Toneotl means “God” in Aztec language-a strange language coincidence, because it has nothing to do with the word “theology” or “theodicy”. Teotihuacan is often interpreted as “the place where the gods were born.” According to the Aztec creation myth, at least two of them ended their existence here: they sacrificed themselves to let the sun turn, thus starting the current Fifth Era.
Where else can this happen? Even today, Teotihuacan is amazing. 40 kilometers northeast of Mexico City’s concrete and asphalt jungle, the site extends into an agricultural landscape surrounded by mountains. The two huge pyramids attracted the first glance of all tourists. The “Pyramid of the Moon” is the vanishing point of an arrogant avenue aligned with the sun’s path. It is 43 meters high, almost as high as the two main temples in Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire. It has now disappeared in Mexico City center. On the other hand, the “Pyramid of the Sun” has the same footprint, even if it is only half the height of the Great Pyramid.
The other miracles of Teotihuacan can only be revealed at the second and third eyes: the specially numbered stone-framed platforms and the foundation walls of the palace and the more than two thousand apartment buildings with slightly simple furnishings are still considered luxurious to luxurious. In most parts of the world. This city must be very rich, but it is not Rome or London today. On the contrary, it provides urbanity without being cramped. Its 130,000 residents—a huge number for the former industrialized city—are spread over a built-up area of more than 20 square kilometers. This makes Teotihuacan the largest geographic city in the Americas during the pre-Columbian era. On the other hand, in Tenochtitlán, although the Aztec metropolis was by far the warmest city on earth before it was conquered by the Spanish 500 years ago, it was only twice as crowded. Half of the space. But this is not why the Aztecs admire Tenochtilan.
The remains of the victims
Because no, this city was not built by the Aztecs, or even inhabited by the Aztecs. Not even from the Toltecs as archaeologists originally thought. They are members of another important Mesoamerican culture that flourished in the 10th to 12th centuries, with its center a bit further north. In fact, Teotihuacan is still a thousand years old than Otihuacan. The three great pyramids-in addition to the pyramids of the sun and the moon, there is also the gorgeous “Queen Serpent Pyramid”-built in the late 2nd century AD, about 550 AD, more than 800 years earlier than the Aztecs even in history When the year became tangible, Teotihuacan suddenly fell. The stucco and colorful murals in the center of the building burned in the flames, maybe the temple on the top of the pyramid, the idol was smashed. If this is a revolution, it has not improved the conditions of the people. The population has decreased drastically.
But no one really knew what happened at that time. Because little is known about the state behind the city. Like all ancient American cultures except the Maya, the Teotihuacano did not use developed scripts. The glyphs found are difficult to interpret, but they are more likely to be symbols than language codes. There is also no pictorial chronicle. We don’t know anything about their government system, even if Mexican archaeologist Linda Manzanilla found evidence that the city may be at least temporarily ruled by an academy of four rulers, each People lead a region. There are some solemn properties, such as the partially reconstructed and charming “Quetzalpapálotl Palace” (a mixture of birds and butterflies), which of course members of the upper class have lived-but nothing can be described as the palace of the ruler. No one has ever found a royal tomb anywhere here. In any case, the pyramid is not a substructure of a temple, but a substructure of a temple. The skeleton found there is the remains of the victim. Descriptions of important people and even rulers, as we know from the Mayans, are completely absent. The people who initiated and organized these structures are forgotten, as are the mural painters, lime burners and stone transporters.
