Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
October 2001
Teotihuacan, located in the highlands of central Mexico, is one of the world’s most impressive archaeological sites. Between 100,000 and 200,000 people lived there at its peak around 600 A.D., making it one of the ancient world’s largest cities, with an urban core covering some twenty square kilometers. Settlement began about 200 B.C., and the basic layout of the city was complete by the mid-second century A.D. Most of the major construction was accomplished within the next hundred years. In plan, Teotihuacan is a complex urban grid filled with single- and multifloor apartment compounds. This grid, unique in Mesoamerica in its scale and organization, implies a high degree of social control. Presumably an elite group of nobles directed the building projects and coordinated trade and tribute relations with far-flung corners of Mesoamerica.
The primary avenue, the so-called Street of the Dead, runs on a north-south axis for several kilometers and aligns the city approximately fifteen degrees east of north toward Cerro Gordo. The Pyramid of the Moon, facing south, lies at the northern end of this avenue; the Pyramid of the Sun, facing west, is about a kilometer down the avenue. Another major structure, the Ciudadela, is a great sunken plaza further south. It is surrounded by fifteen smaller stepped pyramids.
Sometime during the mid-seventh century, certain sectors of the city, particularly around the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon, were repeatedly burned and sacked. The city never recovered from these attacks. The ethnic identity of Teotihuacan’s inhabitants is not known. No writing system has been discovered there, even in the intricate iconography of its many painted murals. The original name of the city is not known. It was called puh (Place of the Reeds) by the contemporary Maya. Many centuries after the city’s demise, it was named Teotihuacan, “Birthplace of the Gods” by the Aztecs. From its foundation in the second century B.C. to the present day, Teotihuacan has been a legendary locus of political power and a pilgrimage center of tremendous significance.
Citation
Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Teotihuacan.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/teot/hd_teot.htm (October 2001)
Further Reading
Berrin, Kathleen, and Esther Pasztory. Teotihuacan: Art from the City of the Gods. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1993.
Fuente, Beatriz de la, ed. La pintura mural prehispánica en México: Teotihuacan. 2 vols. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1995–96.
Miller, Arthur G. The Mural Painting of Teotihuacán. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1973.
Sugiyama, Saburo, and Ruben Cabrera. Voyage to the Center of the Moon Pyramid: Recent Discoveries in Teotihuacan. Exhibition catalogue. Tempe: Arizona State University, 2004.
Additional Essays by Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “La Venta: Sacred Architecture.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “La Venta: Stone Sculpture.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Monte Albán.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Monte Albán: Sacred Architecture.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Monte Albán: Stone Sculpture.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Teotihuacan: Ciudadela.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Teotihuacan: Mural Painting.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Teotihuacan: Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Valdivia Figurines.” (October 2004)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Hopewell (1–400 A.D.).” (October 2002)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Indian Knoll (3000–2000 B.C.).” (October 2003)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Poverty Point (2000–1000 B.C.).” (October 2003)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “African Rock Art.” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “African Rock Art: Tassili-n-Ajjer (?8000 B.C.–?).” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “African Rock Art: The Coldstream Stone.” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Apollo 11 (ca. 25,500–23,500 B.C.) and Wonderwerk (ca. 8000 B.C.) Cave Stones.” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “The Monumental Stelae of Aksum (3rd–4th Century).” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Tikal.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Tikal: Sacred Architecture.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Tikal: Stone Sculpture.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Art and the Fulani/Fulbe People.” (October 2002)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Great Zimbabwe (11th–15th Century).” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Ife Pre-Pavement and Pavement Era (800–1000 A.D.).” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Foundations of Aksumite Civilization and Its Christian Legacy (1st–8th Century).” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Ife (from ca. 6th Century).” (originally published October 2000, last revised September 2014)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Inland Niger Delta.” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Lydenburg Heads (ca. 500 A.D.).” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Nok Terracottas (500 B.C.–200 A.D.).” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “The Empires of the Western Sudan.” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “The Empires of the Western Sudan: Ghana Empire.” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “The Empires of the Western Sudan: Mali Empire.” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “The Empires of the Western Sudan: Songhai Empire.” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “The Trans-Saharan Gold Trade (7th–14th Century).” (October 2000)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Trade and the Spread of Islam in Africa.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Mangarevan Sculpture.” (October 2003)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Tahiti.” (October 2003)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Cave Sculpture from the Karawari.” (October 2003)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “The Fulani/Fulbe People.” (October 2002)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Great Serpent Mound.” (October 2002)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Ancient American Jade.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Jade in Costa Rica.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “Jade in Mesoamerica.” (October 2001)
- Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. “La Venta.” (October 2001)
Related Essays
- Tenochtitlan
- Tenochtitlan: Templo Mayor
- Teotihuacan: Ciudadela
- Teotihuacan: Mural Painting
- Teotihuacan: Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon
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