Teotihuacan In English

TEOTIHUACAN DURING
THE CLASSIC PERIOD

JOSÉ ALONSO LÓPEZ ÁLVAREZ

Teotihuacan was one of the most important cultures in Mesoamerica.
The city is thought that have been established around 100 B.C. and continued to be built until about 250 A.D.
The city may have lasted until sometime between the 7th and 8th century A.D. Teotihuacan was the largest city in the Pre-Columbian Americas, with apopulation of perhaps 125,000 people or more. This city came to be the largest and most populated centre in the New World.

Although it is a subject of whether Teotihuacan was the centre of a state empire, its influence through Mesoamerica is well documented; evidence of Teotihuacano presence can be seen at numerous sites in Veracruz and the Maya region. The Aztecs may have been influenced bythis city. It can also have influenced the Nahua, Otomi, or Totonac ethnic groups.

Name:
The name Teotihuacan was given by the Nahuatl-speaking Aztec cultures after the fall of the city. The term has beer glossed as “birthplace of gods” reflecting Nahua creation myths that were said to occur in Teotihuacan. “Teotihuacan” is a Nahuatl name meaning “place where gods were born”.

Origins andFoundation:
For many years archaeologist believed that Teotihuacan was built by the Toltec, but this cannot be possible since Toltec civilization flourished centuries after Teotihuacan.
Nahua believed that the Quinametzin built Teotihuacan, they were a raze of giants that habited the world before that era and whose survivors were hidden under the ground and the pyramids were the tombs of thefounders. A sacred place to die and be buried to become gods.

The builders of Teotihuacan took advantage of the geography of the Basin of Mexico. From the swampy ground, they constructed raised beds called Chinampas. This allowed the formation of channels, and subsequently canoe traffic to transport food from farms around the city.
The earliest building at Teotihuacan dates about 200 B.C. Thelargest pyramid, Pyramid of the Sun, was completed by 100 A.D.

Zenith:
The city reached its peak in 450 A.D., when it was the centre of a powerful culture whose influence extended through mush of the Mesoamerican region.
At it peak, the city covered over 30 km2 and perhaps housed a population of 150,000 people, with one estimate of reaching as high as 250,000.
The nature of political andcultural interactions between Teotihuacan as the centres of the Mayan region has been a long-standing and significant area for debate. Substantial exchange and interaction occurred over the centuries from the terminal Pre-classic to the Mid-Classic period, Teotihuacan inspired ideologies and motifs persisted at Mayan centres into the Late Classic, long after Teotihuacan itself had declined.

Newsdiscoveries have suggested that Teotihuacan was not much different in its interactions with other centres from the later empires, such as the Toltec and Aztec. It is believed that Teotihuacan had a major influence on the Pre-classic and Classic Maya, most likely by conquering several Maya centres and regions.



Architecture:
Architectural styles prominent at Teotihuacan are found widelydispersed at a number of distant Mesoamerican sites, which some researches have interpreted as evidence for Teotihuacan’s for reaching interactions and political or militaristic dominance. A style particularly associated with Teotihuacan is known as talud-tablero, in which a rectangular panel (tablero) surrounds an inward-sloping external side of a structure (talud).
The talud-tablero stylepre-dates its earliest appearance at Teotihuacan in the Early Classic Period.
This style disseminated through Mesoamerica generally from the end of the Pre-Classic Period, and not specifically or only, via Teotihuacan influence.

The “Calzada de los Muertos” or “Niccachtli” was the principal road of Teotihuacan and its length was of 3 km. It began in the Square of the Moon (Plaza de la Luna). Along...