For many visitors to the archaeological zones of central Mexico, it is common to relate the pyramids of the Sun and the Moon with the vestiges of the Templo Mayor, and imagine them as part of cities that coexisted at the same time in Mesoamerica. However, this did not happen. Teotihuacán and Tenochtitlán were built centuries apart by completely different cultures. We tell you their fundamental differences and similarities.
Teotihuacán and Tenochtitlán, main divergences
Historical period
The magnificence of both the archaeological zone of Teotihuacán, located in the State of Mexico, and the Templo Mayor, in the historic center of the capital, has motivated multiple investigations over the years, which have allowed us to locate time in the one in which the cities were built.
Consequently, today we know that Teotihuacán was inhabited between 100 BC and 650 AD; approximately between 650 and a thousand years before the founding of Tenochtitlán, which occurred in the 14th century (1325).
In fact, the Mexica gave their name to Teotihuacán, because upon discovering the impressive pyramids of the city, abandoned at that time, they baptized it Teōtīhuacāna, which in Nahuatl means place of the gods.
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To find out more: This is how Teotihuacán was located before its discovery: among weeds and rocks
Geographic location
Another difference between the two cities is geography, since they are separated by about 50 kilometers and in Mesoamerica, that distance was considerable. Despite this, Teotihuacan vessels and sculptures have been discovered in shrines of the Templo Mayor.
Likewise, the above has led various archaeologists, such as Leonardo López Luján, to assume that these objects were so appreciated for their manufacture that they were gifted to the Mexica deities.
Unfortunately, as the decline of the Teotihuacan civilization occurred long before the Mexica period, the historical memory of its city was lost in time, so its foundation was explained in divine terms.
Primary affinities between the two cities
monumental architecture
One of the points in common between both civilizations was pre-Columbian architecture. According to archaeologist Eduardo Matos Moctezuma, the city of Tenochtitlán, like Teotihuacán, oriented its main temples to the west.
Likewise, the urban layout of Tenochtitlán was inspired by the Teotihuacan roads, taking the four cardinal points as a reference.
Religion, similarity between Teotihuacán and Tenochtitlán
Finally, both civilizations were polytheistic, that is, they worshiped many gods. According to anthropologist Rafael Tena, it was common for the Mexica to adopt gods from other cultures; Hence they had in common with the Teotihuacans the worship of deities such as Coatlicue, goddess of fertility; Tezcatlipoca, god of the sky; and Quetzalcoatl, god of wisdom.
Keep reading: They create the most faithful 3D portrait of the ancient city of Mexico-Tenochtitlán