Some 50 kilometres along the Queretaro Highway northeast of Mexico City lies a complex of temples and pyramids no visitor should miss. The place is called Teotihuacan, a city as ancient as the dawn of time.
It is the largest ruined city in the highlands of Mexico. Teotihuacan is not an Aztec city; it was abandoned long before the Aztecs discovered it. It came to life in phases and its builders and their language is unknown.
Mexico, to the foreigner, seems only as young as the times of the Cortes invaders, yet long before 1518 Mexico was settled by people of whose origin we know very little. At the time when the ancient Greeks colonized the Mediterranean, the cultures of Meso-America began to take shape with a common cultural base, but it still took hundreds of years before people with distinct characteristics emerged.
At about 150 BCE the city had already 10,000 inhabitants as the settlement, measuring six square kilometres began to change from rural to urban. By 100 CE the population had grown to 30,000 souls and by the time the Roman Empire disintegrated, Teotihuacan reached its greatest splendour with a population of 100,000.
Hundreds of workshops producing ceramics, sculptures, textiles and other objects kept artisans busy; residential districts consisting of stone houses with central patios, porticos, corridors and their own drainage system occupied an area of 20 square kilometres. Two huge pyramids were already in existence, connected by an impressive roadway, 50 metres wide, called the Avenue of the Dead.
What remains of the city today, with some residential palaces still preserved, is the ceremonial and religious centre. Dominated by the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon, the Avenue of the Dead stretches for some 6 1/2 kilometres in a north-south axis.
At its southern extremity stands the so-called citadel, a name that was given to a complex of buildings by the Spaniards as they believed to have come upon a military structure.
The citadel consists of the Temple of Quetzalcoatl and the quarters for priests and rulers that surround the temple. The Temple of Quetzalcoatl is an outstanding work of architecture and is adorned with sculptures of two gods and with protruding feathered serpent heads. It dates from about 150 CE
Quetzalcoatl was a god disguised as a serpent, but according to legend he was also a man born around the end of the 9th century and died at age 40. Other sources suggest that he was a Viking explorer because of his beard, or even a missionary who came from the sea east of Mexico, bearing a Christian cross.
A number of temples across Mexico built in his honour attest to his popularity. Since there was a prophecy that a bearded god would re-emerge from the sea, the Aztec emperor Montezuma II was easily persuaded of Hernan Cortes’s intentions; he came across the seas with a beard, bearing a cross.
The Pyramid of the Sun was built around 450 BCE and is the largest of the two at Teotihuacan and the second largest pyramid in Mexico. It reaches a height of about 70 metres. Climbing the pyramid looks easy when viewing it from afar; its enormous steps, however, demand some effort, but when reaching the peak the whole city spreads beneath and the view goes far beyond its boundaries.
Across the Avenue of the Dead stands the smaller Pyramid of the Moon. It was built in 350 BCE and has a height of 50 metres. It matches the height of the Pyramid of the Sun only for the reason that it was built on higher ground.
Other temples and palaces can be found in the vicinity of this great roadway. One is the Palace of Quetzalpapalotl which appears on the west side of the Plaza of the Moon, and the nearby Palace of the Jaguars.
The former is the most elaborate building and contains well-preserved murals. The columns of its patio are decorated with reliefs depicting the Quetzal-Butterfly. The Palace of the Jaguars has finely decorated rooms showing murals of large felines blowing into sea shells that they hold in their paws.
When Cortes arrived in Mexico in the early 16th century, Teotihuacan lay deserted for at least 700 years. The reason for this abandonment is not known, although it is presumed that the development of other centres in the region had altered the economic balance of the city. Social factors probably played an additional role as such large population required some kind of control and an administration that eventually may have turned repressive
It is said that Teotihuacan was the place where the gods Nanahautzin and Tecuciztecatl would hurl themselves from the top of the pyramids into the sacrificial fire and find resurrection as the sun and the moon. In Aztec mythology Teotihuacan means it is the place where men become gods and was believed to be a burial ground for kings who, upon their death, would turn into gods, hence the name “Avenue of the Dead.”
If you go: The best way to explore the site is by renting a car and driving into the countryside, visiting small towns on the way. One should leave early in the day to be back in Mexico City by nightfall. Joining an escorted tour by bus is an alternative. For those who would like to examine the various artifacts unearthed during the excavations at Teotihuacan, there is the Teotihuacan Hall at the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.
For more info: www.visitmexico.com