The conclusions are supported by evidence in Guatemalan chronicles and also in records of the Mayas for we have already seen that Quetzalcoatl conquered Chichen Itza in 1191 A. D. The three great Toltec emperors, Huetzin, Ihuitimal, and Quetzalcoatl, swept over an area extending from Durango to Nicaragua, the three seats of their government being Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico, Chichen Itza in Yucatan, and Iximché in Guatemala.
Quetzalcoatl probably spent his youth in Yucatan, returning to his highland home with strange religious and social ideas. His opposition to the Toltec idea of human sacrifice was followed by a war of cults. Quetzalcoatl began the construction at Tula with serpent columns like those of his lofty temple in Chichen Itza. Also he appears to have founded Cholula as a special center for his humane religion. His death occurred in connection with a prognostication in the Venus calendar of the Mayas, for the year 1 Acatl, 1207-08 A. D.
Quetzalcoatl, perhaps the most remarkable figure in ancient American history, was emperor, artist, scientist, and humanist philosopher. He established orders of knighthood as well as the coronation ceremony used by the later Mexican kings. He developed the various industrial arts and built up a wide trade in cotton, cacao, and other products. As a patron of the peripatetic merchant he appears under the name Nacxitl, which means Four-way Foot. Apotheosis being an idea strongly fixed among the Toltecs, Quetzalcoatl was deified as Ehecatl, God of Winds, on account of his support of the Mayan god of rainstorms, and for his astronomical work he was further deified as God of the Planet Venus.
[Plate XXXII.]
The Temple at Xochicalco before Restoration. The lower part of the picture shows the sculptured base of the temple pyramid. The walls of the temple itself are seen above.
San Juan Teotihuacan.
This name Teotihuacan means Where the Gods (i.e., the deified dead) Dwell. This enormous ruin is located on the eastern margin of the Valley of Mexico. The principal features of Teotihuacan are two great pyramids and a straight roadway lined with small pyramids. There are also several groups of buildings of which the lower walls and the bases of the piers are still to be seen as well as some interesting fragments of fresco painting. The smaller of the two great pyramids is called the Pyramid of the Moon. It is located at the end of the roadway which is commonly called the Pathway of the Dead. The Pyramid of the Sun is situated on the east side of the roadway. This pyramid is about 180 feet in height and rises in four sloping terraces. The temple which formerly crowned its summit has entirely disappeared. Explorations conducted by the Mexican government showed that this pyramid was enlarged from time to time and old stairways buried under new masonry. On the south side of the small stream that flows through the ruins is a group of buildings called the Citadel.
[Plate XXXIII. Two Views of the Principal Pyramid in the Citadel at Teotihuacan.]
