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They originated as a militaristic nomadic people, and they or their ancestors may have sacked the city of Teotihuacan (ca. 750). After they established a more settled existence, the Toltec fused the many small states in Central Mexico into an empire ruled from their capital, Tula (also known as Tolán). They were accomplished temple builders. Their influence spread through much of Mesoamerica in the post-Classic era. The Toltec influence on the MayaThis article is about the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. See Maya people for a discussion of the modern Maya. The Maya are a people of southern Mexico and northern Central America with some 3,000 years of rich history. The Maya were part of the Mesoamer of YucatánThe Yucatan Peninsula Yucatan is a peninsula which separates the Caribbean Sea from the Gulf of Mexico. The peninsula is divided among part of Mexico (the Mexican states of Campeche, Quintana Roo, and Yucatan), the nation of Belize and Guatemala's norther is heavy, especially evident at the city of Chichen ItzaChichen Itza is the largest of the Pre-Columbian archaeological sites in Yucatan, Mexico. The city was built by the Maya civilization. The name The name is often represented as Chichen Itz in Spanish and other languages to show that both parts of the name. Their pottery has been found as far south as Costa RicaThe Republic of Costa Rica is a republic of Central America. Remarkably for the region, Costa Rica has stood as a bastion of stability and democracy since the minor civil war of the late 1940s that brought President Jose Figueres Ferrer to power. In fact,.
Some writers have alleged that the Toltecs introduced the cult of QuetzalcoatlQuetzalcoatl ("feathered snake") is the Aztec name for the Feathered-Serpent deity of ancient Mesoamerica, one of the main gods of many Mexican and northern Central American civilizations. Yaxchilan The name "Quetzalcoatl" literally means quetzal-bird sna, the plumed serpent. This is certainly not so, as this deity was commonly depicted throughout Mesoamerica for centuries earlier, going back to OlmecThe Olmec were a people living in south-central Mexico, roughly what would now be the Veracruz and Tabasco regions of the Mexican isthmus. Their immediate cultural influence went much further though, Olmec artwork being found as far afield as El Salvador. times. In Toltec (and later Aztec) mythology Quetzalcoatl was a rival of TezcatlipocaIn Nahuatl mythology, Tezcatlipoca ("smoking mirror") was the god of the night, the north and temptation. He owned a mirror that gave off smoke, killing his enemies. He was the antithesis and rival of Quetzalcoatl. He was a god of beauty and war. Tezcatli, the first god who is known to have demanded human hearts as sacrifice. Thus the Toltecs seem to have introduced the habit of mass human sacrificeHuman sacrifice was practiced in many ancient cultures. Victims were ritually killed in a manner that was supposed to please or appease gods or spirits. On very rare occasions human sacrifices still occur today. Reasons for human sacrifice include: Sacrif as later practiced by the Aztecs.
The Toltec empire is believed to have been destroyed around 1200 AD by the nomadic warriors of the Chichimecs . The ruling family of the Aztecs claimed to descend from Toltec ancestry via the sacred city of Colhuacán .
In his writings Miguel León Portilla explains that in Nauha legend, the Toltec were the originators of all civilization, so Toltec was synonymous with artist, or artisan, and their city " Tollan" was described as full of wonders. When the Aztecs rewrote their history, they tried to show they were related to the Toltecs. Unfortunately this means that much of the tradition of the Toltecs is legend, and difficult to prove. Stories say that after the fall of Tula some of the Toltec retreated to Cholula, which did not fall until centuries later when it was burned by Hernán Cortés and the Spanish conquistadores.
Most Toltec history is known from writings of later peoples, such as the Aztec, written centuries later after a "dark age" in Central Mexico, together with some references by the Maya. Toltec rulers are said to have included:
In 1941, the Sociedad Mexicana de Antropología confirmed that Tula was the capital of the Toltec, as had long been tradition and suggested by archeologists since the 19th century. Some scholars, including Laurette Séjourné, regret the decision, claiming that several seasons of excavation only revealed a minor city, not enough to justify the legend of the Toltecs. The site of Tula actually shows it to have been a large city in its prime, although the ceremonial art and architecture visible there today is less impressive than that at other Mesoamerican sites. It should be understood, however, that some chronicles from the time of the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores and later confuse the Toltec with other earlier Mesoamerican civilizations and sometimes tend to attribute all achievements of the centuries before the rise of the Aztec to the Toltec.
During the late twentieth century, some Mexican shamans, including Don Miguel Ruiz, who claim to be descendants of the Toltec and inheritors of their spiritual powers, began writing and teaching for a worldwide audience, causing a renewed interest in the Toltec. For the concept Toltec in the writings of Carlos Castaneda, see: Toltec (Castaneda)
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