the avenue and the city, is the largest building in Teotihuacan and at over 200 feet it is one of the largest ancient pyramids in the world. Also in the center of the city is the massive citadel or fortification with stone walls over 20 feet high and the Temple of the Feathered Serpent which also contains the governing palace. The Pyramid of the Moon, at the northern end of the Avenue of the Dead, is the oldest of the city’s three pyramids. Many of the surviving artifacts from Teotihuacan civilization are in a nearby museum.
