The Oratories of Huitzilopochtli and Thaloc.
Motolinia, Torquemada, Ixtlilxochitl, and Gomara agree in placing the two oratories or shrines on the extreme eastern edge of the platform, so that there was only just room for a man to pass round them on the east side. The two oratories were separate one from the other, each being enclosed within its own walls with a doorway towards the west. The oratory of Huitzilopochtli was the larger of the two and stood to the south. The oratory of Tlaloc stood to the north. No measurements are given of the area covered by these two oratories, but there is no suggestion that they were large buildings[[7]] except in height. The roof and probably the upper stages were made of wood (Torquemada), and we know that they were burnt during the siege.
Height:—
Anonimo—“Ten or twelve men’s bodies.”
Torquemada—“Each in three stories, each story of great height.”
Motolinia—“The Great Temples had three stories above the altars, all terraced and of considerable height.”
Ixtlilxochitl gives the height of the great Teocalli as over twenty-seven brazas (150′). If this means the height from the ground to the top of the Oratory of Huitzilopochtli it would very nearly agree with the height given on the hypothetical section on Plate B.
In the description of the map of the city published in 1524 [see ‘Conquest of New Spain,’ vol. iii. (Hakluyt Society)] I called attention to the “full human face probably representing the Sun” between the Oratories of the Teocalli of Huitzilopochtli. The map is, I believe, in error in placing the Teocalli on the west side of the Temple Enclosure, but that the full human face is intended to represent the sun is confirmed by the following passage from Motolinia[[8]]:—
“Tlacaxipenalistli.—This festival takes place when the sun stood in the middle of Huichilobos, which was at the Equinox, and because it was a little out of the straight[[9]] Montezuma wished to pull it down and set it right.”
