Chapter 3: Times of Trouble - Post-Classic Mexico PDF

# Chapter 3: Times of Trouble - Post-Classic Mexico The order imposed by Teotihuacan’s dominance during the Classic period gave way to a fragmentation of power among the transition centers in areas north of the Mayas. Our knowledge of the history of the Valley of Mexico between AD 650 and 900 is im...

# Chapter 3: Times of Trouble - Post-Classic Mexico The order imposed by Teotihuacan’s dominance during the Classic period gave way to a fragmentation of power among the transition centers in areas north of the Mayas. Our knowledge of the history of the Valley of Mexico between AD 650 and 900 is imprecise, but a high incidence of movement and migration characterized the waning decades of the Classic period, when aggressive city-states-Cholula, Xochicalco, and El Tajín-vied for control, but none succeeded in bringing about unity and order. The Post-Classic era began about AD 900 and lasted until the Spanish conquest in the early sixteenth century. New states had significant commercial interests, as evidenced by the expansion of market systems. In fact, a key feature of the Post-Classic was the increase of long-distance exchange and the overall economic integration of Mesoamerica. An example of the first, if not the latter, was the far distant regional center at Paquimé/Casas Grandes in northwest Mexico (with links to the US Southwest), where Mesoamerican features and artifacts were manifest. New technology could be seen in cotton quilted armor and the bow and arrow but, in general, technological innovation slowed. Although metallurgy was introduced, its use was limited. The inhabitants fashioned gold and silver into beautiful jewelry, and used copper in the manufacture of various tools and to cover the tips of arrow shafts. In an even more striking change during the Post-Classic, the militaristic propensities of the Late Classic continued to grow, enhancing the prestige of warriors and fostering the conquest of tribute-paying subjects. Human sacrifice proliferated as both elites and commoners became convinced that only the offering of massive and sustained quantities of the life force of blood to the gods could prevent cosmic disaster. Another change occurred in the Post-Classic and proved to be a boon for later historians. For this period we have more written records in which individuals appear with more clarity. But although there are now pegs upon which to drape our historical fabric, accounts are manifestly shot through with myths; thus, some details vary with the telling, and many versions are vague and fragmentary at best. ## The Toltecs The great city of Teotihuachan, situated in the northeastern part of the valley of Mexico, had served as a buffer between "civilized" Mexico and the nomadic peoples of the north. With the fall of that stronghold, however, vigorous warriors from the arid lands beyond breached the frontier. The northern tribes, consisting of many diverse groups, were known by the generic term Chichimecs, a designation that later came to be construed by Spaniards as peoples lacking the culture of settled society and thus "barbaric." Some of these groups were hunter-gathers, but according to legend the more agricultural Tolteca-Chichimeca from southern Zacatecas swept into the central valley at the beginning of the tenth century led by Mixcoatl (Cloud Serpent), a skilled warrior who swiftly scattered his demoralized opponents. After establishing his capital at Culhuacan and successfully extending his power, the resourceful Mixcoatl was assassinated by his brother, who seized leadership for himself. Mixcoatl’s pregnant wife fled into exile, where she died upon giving birth to a son. The boy received the name Ce Acatl Topiltzin (Ce Acatl meaning "One Reed," the year of his birth, perhaps AD 947), and he would become the cultural hero of foremost proportions in ancient Mexico. He became a devotee of the ancient god Quetzalcoatl and later, as a high priest of the cult, he assumed the name of his deity. It is important to note, however, that our knowledge of Toltec history derives primarily from Aztec post-conquest accounts in which Tula figures prominently in their origin myths. The legend of Topiltzin-Quetzalcoatl comes from these sources and includes the idea that this priest-god was of fair complexion and bearded, that he abhorred human sacrifice, and that he had left cross-like signs along his journey of exile. Many scholars question the reliability of these stories recorded after the conquest by Aztec elites, working with Spanish priests. Their interpretations served to explain the conquest as preordained by a Christian god. The legend asserts that upon reaching manhood, Topiltzin-Quetzalcoatl killed in single combat his uncle, Mixcoatl’s assassin, and made himself lord of the Toltecs. Topiltzin-Quetzalcoatl eventually removed his capital some fifty miles northwest of the present Mexico City to an area of obsidian deposits. There, around AD 968, he founded the splendid city of Tula (Tollan), the most important urban center in the long interim between the fall of Teotihuacan and the later rise of Aztec Tenochtitlan. The Toltecs continued to incorporate northern nomads and gradually absorbed more urban Mesoamerican characteristics. From their new capital they played a key role in the obsidian trade, used for making blades and other tools, and asserted power over the surrounding area. Although their limited hegemony lasted only about two centuries, their prestige was such that the name "Toltec" pervaded the consciousness of the land for five hundred years. Less extensive in area and population (40-60,000) than Teotihuacan, Tula was certainly more grandiose than its ruins today indicate. The brilliant plumage of exotic birds decked palace interiors, sheets of gold, jewels, and rare seashells lined various salons. Residents’ ears were soothed by the sweet singing of pet birds. This version of paradise on earth was embellished in the retelling over the centuries; it accounts, in part, for the curiously persistent Toltec mystique. The honeyed tradition notwithstanding, all was not peace and light at Tula. Two religious traditions evolved in the period of Toltec rule, emblematic of conflict in Mesoamerican society. The ancestral supreme deity of the Toltecs was the fearsome and unpredictable Tezcatlipoca or Smoking Mirror because of his association with obsidian, as well as the night sky and fate. His adherents resented the exaltation of the foreign god Quetzalcoatl (associated with knowledge and creativity) introduced by Topiltzin. The deity-impersonator priests of Tezcatlipoca bided their time, conspiring against the heresy. They sought by various deceits to discredit the high priest of Quetzalcoatl. According to one account, Tezcatlipoca, in disguise, gained entrance to the house of Topiltzin, who was ill. At first the ruler refused an offer of "medicine," which was, in fact, the strong drink of pulque, made from undistilled cactus juice. Finally persuaded to take a sip, the innocent Topiltzin found it pleasing and asked for more. At length inebriated by five cupfuls, the lord of Tula awoke the next morning on a mat beside his sister. Having broken his priestly vows and disgraced himself by the sins of drunkenness and incest, he prepared to go into exile after almost twenty years of enlightened rule. The reign of Topiltzin-Quetzalcoatl at Tula thus came to a close, but he does not disappear from history. He and his followers dispersed to the south, some remaining in the holy city of Cholula and others continuing on to Maya areas around 987. One legend relates that Topiltzin-Quetzalcoatl coasted down a river to the sea in a raft of serpents, after which he flashed into the heavens to become the morning star. Another account had more serious, actually ominous, implications. When Topiltzin and his partisans left Tula for their long odyssey, they marked their way by shooting arrows through saplings, leaving signs that resembled crosses. Later he sent word that he would return from where the sun rose to take back his rightful throne in the year Ce Acatl, which recurred cyclically. By some accounts, he was of fair complexion and bearded. All of this would be of immense significance when, five centuries later, the Spaniards appeared on the eastern horizon. The year was 1519-and Ce Acatl. Meanwhile, with the success of the militant Tezcatlipoca faction at Tula, a new order of things evolved. While the reputation of the Toltecs as great architects was secure (the Aztecs named them Toltecs, meaning "Artificers"), a new and grotesque image of them was revealed in later works. Themes of death and destruction are evident in the Chacmools-reclining human figures with basins on their stomachs to receive human hearts-and a "serpent wall" that shows rattlesnakes devouring human skeletons. Towering statues of impassive warrior figures, sixteen to eighteen feet tall, appeared on top of temples, and friezes symbolized the military orders of the jaguar and eagle, the latter shown devouring human hearts. Tula nourished two traditions that persisted until the coming of the Spaniards-an excess of human sacrifice and the forceful conquest of other states. Yet many questions persist about the size and nature of the alleged Toltec "empire." From the late eleventh century to 1156, drought and famine struck the Toltecs. Wars and internal social conflict further weakened the state until, in desperation, the people even turned to the worship of their enemies’ alien deities. Evidence of fire throughout the site may explain the onset of the Toltec diaspora, with people spreading in many directions. The collapse of Tula was significant for Mexico: once again the northern buffer zone between the sedentary peoples of the valley and the northern semi-nomads remained unguarded. Not long after, new groups descended upon this wonder of the Post-Classic world and subjected Tula to brutal desecration. ## The Zapotecs and Mixtecs To the south, following the abandonment of Monte Alban in Oaxaca, the Zapotecs remained a vigorous culture with many important centers including their capital at Zaachila. Mitla, built at roughly the same time as Tula, was a comparatively small religious and military base. What one sees there, however, is a jewel of Mexican architecture. Surrounding a modest courtyard are white temples with walls of marvelous design-thousands of small pieces of cut stone, fitted together with a precision requiring no mortar, form mosaics of dazzling geometric patterns. Opening off the patios are subterranean passages leading to crypts. Although the site occupies an exposed area, set apart some distance is the hill fortress, a grim reminder of the intense warfare that had overtaken Post-Classic Mexico. To the areas west and north of the Zapotecs were a remarkable people who inhabited the mountainous regions, the Mixtecs, or "Cloud People." The Mixtecs were certainly influenced by the Toltecs, some of whom apparently infiltrated after the fall of Tula. By the thirteenth century the Mixtecs penetrated eastward into Zapotec territories, and, primarily by marrying into the Zapotec royalty, they eventually came to dominate their neighbors. At times they occupied many of the Zapotec sites, including Monte Alban and Mitla. Mixtec artistic achievements are extraordinary in the exquisite decoration of their temple complexes. Among the treasures they gave us is the richest collection extant of picture códices, for example the Selden Codex. These pictographic books are executed in brilliant colors on deerskin (the books of the Maya and others were made of both deer skin and vegetable fiber). They offer valuable historical sources that chronicle centuries of conquering dynasties, genealogies, and warfare. Following the appearance of metallurgy around AD 1000, the Mixtecs became, in addition, the foremost jewelers in Mexico, fashioning delicate pieces in gold and silver. ## The Post-Classic Maya Coincident with the final disintegration of the Maya Classic period by around AD 900, a rising Maya cultural phenomenon appeared on the peninsula of Yucatán. That peninsula is a limestone shelf, flat with some rolling, brush-covered hills, a land without surface rivers. With its thin soil and dependence for water on the cenotes, the sinkholes created by the collapse of underground caverns, it seems an unlikely location for an agricultural people. Maya groups had inhabited Yucatán for many centuries BC, but their achievements had not matched those of the southern Maya who flourished during the Classic era. Beginning in the tenth century, the ancestral Yucatec Maya culture was transformed by outside influences of peoples stigmatized as "foreigners." Some of the newcomers were undoubtedly refugees from the deserted Classic areas. The invigorating force that gave impulse to the new hybrid style in Yucatán appears to have been Toltec, but the nature of the relationship between Tula and the dominant early Post-Classic center of Chichen Itza is still disputed. One explanation holds that the banished Topiltzin-Quetzalcoatl and his followers actually made it to Chichen Itza in 987 and imposed Toltec rule. Others believe that the northern attributes may have been brought earlier by coastal Putun and Chontal Maya invaders who had been heavily influenced by non-Maya cultures of the Gulf coast and central Mexico. From about 900 to 1150, Chichen Itza allied with the cities of Mayapan and Uxmal, although it dominated the alliance as a result of its successes in trade and military exploits. Warfare and human sacrifice were common, but whether they actually increased as a result of central Mexican influence is unknown. Certainly these practices were already widespread among the Yucatecan Mayas’ neighbors to the south in the Late Classic. The art and architecture of Chichen Itza evoke the militant spirit of Tula with warrior motifs, images of the Feathered Serpent, the forest of columns, and Chacmools. Among the monuments of Post-Classic Maya centers, those of Chichen Itza are the most widely known. Like the sculptures, they are esthetically less pleasing than works of the Classic Maya. Uxmal, however, has structures of great beauty. Many consider its Palace of the Governor to be the most elegant of prehispanic architecture.