The Toltec civilization, as ancestors of the mighty Aztecs, provided them with a rich heritage that allowed them to rule Mesoamerica before the arrival of the Spanish.
Imagine huge buildings made of pure gold, jade and turquoise. The Toltecs had pyramids made of these precious minerals that rivaled anything created in the region since the dawn of man.
Sandwiched between the Olmec civilization and the Aztec civilization, the Toltec civilization controlled Mesoamerica from 900 to 1100.
They controlled the region now known as Mexico around the Culhuacán area in the Valley of Mexico. Its capital, Tollan, boasted a population of around 40,000 at its height.
The Toltecs were truly a jack of all sorts of civilization. They dominated many different forms of construction, agriculture, art, and commerce.
Toltec civilization
Postclassic period
The Toltec culture is a Mesoamerican archaeological culture. It dominated a state centered on Tula in the early Postclassic period of Mesoamerican chronology (c. 800-1000 CE).
Much of what is known about the Toltecs is based on what has been learned about the Aztecs. Another Mesoamerican culture that postdated the Toltecs and admired them as predecessors.
Since much of what is recorded about the Toltecs may have been tainted by Aztec glorification and mythology in the 14th to 16th centuries. It is difficult to parse the true story.
Later Aztec culture viewed the Toltecs as their intellectual and cultural predecessors. This described the Toltec culture emanating from Tollan (tolan) (Nahuatl for Tula) as the epitome of civilization.
Indeed, in the Nahuatl language the word «Toltecatl» (toltekat (singular) or «Toltecah»[tolteka] (plural) came to take the meaning of «craftsman».
pictographic
Aztec pictographic and oral tradition also described the history of the Toltec Empire, giving lists of rulers and their exploits.
Among modern scholars it is a matter of debate whether the Aztec narratives of Toltec history should be given credence as descriptions of actual historical events.
Although all scholars acknowledge that there is a large mythological part of the narrative. Some argue that by using a critical comparative method some level of historicity of the sources can be salvaged.
Others argue that the continuous analysis of narratives as sources of real history is useless and makes it difficult to access real knowledge of the culture.
nahuas
Among the Nahua peoples, the word «Toltec» was synonymous with artist, craftsman or wise man. Likewise «toltecayotl» «toltecnia» meant art, culture, civilization and urbanism.
Which was considered the opposite of «chichimecayotl» «chichimecanismo», which symbolized the wild and nomadic state of the towns that had not yet been urbanized.
This interpretation argues that any large urban center in Mesoamerica could be referred to as «Tollan».
Its inhabitants as Toltec – and that any ruling lineage in post-classic Mesoamerica would strengthen their claims to power by claiming their Toltec ancestry.
Mesoamerican migration accounts often state that Tollan was ruled by Quetzalcoatl (or Kukulcán in Maya and Gukumatz in K’iche’).
A mythical and divine figure who was later sent into exile from Tollan and later founded a new city elsewhere in Mesoamerica.
Quetzalcoatl
Such claims to Toltec ancestry and a ruling dynasty founded by Quetzalcoatl have been made by civilizations as diverse as the Aztecs, the Quiche, and the Itza Maya.
The historical tradition of scholarship tries to take the accounts of Mesoamerican ethnohistory at face value and discern between a historical Toltec civilization and the way it has been integrated into postclassic Mesoamerican mythology.
He also tries to discern between the deity Quetzalcóatl and the Toltec ruler of the same name.
Instead, they prefer to let archeology speak for itself and interpret ethnohistoric sources in a way that corroborates rather than defines the archaeological finds.
In the late 20th century, the word Toltec took on a new meaning within certain New Age circles.
Largely due to the use of the word by Carlos Castaneda and others inspired by him such as Víctor Sánchez. For the Toltec concept as used in the writings of Carlos Castaneda, see: Tolteca (Castaneda).
Toltec languages
The Toltec language was called nahuatlalso spoken by the Aztecs.
Most of Toltec history is known from the writings of later people.
Like the Aztecs, written centuries later after a «dark age» in central Mexico. Along with some references to the Mayans. Toltec rulers are said to have included:
Chalchiuh Tlatonac – First Toltec king, founder of TulaMixcoamazatzinHuetzinMixcoatl or Mixcoatl TotepeuhIhuitimalTopiltzin Ce Acatl Quetzalcoatl, son of Mixcoatl, the most famous Toltec ruler.MatlacxochitzinNautiotzinaMatlacoatzinTlilcoatzin died around 1000 Huemac el last Toltec king, died in exile around 1100, some 6 years later of the fall of Tula.
Arts and Entertainment
He Toltec Empire and its leaders created an unparalleled mystique in the minds of Central Americans.
Toltec leaders were thought to be on the side of the deities. Later cultures often revered them and copied their legends, art, buildings, and religion.
Many future rulers of other cultures. including Mayan leaders and Aztec emperors, claimed descent from the Toltecs.
The Toltecs carried the well-known game of ball played by many Central American cultures and might have sacrificed the losers.
The Toltecs are known for their somewhat cruder form of architecture, a form that would later inspire Aztec builders.
Toltec art is characterized by its walls covered with snakes and skulls. Images of a reclining Chak-mool (red jaguar), and the colossal statues of the Atlanteans, men carved on large columns.
Religion and Legend
Religion in the Toltec Empire was dominated by two major deities. The first, Quetzalcoatl, is shown as a feathered serpent.
This deity of learning, culture, philosophy, fertility, holiness, and gentleness was absorbed from earlier cultures in the area. His rival was Tezcatlipoca, the smoky mirror, known for his warlike nature and his tyranny.
The greatest ruler of the Toltecs was Ce Acatl Topiltzin, who was known to be the leader and high priest of Quetzacoatl at the time that Tula and the Empire were established.
According to the Toltec legend. Tezatlipoca’s followers expelled Topiltzin and Quetzalcoatl’s followers from the city around 1000 AD.
They fled to the south, where they were able to defeat the Maya at the city of Chichén Itzá, and take it as their own.
An interesting twist on the Topiltzin legend is that he vowed to return to Tula from the east in one of his holy years and take revenge.
This legend lived until the time of the Aztecs. They attributed the arrival of the Spanish as the return of Topiltzin, an event they greatly feared.
black feather sun
The history of the Toltec culture at Teotihuacan is shrouded in mystery. It is speculated that around the year 500 AD the Toltec naguals and all their groups had learned to transmute, to pass through the Black Feather Sun to the place of creation.
It is believed that the entire culture ascended, leaving the Teotihuacán pyramids abandoned until they were discovered 500 years later. Around AD 1000 by the Aztecs, warriors who in their time conquered much of Mexico.
The Aztecs were drawn to the Pyramid and adopted it as their own. Unlike the Toltecs. The Aztecs abused their power, not understanding the records of the Toltec teachings found in the pyramids.
The Toltecs taught about the delivery of the open heart to the Sun. While the Aztecs considered it as a human sacrifice made.
spiritual beliefs
The Toltecs have been known throughout southern Mexico as «women and men of knowledge» for many centuries.
Anthropologists have spoken of the Toltecs as a nation or a race. The Toltecs were scientists and artists who formed a society to explore and preserve the knowledge and spiritual practices of the ancients.
It may seem peculiar that they combine the secular with the sacred. The Toltecs considered science and spirit to be one and the same.
All energy, whether material or ethereal, was derived from the same source and influenced by the same universal laws.
Teachers and Students
The Toltecs came together as Toltec teachers and students at Teotihuacan. The ancient city of the pyramids outside of Mexico City known as the place where «man becomes God».
The students had to have the courage to face and know themselves and, through that knowledge, change their way of life.
The ancient Toltecs knew that our perception of reality was only a point of view. One that generally doesn’t consider how we fit into an expanding, living, and intelligent universe.
To transcend the realm of our old dream and move towards our full potential. We need to transfer the point where we «assemble» our perception from our «reason» to our «will».
Shifting the source of our personal power from our mind to our spirit allows us to access «silent knowing» and create the energy needed to remember what we have forgotten.
They were great warriors
The Toltecs were religious warriors who spread the cult of their God. Quetzalcóatl, to all corners of his Empire.
Toltec warriors wore headdresses, chest plates, padded armor, and a small shield on one arm.
They carried short swords, atlatlons (a weapon designed to throw darts at high velocity), and some kind of heavy, curved-bladed weapon that was something of a cross between a club and an axe.
They were organized into warrior orders that represented animals like jaguars and gods like Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca.
They were great artists and sculptors
The Tula archaeological site has been repeatedly looted. Even before the arrival of the Spanish in the region, the site was stripped of sculptures and relics by the Aztecs, who highly revered the Toltecs.
Later, starting in colonial times, looters managed to pick up the site almost clean.
However, serious archaeological excavations have recently uncovered several important statues, relics and stelae.
Among the most important are the statues of Atlante representing Toltec warriors and the columns showing Toltec rulers dressed for war.
They practiced human sacrifice
Several statues of Chac Mool have been found in Tula. These figures of reclining humans with a bowl on their belly were used for offerings to the gods. Including human sacrifices.
In the ceremonial square, there is a tzompantli, where the heads of the…