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Terms / Concepts:

• zocalo = center plaza of Mexico City
  
  
• talud - tablero construction
  
  
• colors
  
  
  • green
    • symbolized fertility
    • symbolized fields
    • symbolized jade
    • represented everything precious
      
      
  • reds
    • represented blood, life itself
    • represented the beating heart

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Notes:

• the world was destroyed four times before, and was created a fifth time at Teotihuacán
  
  
• Teotihuacán was created in the image of the universe, both in its horizontal and vertical dimensions
  
  
• between the 5th and the 7th centuries A.D. Teotihuacán was at its most glorious
  
  
  • at that time the city had a population of around 100,000
  • at that time it was one of the 6th leading cities of the world
  • its prestige was enormous
    
    
• the Teotihuacanos carried out the first great urban revolution in America
  
  
• the Teotihuacán architects defined the basic style of Mesoamerican cities
  
  
  • symmetry
  • orthogonality
    
    
    • involving right angles or perpendiculars
      • orthogonal projection: "The two-dimensional graphic representation of an object formed by the perpendicular intersections of lines drawn from points on the object to a plane of projection." -- Bartleyby.com
        
        
• Teotihuacán got its wealth through trade
  
  
  • obsidian
  • jade
  • pottery

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• The priests were the most powerful social and political element of the Teotihuacán world
  
  
  • their images can be found everywhere
  • strong and well-established central authority
• their influence extended to every corner of the empire
• a powerful religious elite based their power on war on sacrifice
  • including human sacrifice
    
    
• there were three kind of cults
  
  
  1. a local community cult devoted to the jaguar and canine deities which represented the powerful animals of the region
     
     
  2. the cult of the powerful god Quetzal-Maripoza
     
     
  • born of the marriage between a bird and a butterfly
    
    

  
  
  Eagle Carving
  Palace of Quetzal Mariposa
  
  

  3. the cult based upon the state and the civilization
     
     
     • mostly devoted to Tlaloc, the master of rain and storms
       • particularly venerated in this region where water was so rare
       • the god of sustenance
         • represented i the form of a stylized mask with big round eyes
           
           

       

       Tlaloc vase

  • the main deity of pre-Columbian mythology was Quetzalcoatl, the plumed-serpent
    
    
    • the Quetzal is a bird from  the tropical forest
    • mythical god
    • image is linked to the creation of the earth and the sun
    • master of the earth and water
    • this is the civilizing hero who led men to perfect the arts, and move beyond the bestial to the world of morality
    • symbolizes the Holy Spirit, man's ideal
      
      
    • his temple stands in the courtyard, in the Citadela
      
      
      • in both size and function, this is one of the city's most important architectural complexes
      • this was the seat of government from which the city's religious and political power was exerted
      • archaeologists have recently discovered several groups of skeletons
        • the bodies were laid out just like the ones under the Pyramid of the Moon
        • the skeletons were placed next to one another in groups of 3, 4, 18 and 20
          • these numbers formed the basis of the Mesoamerican astronomical and religious calendars
            

            

            Tlaloc and Quetzalcoatl
            Palace of Quetzalcoatl, Citadela
            The Rain God (Tlaloc) and Quetzalcoatl
            are classic fertility symbols

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• In the eighth century A.D. the city fell to ruin
  
  
  • we do not know why
  • sometime around A.D. 750 the holy city of Quetzalcoatl was demolished
  • but even after its destruction, when it was nothing more than a pile or ruins swamped by vegetation, it continued to exert a powerful influence
    
    
    • from the Gulf to the Yucatan peninsula its town planning was taken as a model
    • its architectural style was imitated
    • its religious beliefs were perpetuated
    • the archetypal civilized city, Teotihuacán marked the start of a period of Mesoamerican urban models to which Mexico City still belongs
      
      
• Pyramid of the Sun
  
  
  • all of the major buildings were aligned to the east-west axis of the Pyramid of the Sun
  • excavations of an underground cave directly below the Pyramid of the Sun, in the form of a four-leaf clover suggest that this is the place where the world was begun
    • it is perfectly oriented to the cardinal directions
  • 243 steps to the temple base at the top
  • built as a single project
    
    
• Pyramid of the Moon
  
  
  • actually five pyramids built on on top of the other, each corresponding to a stage in its evolution
  • skulls were found in its interior
    • perhaps a sacrificial warrior
      
      
• Avenue of the Dead
  
  

  
  
  

• Citadela
  
  
  • Temple of Quetzalcoatl
    
    

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Cultures:

• Aztecs
• capital = Tenochtitlán
  
  
• Toltecs
• capital = Tula, Hidalgo
  
  
• Olmec
  • La Venta
    
    
• Zapotec
  • capital = Monté Alban
    
    
• Cuicuilco
  
  

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Sites / Locations:

• Teotihuacán (Teotihuacanos)
  
  
  • was abandoned more than 500 years before the arrival of the Aztecs
  • Aztec mythology was built around this mysterious city
    
    
• Tula, Hidalgo (Toltecs)
  
  
• Lake Texcoco
  
  
• Tenochtitlán (Aztec)
  • "The Venice of the Americas"

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Individuals:

• Rubén Cabrera Castro