Teotihuacán


Useful Information

Location: Teotihuacán, 40 km north of Mexico City.
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Classification: Speleologylava tube
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Bibliography: Caroline Arnold, Richard Hewitt (1994): City of the Gods: Mexico's Ancient City of Teotihuacan, hardcover, 49 pp, Clarion Books, 1994 Worldamazon.com
Esther Pasztory (1997): Teotihuacan: An Experiment in Living, hardcover, 282 pp, University of Oklahoma Press, 1997, ISBN: 080612847X. Worldamazon.com
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History


Description

The city of Teotihuacán (City of the Birth of the Gods) is one of the greatest archaeological sites of the New World. Its rise began in the first centuries after Christ. The city was destroyed around 725 AD, altars and idols were smashed, and the ceremonial center was burned. It is unknown if this destruction was caused by internal civil war or by outside invaders.

Teotihuacán was the site of a sacred lava cave, giving the site great sacred significance. Legend told that this was the place of the first emergence, where the gods and humanity had been created. The core of the complex is the so-called Pyramid of the Sun, standing atop the sacred Cave of Creation. In ancient times this cave was accessible from here by an artificial tunnel under the pyramid.