Just outside Mexico City, pyramids loom mysteriously over the central valley. The structures, including the Pyramid of the Sun shown above, are both ancient and massive, once serving as key landmarks of what was one of the world’s largest metropolises.
When it comes to the history of the Americas, Teotihuacán is the greatest pre-Columbian riddle of them all; no one really knows who built the great city. To answer a popular question, it was neither Maya or Aztec: In fact, discoveries at the Maya Lowland stronghold of Tikal suggest that Teotihuacán may have reigned over the former during a period between the 4th and 7th centuries CE. The Nahua people who forged the Aztec Triple Alliance migrated centuries later to the Valley of Mexico. They gave the ruins its name, which translates roughly to the “the place where men become gods.”
Archaeologists are still actively studying the site, hoping to solve the enigma of Teotihuacán. Piecing together what’s been found so far, it’s believed the civilization likely collapsed sometime around 650 CE when a great fire swept through the parts of the city. Theories for what caused the blaze include foreign invasion and peasant uprising, with the latter being the more likely catalyst.
For more information on visiting the Teotihuacán, check out my travel guide “How to Take a Self-Guided Tour of Teotihuacán.” It’s part of my travel guides section on the Mexico City area.
Related Content
– Click to read my feature article “Teotihuacán: Down the Avenue of the Dead” for an in-depth look into the pre-Columbian era’s most perplexing mystery.
– Click to view my high-resolution photo collection from Teotihuacán.
– Click to view my high-resolution photo collection from the museum at Templo Mayor, which is in the Mexico City’s Centro Histórico.