The civilization of ancient Mexico / by Lewis Spence.

  • Spence, Lewis, 1874-1955.
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The civilization of ancient Mexico / by Lewis Spence. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    is stated to have been early merged among the Chichimec states by a royal marriage, although from time to time its people attempted to assert their independence by an appeal to arms1. Cholula, the successor of the semi-mythical Tollan, certain of whose inhabitants sought safety there on the destruction of their own city, maintained an offensive and defensive alliance with the states of Tlaxcallan, or Tlascala, and Huexotzinco. These three pueblos were situated almost exactly where the mountain ranges encircling the Mexican plateau fork off from a common branch, having the peaks of Popocatepetl and Matlalcueye to the west and east respectively. The city of Cholula was the Mecca of the Mexicans, as being the headquarters of the god Quetzalcoatl, a sun-and-culture god, who may have been the especial deity of the Toltecs, and whose worship was somewhat dissimilar to that of any other Mexican god (see Chap. ill.). It was famed for the work of its artists in the precious metals, and excavations upon its site have brought to light many objects of archaeological value. 1 Torquemada, Vol. i. p. 66.