Teotihuacan – Where Men Became Gods

About a decade ago, on the second day of my first trip to Mexico, I visited Teotihuacan. Coming from Tokyo’s sea level to Teotihuacan’s altitude of around 2,270 m made this an exhausting, if very fascinating, excursion. I have been eager to return for some time, so when friends on a recent visit to Mexico City mentioned that they were interested in seeing the archaeological site, I gladly volunteered to drive them there.

Teotihuacan was a living city from around 150BC to AD750. For most of this period, it was the largest city in the Americas but it was at its peak around AD600 when it had around 125,000 inhabitants. At just over 20 km² it was about the same size as ancient Rome although using the highest population estimates of around 200,000 was less than a third the size of Rome at its peak.

Although Teotihuacan traded widely influenced other Mesoamerican cultures as far away as Oaxaca and Yucatan, little is known about the people of the city itself. The original name of the city are lost in history – the name Teotihuacan meaning the place where men became gods were given to it centuries later by Nahuatl speakers. Much of the mysticism surrounding the place was invented by the Aztecs, who considered Teotihuacan an important part of their heritage.

The Teotihuacan archaeological site is very large, so it sensible to concentrate on the major sights. If entering from the main entrance at the south, the first sight is the Citadel and the Temple of the Feathered Serpent. From here, follow the Street of the Dead, which is lined with the foundations of ceremonial buildings, to the other main sights. A top draw is the Pyramid of the Sun, the third largest pyramid in the world, and scaled by many visitors to the site. Been there, done that, so on this visit I climbed the somewhat smaller Pyramid of the Moon. The view from here is actually better as you look straight down the Street of the Dead. Nearby are the Palace of the Butterfly and the Square of the Jaguars. Here are some magnificent wall carvings and paintings of jaguars and green parrots. The museum behind the Pyramid of the Sun has moderately interesting exhibits but the shade here is most welcome.

Quick Tips:

Teotihuacan is a massive sight, visiting it requires a lot of footwork so comfortable walking shoes are essential. The sun bears down mercilessly – shade is far and few between – and given the high altitude sun block becomes essential for most visitors. A hat is a sensible accessory too.

Drinks and snacks are available from most of the parking lots with a small restaurant at Gate 1. A few intrepid vendors sell cold water inside the site – mostly at the bottom of the two larger pyramids. What can you do but laugh at visitors who complain both about Wal-Mart’s intention of erecting a superstore nearby and the high price of water at the site?

The nearby town San Juan is rather dreary and worth missing. For a full meal, it is best to return to Mexico City.

The archaeological site is mostly without guard railings. Watch your step, no Mexican judge will award you even one centavo if you fall down here.

Teotihuacan is very popular and can get crowded especially once the bus parties arrive. Numerous school groups visit daily. It is probably best to arrive early in the morning before it gets too warm and the masses turn up. Sundays, when admission is free for Mexican residents, are best avoided too.

Vendors can be an absolute pest all over the site. If you avoid eye contact, only a friendly "No, gracias" is required to shake them off. If I could find an appropriate shady spot, I would have sat down for half an hour to observe if any of them ever made a sale and if so, to whom!

Best Way To Get Around:

Several tour companies operate day trips to Teotihuacan from Mexico City. However, the independent traveler can easily reach the site too.

Buses depart half hourly from Mexico City’s Bus Terminal Central del Norte. Buy a ticket at Gate 8 for "Las Piramides" or the "Zona Arqueológica" and not for the towns San Martín de Las Pirámides or San Juan Teotihuacan. Both towns are nearby but not where you want to go. The bus stop at the archaeological zone is outside Gate 1.

Driving to Teotihuacan is very easy too. Follow Insurgentes, the longest street in Latin America, north. It eventually changes into the highway to Pachuga. Follow the directions to "Las Pyramides". The toll highway (Cuota) is fast and in excellent condition with driving time 30 minutes once outside the city. Fools and masochists save 35 pesos (just over USD 3) by using the parallel free (libre) roads. Of the five parking lots, number 5 is probably the best – it is at the museum and halfway along the Street of the Dead. You will still walk the same distances but avoid the final long schlep back to the car in one go from furthest extremities of the site.

Admission is 45 pesos per person and 30 pesos for parking.

A new museum recently opened at Entrance 5, to the back of the Pyramid of the Sun. It gives a basic overview of the development of Teotihuacan but mostly succeed in confirming that relatively little is known about this civilization. It also has the best bookshop at the site.

The museum feature the usual topics related to ancient civilizations such as its origin, history, religion, organization, diet, agriculture, economy, and trade. I found the maps interesting that showed how Teotihuacan developed and grew from around 200BC until the city was finally abandoned around AD750.

It is unknown where the people came from and the reasons for the city’s decline are equally murky. Of course, many theories exist and the real reason is probably a combination of factors. One reason was ecological – the Teotihuacans over-farmed the land and cut down the vast forests that surrounded the city, which led to soil erosion. Although there is clear evidence that the city was torched at some stage, this is generally thought to have occurred long after AD600, when the city was at the peak of its power. The systematic destruction of the buildings on the Street of the Dead indicates internal strife. Although Teotihuacan is more associated with good administration and religion, it must have had a strong military too and up to the middle of the seventh century, there simply were not another force in the region strong enough to have challenged the city. The city was in decline from around AD650 to AD750 when it was finally abandoned. One theory has that the more enlightened members of society moved south towards modern-day Cuernavaca, while the darker forces joined up with the rather violent Toltecs in Tula.

The museum has a few interesting exhibits such as a wooden scepter of the feathered serpent. It dates from AD70 and is the only wooden artifact ever found at Teotihuacan. Further large and small sculptures are interesting and include some of persons that can open to reveal further people and items inside – a popular, recurrent theme at many Mexican archaeological sites. Geometric patterns were popular with the four-petalled flower representing probably the four powers of the earth a popular theme. Shortly before exiting the museum is a large, scale model of the site – it is covered with plexiglass so visitors can walk on top of it. Although this model showed some simple, square structures on top of the platforms lining the Street of the Dead, I still left the museum wondering what the houses in the city must have looked like. Close to the exit is a relief of a face with a funny skewed nose and mouth. We found it rather amusing; although Teotihuacan does not ooze the strong impression of unadulterated violence that so many other Mexican archaeological sites do, you do not generally leave the place with the feeling that this was a city where humor and laughter played major roles.

With so many questions still left unanswered after our visit to Teotihuacan, there was obviously only one thing to do – force my wife to visit the National Anthropology Museum in Mexico City once again. Fortunately, this great museum makes for a great day out with the family.

Mexico’s Museo Nacional de Antropologia is located inside the massive Chapultepec Park in the heart of Mexico City. It opened in the mid-sixties and managed to pocket some of the best pieces from numerous archaeological sites all over Mexico. It covers Mexican anthropology from the pre-Classical period up to modern-day indigenous communities. It is a large museum and it is easy to be all cultured-out long before you are halfway through. Having experienced civilizations overdose on my first visit here, I have subsequently visited only on Sundays, when admission is free, and focused on one or two civilizations at a time.

On this visit, our focus was on Teotihuacan. The influence of this civilization on later ones in central Mexico was vast, but unfortunately, few items survived to the present. Of course, the archaeological site with its huge pyramids, temples, palaces, and other large structures are very impressive but hard to replicate in a museum 40 km away. However, replicate they did and to great effect. A very impressive reproduction of the facade of the Temple of the Feathered Serpent is done in full color as it presumably was centuries ago. Quetzalcoatl certainly was not someone to fool around with and Tlaloc does not leave a too friendly impression either. Behind the facade is a copy of a grave that was found near the temple. The skeletons had their hands tied behind their backs and almost certainly were sacrificed. Child skeletons found at the four corners of the Pyramid of the Sun probably indicate some cult in which children were ritually offered to Tlaloc.

Further reproductions include some of the houses discovered at the periphery of the archaeological site with impressive wall paintings and parts of the Palace of Quetzalpapaloti. Several artifacts are on display illustrating the skills of the Teotihuacans in pottery. I also found the answer to what the buildings have looked like – more or less like the surviving Palace of Quetzalpaploti – stone solid outside walls to three sides with rooms facings patios and inner courtyards. The building with a few surviving pillars across the Street of the Death from the viewing point near the Pyramid of the Moon gives a good idea of what the buildings must have looked like.

People visit the museum for various reasons. I came to the museum in search of some answers on the civilization of Teotihuacan and mostly found them. A local couple treated the museum like a visit to the Home Depot, earnestly debating whether they should paint their lounge the orange used as the background color at the Teotihuacan displays or rather the somewhat brighter yellow used in the Tula room.

The main entrance to Teotihuacan is located where the original market was. The city was located on a major natural route between the coast and the inland and traded far and wide. The market was well organized with traders visiting from foreign civilizations. Evidence has been found of an Oaxacan compound, which housed traders from that area and probably a type of embassy too. Nowadays, nothing is seen of the original market although modern trading stalls and a small restaurant keeps the commercial spirit alive.

Directly across is the area named by the Spanish as La Ciudadela, the Citadel, as it resembles a fortress and to them seemed to have been built for military purposes. Modern research indicates that this area was the administrative heart of the city, which was probably ruled by the bureaucracy and religious institutions and not as much by the military as was the case with most other Mesoamerican societies.

The Citadel is an enormous sunken square of around 400 by 400 m and surrounded by four large, stepped platforms. Senior officials and religious figures were probably housed in the area with the square used as meeting place and for religious ceremonies. Fitting 100,000 people into the square would be no problem.

At the center of the square is a platform and behind it the Temple of Quetzalcoatl. Of this pyramid, one facade is covered by sculptures of the goggled-eyed Tlaloc, the god of storms, and Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent. Both Tlaloc and Quetzalcoatl are recurrent themes at archaeological sites all over Mexico indicating the influence of Teotihuacan on later civilizations. However, both the names and functions of these two were given by the Aztecs – the original gods may well have represented different ideas in Teotihuacan. Originally, the pyramid must have had 366 such sculptures but only the one facade survived as it was at some stage covered by the previously enlarged adjacent platform.

On my previous visit, it was possible to walk behind the platform and straight up to the statue-covered facade. Due to restoration work, the facade can now only be seen from the platform, and although still impressive, it is not as dramatic as innocently rounding the corner to unexpectedly come face to face at eye level with the feathered serpent.

If you have ever been to a dentist in Mexico, you may have seen a drawing of a fresco from Teotihuacan of an artist (or dentist for that matter) filling a tooth of a victim (or patient). Unfortunately, this fresco is not open to the public as the position the patient is sitting in will make any dentist chair look like a massage lounger.

The central axis of Teotihuacan is an impressive, over 4-km long road that was lined with ceremonial structures of which only the foundations remain. The foundations were more like large stone platforms on which the actual structures were erected. There are no clear indications in the museum or guidebooks of what the buildings on the platforms looked like, or indeed, whether these were built from stone, wood, or other materials. What is known is that the buildings along this central access must have been the most impressive in town and much more elaborate than the buildings further away where the ordinary citizens lived.

It was common practice in Mesoamerica to erect pyramids and other buildings and periodically enlarge the structures. However, in Teotihuacan, most of the central and ceremonial structures seemed to have been planned early on in the grand scale, probably around AD100 and only slightly enlarged in subsequent eras. Religion seemed to have played a major role in planning the layout of the city. For those who have arrived unprepared and without compasses at hand, the central axis is 15°30’ east of astronomical north and all other major roads and structures use the same orientation.

The Aztecs happened upon Teotihuacan about 500 years after the city was abandonment but still considered themselves direct descendants of what was obviously a great civilization. They thought the platforms lining the central axis to be the graves of kings and subsequently called it the Street of the Dead, a name that survived to the present. They named the city itself Teotihuacan, the place where men became gods. Teotihuacan would play a major role in Aztec mythology and religion.

The reasons for the odd layout of the 40 to 90-m wide Street of the Dead remains a mystery. It was purposely built with a decline making it at the Citadel around 27 m lower at than the Pyramid of the Moon. However, the slight incline will be the least of the visitor’s worries on the route to the north. Along the way, shortly before the Pyramid of the Sun, are five large squares like sunken plazas divided by six dam-like walls with steep stairs. Climbing two sets of these stairs are tiresome, after the third it becomes boring making it sensible to try to walk along the upper reaches of the platforms.

The purpose of these squares is unknown and probably related to religious ceremonies. However, one of my friends poignantly observed that if the people of Teotihuacan really where the forebears of modern Mexicans there almost certainly would have been impromptu markets all over the place.

The following may be encouraging for those still having to visit Teotihuacan, if somewhat disappointing to those who had already walked the street: the distance from the Citadel to the Pyramid of the Moon is only 2.5 km, walking it just feels like 4.5 km. Most of the original street south of the Citadel is no longer visible to the naked eye.

The Pyramid of the Sun is by far the largest structure in Teotihuacan. I scaled it on my fist visit to the site and was quite happy when my friends showed an inclination towards climbing the lower Pyramid of the Moon instead.

Each side of the base is 225-m long, fairly close to the measures of the Great Pyramid of Cheops, but at 65-m high it is much lower. In Mexico, only the pyramid in Cholula is larger, if in a completely ruined state. The core of the pyramid is around 2.5 million tons of adobe. In contrast to most other large pyramids in Mesoamerica this one was built in one phase and not periodically enlarged. The relationship with the sun has always been clear from the orientation 15°30’ east of astronomical north: at noon on May 19 and July 25, the sun is directly above the pyramids. Awaiting sunrise on certain days such as the spring equinox is also popular to tap spiritual energy – wear white for the most powerful effect.

During the 1970s archaeologists discovered by change a tunnel that led to a clover-shaped cavity and several lava caves at the center base of the pyramid. It is thought that the Aztecs must have been aware of this cavity as it correspond to several Aztec believes. Gods lived in caves and at caves direct communication with the gods were possible – the origin of the Nauhatl name Teotihuacan? The presence of a small underground spring also led to the possibility that this may the source of all life and that the pyramid should be associated with Tlaloc, god of storms and fertility. The Aztec also had a habit of storing the flayed skins of some victims in a cavity at the center of pyramids. Archaeologists assume that there must have been many items in the tunnels and cave but that they were raided, quite possibly by the Aztecs.

Back to the exterior, mentally rather than physically as the tunnels are very much off limits to the general public. The pyramid as it appears today is mostly the restoration work of Leopoldo Batres in the early-twentieth century. He expected to find further layers within the pyramid, as was the case elsewhere, and blasted away with dynamite a structure that extended from the south facade. Parts of the remaining structure, resembling stone buttresses can still be seen on the south wall. His dynamite also opened much of the surface of the pyramid to erosion. Batres erroneously added a fifth terrace to the pyramid – the fourth from the bottom is considered the false one.

Scaling the pyramid, especially for those unaccustomed to the high altitude, is hard work. The stairs are steep but handrails are mostly available. On a busy day, it is often like walking up the stairs of a busy subway station. The view from the top is grand but like many other, I prefer the view from the Pyramid of the Moon.

The small Pyramid of the Moon has long played second fiddle to the humongous Pyramid of the Sun. Although it is only 46m high, it was built on higher ground than the Pyramid of the Sun and therefore the view from the top is from an only marginally lower level. In addition, the view is straight down the Street of the Dead and, of course, includes the Pyramid of the Sun.

The approach to the Pyramid of the Moon at the northern end of the Street of the Dead is via the very elegant Plaza of the Pyramid of the Moon. The plaza is 204 by 137m and on three sides lined by elegant platforms in perfect symmetry. It is thought that the most important religious ceremonies were held here.

In contrast to the Pyramid of the Sun, the Pyramid of the Moon was periodically enlarged with the present structure dating to around 350 A.D. It has four terraces, with the first three linked with sets of very steep stairs – some railing is available to assist visitors. It is a bit of a scramble to get to the top from the third terrace but the view from the top is magnificent and in my opinion better than the view from the Pyramid of the Sun. As you look straight down the Street of the Dead, you can see the city in its entire symmetrical splendor. From here, it is also obvious that the impressive formal structures lined the central axis and that buildings further away must have been less elaborated.

Although I found the ascent much less tiring than what I recall from climbing the Pyramid of the Sun almost a decade ago, I was still left with the impression that Teotihuacan priests must have had amazing calves. Although it is a very steep climb to the first and largest of the terraces, the lazy and unfit will be happy to hear that the view from here is fine and nearly as good as the view from the top. (On a recent visit, July 2007, it was no longer possible to scale the Pyramid of the Moon past the first level. There is but one thing to do - go climb the higher one!)

Very little is known about the religious ceremonies of the Teotihuacans. Much of modern thought is influenced by the customs and interpretations of the Aztecs. No one really knows which gods where honored on the local pyramids and temples. Similarly, although it is clear that human sacrifices were offered to the gods, the extent remains unknown. Specialists generally assume that it was much less part of the local culture when compared to the slaughtering orgies of say the later Toltecs and Aztecs.

The best-preserved interior structures in Teotihuacan are in a palace complex adjacent to the Pyramid of the Moon at the entrance from Gate 3. Signposting here is not very good so walk down seemingly blind alleys to ensure you see all the amazing wonders of what is the best-preserved pre-Columbian roofed building in central Mexico.

Ascend the stairs from the Plaza of the Pyramid of the Moon to enter directly into the Palacio de Quetzalpapalotl. The rooms here are arranged around a central courtyard with impressively carved pillars. The decorations are mainly of the colorful bird (Quetzal) and butterflies (Papalotl), which gave the palace its name. Wall paintings were important in Teotihuacan and some survived in this palace and the subterranean ones along the Street of the Dead. Geometric patterns including a four-petalled flower were popular as well as animals such as the jaguar and birds.

The other two sights here are subterranean – the entrance is towards the vendor stalls and not that obviously marked. The Palacio de los Jaguares has three rooms with wall paintings of jaguars. Note the bubbles emerging from the mouths of the cats – just as in modern-day cartoons these speech bubbles were used to represent sound, probably prayers to Tlaloc who is painted in one mural. Other feather-headed felines are blowing music in conch sells –once again note the sound bubble and the hook sign that seems to represented sound in Teotihuacan paintings.

A narrow passage leads to the Templo de los Caracoles Emplumados (Temple of the Plumed Conch Shells), which is directly underneath the Palace of Quetzalpapalotl. This is the oldest part of the structure but in many ways the most impressive. The temple is decorated with musical instruments represented by conch shells with feathered mouthpieces. Two columns are illustrated with low reliefs of a four-petalled flowers colored red, the most popular color in Teotihuacan. However, the most impressive part of the building is the decorations on the lower part of the platform. Here a parade of green parrots spouting water survived to the present.

Across from the Palace of Quetzalpapalotl is a viewing platform, requiring only two further stairs, with splendid views of the formal ceremonial center of Teotihuacan. For those unable or unwilling to scale the pyramids, the best views are available from here.