The Pyramid of the Sun is the largest of an immense array of
pyramids in the Valley of Mexico, northeast of present-day Mexico
City. This view is the westward side as seen from the ancient
city's central avenue, seen below.
Piramide
del Sol — Pyramid of the Sun — Teotihuacan,
Mexico
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Avenida de los Muertos — Avenue of the Dead —
Teotihuacán,
Mexico
Teotihuacán's central avenue, the so-called 'Avenue of the Dead,'
extends southward from the Pyramid of the Moon for four kilometers,
past the Pyramid of the Sun and the entrance of the Ciudela. The Quetzalcoatl
Pyramid, seen below, is located in the center of the Ciudela.
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This view of the stepped front facade of the Quetzalcoatl
Pyramid illustrates the elements of the repeating design.
Feathered Serpent and Tlaloc masks project from the facade of the Quetzalcoatl
Pyramid.
The Quetzalcoatl Pyramid facade has been partially recreated in the
National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. Trace amounts of the
original paints allowed for a full color recreation.
An immense monolithic statue of Chalchiuhtlicue from Teotihuacan is housed in the Teotihuacan gallery
of the Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City.
Most surfaces of the multitude of pyramid facades
at Teotihuacan were painted with bright colors.
Vivid fresco murals also
decorated the interiors of buildings. Several are recreated in the museum.
On the same level and a few feet away are found well preserved murals
of eagles and jaguars.
Excavations at Teotihuacan have revealed that older structures were
infilled and built upon with newer buildings. This view is of an excavated
substructure near the Pyramid of the Moon.
Many areas of the city center have several layers of ruins, preserving
an older era of building below successive construction.
A
wheeled toy.
The interpretation of the art, iconography and symbolism at Teotihuacan has remained
elusive, or, where proposed, often there are conflicting interpretations.
" 11 Ahau was the katun when they
carried on their backs. Then the land-surveyor first came; this was
Ah Ppizte who measured the leagues. Then there came the chacté shrub
for marking the leagues with their walking sticks. Then he came Uac-hab-nal
to pull the weeds along the leagues, when Mizcit Ahau came to sweep
clean the leagues, when the land-surveyor came. These were long leagues
that he measured. ..."
"... the great mounds came to be
built by the lineages and all the things which the rulers did. They
were the ones who built the mounds. It took thirteen katuns and six
years for them to construct them. The following was the beginning
of the mounds they built. Fifteen four-hundreds were the scores of
their mounds, and fifty more made the total count of the mounds they
constructed all over the land. "
THE BOOK OF CHILAM BALAM OF CHUMAYEL,
Ralph L. Roys, 1933, Carnegie Institution Washington D.C.
A
wheeled toy.
