Toltec Civilization: A History from Beginning to End (Mesoamerican History Book 4) by Hourly History

Author:Hourly History [History, Hourly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

The Destruction of Teotihuacan

“Only as a warrior can one withstand the path of knowledge.”

—Carlos Castaneda

The city-state of Teotihuacan had become the single largest and most powerful of all the cities in Mesoamerica. By around 500 CE, it had reached the zenith of its power and size. Teotihuacan covered more than eight square miles and its population of more than one hundred thousand people lived in large, multi-family residential compounds with several houses grouped around a single courtyard. The central precinct featured a number of pyramids comparable in size to those created in ancient Egypt, and these and other public buildings were richly decorated.

It seems that Teotihuacan was a center of trade, with ceramics manufactured here having been found as far away as Maya cities in the south. The primary deity worshipped by the people of this city was, unusually, female, the Spider Goddess, though the city also included a large temple to the feathered serpent, Quetzalcoatl.

No-one is quite certain of where the people who built and ruled Teotihuacan came from—even the name that we use for this city is taken from much later Aztec records. The Aztecs visited the ruins of this city and named it Teotihuacan (“the place where the gods were created”). What we do know is that Teotihuacan dominated Mesoamerica for an extended period and had economic, social, and cultural links with other societies such as the Maya and the Zapotecs.

By the time that Tollan was founded, the population of Teotihuacan had begun to decline. No-one seems sure why this happened. One theory is that the people who founded Tollan were actually refugees fleeing from Teotihuacan rather than people who had relocated from Tulancingo. Cities that rise to power and are then suddenly destroyed or abandoned for no apparent reason are relatively common in the history of this part of the world and, as neither the Toltecs nor the rulers of Teotihuacan left behind any written records, we can only guess what happened.

Many aspects of Teotihuacan remain a mystery. For example, we know that the people who ruled this city possessed an army with which they were able to exert control over large areas. Still, extensive archeological excavations have failed to find any trace of military buildings within the city or even any signs of defensive fortifications. Around 600 CE, well before the creation of Tollan, many buildings in Teotihuacan seem to have been destroyed by fire. Excavations note that this fire seemed to have affected only the houses of the wealthy and powerful. Was the city affected by some form of revolution where the houses of the rich were deliberately targeted and destroyed? Or was this the action of an invading army from another city-state?

Whatever the reason, Teotihuacan was not abandoned after the fires which destroyed much of its central district. It continued to be the home to a large number of people for an extended period, but the decline in population seems to have continued. The Toltec city of Tollan was located just 50

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