Teotihuacán Pyramids: Where Sun, Moon and Death come together

Between 100 BCE and 650–750 CE, Mesoamerica witnessed the rise and fall of its first great city known as Teotihuacán. It was a defining period of cultural development, which influenced every part of the American world until the Spaniards’ invasion.

Unlike many other places in the region, this city was not destroyed by the Europeans; it was already abandoned some 750 years before the Spanish conquistadors arrived and no one knows why! Several theories have been advanced about the city’s collapse such as water shortage (caused by climate change), over-exploitation of natural resources and internal fighting. From a thriving city with about 65,000 inhabitants around the 3rd century CE, it declined to a population of about 5,000 in the year 750.

Even though the city was abandoned by residents when the Aztecs found it, the place always attracted pilgrims as well as people who came to marvel at the pyramids and take inspiration for building similar cities. The Aztecs were so fascinated by the city that they called it Teotihuacán, meaning “the place where Gods* are born”.

The first thing I noticed on visiting the ruins of Teotihuacán was the preponderance of pyramids. It was as if every structure of importance had been placed on a pyramid. The buildings that once stood atop the pyramids were gone…