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Teotihuacan is known today as the site of many of the most architecturally significant Mesoamerican pyramids built in the pre-Columbian Americas, namely the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon. Although close to Mexico City, Teotihuacan was not a Mexica (i.e. Aztec) city, and it predates the Aztec Empire by many centuries.
Between 150 BC and 500 AD, a Mesoamerican culture built a flourishing metropolis on a plateau about 22 km 2 (8.5 sq mi). [clarification needed] The ethnicity of the inhabitants of Teotihuacan is a subject of debate, therefore "Teotihuacan" is the name used to refer to both the civilization and the capital city of these people. [2]
The Temple of the Feathered Serpent is the third largest pyramid [1] at Teotihuacan, a pre-Columbian site in central Mexico (the term Teotihuacan, or Teotihuacano, is also used for the whole civilization and cultural complex associated with the site). This pre-Columbian city rose around the first or second century BCE and its occupation ...
The Pyramid of the Sun is the largest building in Teotihuacan, and one of the largest in Mesoamerica.It is believed to have been constructed about 200 AD. [4] Found along the Avenue of the Dead, in between the Pyramid of the Moon and the Ciudadela, and in the shadow of the mountain Cerro Gordo, the pyramid is part of a large complex in the heart of the city.
It is in the northeast of the Valley of Mexico, 45 km northeast of Mexico City and 119 km from the state capital of Toluca. Teotihuacan takes its name from the ancient city and World Heritage Site that is located next to the municipal seat. "Teotihuacan" is from Nahuatl and means "place of the gods."
Teotihuacan ("The City of the Gods" in Nahuatl) originated toward the end of the Preclassic period, c. 100 CE. Very little is known about its founders, but it is believed that the Otomí had an important role in the city's development, as they did in the ancient culture of the Valley of Mexico, represented by Tlatilco .
Teotihuacan, flourishing from 200 BCE to 750 CE, was the largest American city of the pre-Columbian era, possibly reaching a population of 125,000 in 200 CE. The city's grid plan originated with the "Avenue of the Dead", connecting the Temple of the Feathered Serpent and the Pyramid of the Moon. [31]
Teotihuacan seems to have been the first city known by this name. After the collapse of the Teotihuacan empire, central Mexico broke into smaller states. The Toltec created the first sizable Mexican empire after the fall of Teotihuacan, and their capital was referred to by the same name as a reference to the earlier greatness of Teotihuacan.