Templo Mayor ( Tenochtitlán ) Mexico City
Travel And Tour Photos And Pictures
Page Two

George And Audrey DeLange

Tenochtitlán (Teh-no-Chtiht-Laan), built on an island in Lake Texcoco, the site of present-day Mexico City. The city's past is preserved at the site of Tenochtitlán and the Museo del Templo Mayor that features the remains of the main ceremonial pyramid, the most sacred site of the Aztec Empire. The Aztecs who had wandered for generations, and fought with all of their neighbors, found themselves marooned on a marshy island at Mexico's Lake Texcoco. They had to make do or perish! It was the year 1325 AD. Then in less than a century, their city Tenochtitlán, with a population of over 250,000, rivaled any capital city of its time. It was built without beasts of burden or the wheel, yet it boasted palaces, pyramids, grand plazas and a superb network of canals, dikes and bridges. While Europe's city streets were little more than cow paths, Tenochtitlán's were on a rational grid and due to efficient drainage, garbage barges and an army of sweepers it was far cleaner than their counterparts in Europe. The earliest Aztecs did not keep a written record and their history was passed on by word of mouth from one generation to the next. Legend has it that they came from an Island called Aztlan, meaning White Place or the Place Of Herons. In the Aztec codex Tira de la Peregrinacion, commonly called the Migration Scrolls. The scrolls describe the Aztecs leaving an island called Aztlan, which was an island in a lake with Chicomoztoc shown as having seven temples in the center of the island. The Aztecs beleived they were the "chosen people" of their war god, Huitzilopochtli. Then during the 12th & 13th century the Aztecs migrated into the Valley of Mexico, led by their chief Tenoch. They were a poor, ragged people who survived on snakes, and stolen food. They were hatred and rejected by all of their surrounding neighbors of the Valley Of mexico due to their barbarous and uncultured habits. They were driven from one location to another. Then early in the 14th century, Huitzilopochtli told Chief Tenoch to lead his people to a place of refuge on a swampy island in Lake Texcoco. When they reached their destination, they were told to look for an eagle perched on a cactus, growing from a rock or cave surrounded by water. At that place, they were to build their great city and to honor Huitzilopochtli with many human sacrifices. The city they built was called "Tenochtitlán," the city of "Tenoch." In about 1376 AD., the Aztecs selected an emperor of royal lineage, to gain respect of their neighbors. They chose a man by the name of Acamapichtli as their emperor because he was related to the last rulers of Culhuacán, and his geneology extended back in time to the great Toltec ruler Quetzalcóatl. Thus, with the selection of Acamapichtli, they were able to claim their direct descendancy from the great Toltecs. Then during the 15th century the military strength of the Aztecs increased. They grew from a small tribe into a very powerful and disciplined military force. They also formed alliances with their powerful neighbors of Texcoco, and Tacuba, known as the Triple Alliance. Thus all of their neighbors paid tribute to them and it was a time for building and the great city of Tenochtitlán grow and prospered. Here is an interesting description of the city of Tenochtitlán as quoted from Hernan Cortés. "This great city of Tenochtitlán is built on the salt lake , and no matter by what road you travel there are two leagues from the main body of the city to the mainland. There are four artificial causeways leading to it, and each is as wide as two cavalry lances. The city itself is as big as Seville or Córdoba. The main streets are very wide and very straight; some of these are on the land, but the rest and all the smaller ones are half on land, half canals where they paddle their canoes. All the streets have openings in places so that the water may pass from one canal to another. Over all these openings, and some of them are very wide, there are bridges... "There are, in all districts of this great city, many temples or houses for their idols. They are all very beautiful buildings.... Amongst these temples there is one , the principal one , whose great size and magnificence no human tongue could describe, for it is so large that within the precincts, which are surrounded by very high wall, a town of some five hundred inhabitants could easily be built. All round inside this wall there are very elegant quarters with very large rooms and corridors where their priests live. There are as many as forty towers, all of which are so high that in the case of the largest there are fifty steps leading up to the main part of it and the most important of these towers is higher than that of the cathedral of Seville...".(Hernan Cortés) See the map drawn by Hernan Cortés below. While there is very little of the Great Temple remaining, the 16th century Codex Ixtlilxochitl depicts a profile view of a structure thought to be very similar in style. We will enclose a copy of this drawing for your consideration.

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