Toltec Empire - Semi-Mythical Legend of the Aztecs

Toltec Empire - Semi-Mythical Legend of the Aztecs The Toltecs and the Toltec Empire is a semi-mythical legend reported by the Aztecs that appears to have had some reality in prehispanic Mesoamerica. But the evidence for its existence as a cultural entity is conflicting and contradictory. The empire, if thats what it was (and it probably was not), has been at the heart of a longstanding debate in archaeology: where is the ancient city of Tollan, a city described by the Aztecs in oral and pictorial histories as the center of all art and wisdom? And who were the Toltecs, the legendary rulers of this glorious city? The Aztec Myth Aztec oral histories and their surviving codexes describe the Toltecs as wise, civilized, wealthy urban people  who lived in Tollan, a city filled with buildings made of jade and gold. The Toltecs, said the historians, invented all the arts and sciences of Mesoamerica, including the Mesoamerican calendar; they were led by their wise king Quetzalcoatl. For the Aztecs, the Toltec leader was the ideal ruler, a noble warrior who was learned in the history and priestly duties of Tollan, and had the qualities of military and commercial leadership. The Toltec rulers led a warrior society that included a storm god (Aztec  Tlaloc or Maya  Chaac), with Quetzalcoatl at the heart of the origin myth. The Aztec leaders claimed they were descendants of the Toltec leaders, establishing a semi-divine right to rule. The Myth of Quetzalcoatl The Aztec accounts of the Toltec myth say that Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl [reported by the Aztecs in the 15th century to have been born in the year 1 Reed, 843 AD and died 52 years later in the year 1 Reed, 895], was a wise, old humble king who taught his people to write and measure time, to work gold, jade and feathers, to grow cotton, dye it and weave it into fabulous mantles, and to raise maize and cacao. He built four houses for fasting and prayer and a temple with beautiful columns carved with serpent reliefs. But his piety excited anger among the sorcerers of Tollan, who were intent on destroying his people. The sorcerers tricked Quetzalcoatl into drunken behavior that shamed him so he fled east, reaching the edge of the sea. There, dressed in divine feathers and a turquoise mask, he burned himself up and rose into the sky, becoming the morning star. Aztec accounts dont all agree: at least one says that Quetzalcoatl destroyed Tollan as he left, burying all the marvelous things and burning everything else. He changed the cacao trees to mesquite and sent the birds to Anahuac, another legendary land at the edge of the water. The story as recounted by Bernardino Sahagunwho certainly had his own agendasays that Quetzalcoatl fashioned a raft of serpents and sailed across the sea. Sahagun was a Spanish Franciscan friar, and he and other chroniclers are today believed to have created the myth associating Quetzalcoatl with the conquistador  Cortesbut thats another story. Toltecs and Desirà ©e Charnay The site of Tula in Hidalgo state was first equated with Tollan in the archaeological sense in the late 19th centurythe Aztecs were ambivalent about which set of ruins was Tollan, although Tula was certainly one. French expeditionary photographer Desirà ©e Charnay raised money to follow the legendary journey of Quetzalcoatl from Tula eastward to the Yucatan peninsula. When he arrived at the Maya capital of Chichà ©n Itz, he noticed serpent columns and a ball court ring that reminded him of those he had seen at Tula, 1300 kilometers (800 miles) northwest of Chichen. Charnay had read the 16th century Aztec accounts and noted that the Toltec were thought by the Aztecs to have created civilization, and he interpreted the architectural and stylistic similarities to mean that the capital city of the Toltecs  was Tula, with Chichen Itza its remote and conquered colony; and by the 1940s, a majority of archaeologists did too. But since that time, archaeological and historical evidence has shown that to be problematic. Problems, and a Trait List There are lots of problems trying to associate Tula or any other specific set of ruins as Tollan. Tula was fairly large but it didnt have much control over its close neighbors, let alone long distances. Teotihuacan, which definitely was large enough to be reckoned an empire, was long gone by the 9th century. There are lots of places throughout Mesoamerica with linguistic references to Tula or Tollan or Tullin or Tulan: Tollan Chollolan is the full name for Cholula, for example, which has some Toltec aspects. The word seems to mean something like place of reeds. And even though the characteristic traits identified as Toltec appear at many sites along the Gulf Coast and elsewhere, there isnt much evidence for military conquest; the adoption of Toltec traits appears to have been selective, rather than imposed. Traits identified as Toltec include temples with colonnaded galleries; tablud-tablero architecture; chacmools and ball courts; relief sculptures with various versions of the mythical Quetzalcoatl jaguar-serpent-bird icon; and relief images of predatory animals and raptorial birds holding human hearts. There are also atlantean pillars with images of men in the Toltec military outfit (also seen in chacmools): wearing pillbox helmets and butterfly-shaped pectorals and carrying atlatls. There is also a form of government that is part of the Toltec package, a council-based government rather than a centralized kingship, but where that arose is anybodys guess. Some of the Toltec traits can be traced to the Early Classic period, of 4th century AD or even earlier. Current Thinking It seems clear that although there is no real consensus among the archaeological community about the existence of a single Tollan or a specific Toltec Empire that can be identified, there was some sort of inter-regional flow of ideas throughout Mesoamerica that archaeologists have named Toltec. Its possible, perhaps likely, that much of that flow of ideas came about as a byproduct of the establishment of inter-regional trade networks, trade networks including such materials as obsidian and salt which were established by the 4th century AD (and probably much earlier) but really kicked into gear after the fall of Teotihuacan in 750 AD. So, the word Toltec should be removed from the word empire, certainly: and perhaps the best way to look at the concept is as a Toltec ideal, an art style, philosophy and form of government that acted as the exemplary center of all that was perfect and longed for by the Aztecs, an ideal echoed at other sites and cultures throughout Mesoamerica. Sources This article is part of the About.com guide to Aztecs, and part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. The collected articles in Kowaleski and Kristan-Graham (2011), based on a Dumbarton Oaks symposium, are highly recommended for getting a grasp on the Toltecs. Berdan FF. 2014. Aztec Archaeology and Ethnohistory. New York: Cambridge University Press. Coggins C. 2002. Toltec. RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 42(Autumn, 2002):34-85. Gillespie S. 2011. Toltics, Tula, and Chichà ©n Itz: The Development of an Archaeological Myth. In: Kowalski JK, and Kristan-Graham C, editors. Twin Tollans: Chichà ©n Itz, Tula and the Epiclassic to Early Postclassic Mesoamerican World. Washington DC: Dumbarton Oaks. p 85-127. Kepecs SM. 2011. Chichà ©n Itz, Tula and the Epiclassic/Early Postclassic Mesoamerican World System. In: Kowalski JK, and Kristan-Graham C, editors. Twin Tollans: Chichà ©n Itz, Tula and the Epiclassic to Early Postclassic Mesoamerican World. Washington DC: Dumbarton Oaks. p 130-151. Kowalski JK, and Kristan-Graham C. 2007. Chichà ©n Itz, Tula and Tollan: Chaning Perspectives on a Recurring Problem in Mesoamerican Archaeology and Art History. In: Kowalski JK, and Kristan-Graham C, editors. Twin Tollans: Chichà ©n Itz, Tula and the Epiclassic to Early Postclassic Mesoamerican World. Washington DC: Dumbarton Oaks. p 13-83. Kowalski JK, and Kristan-Graham C, editors. 2011. Twin Tollans: Chichà ©n Itz, Tula and the Epiclassic to Early Postclassic Mesoamerican World. Washington DC: Dumbarton Oaks. Ringle WM, Gallareta Negron T, and Bey GJ. 1998. The return of Quetzalcoatl: Evidence for the spread of a world religion during the Epiclassic period. Ancient Mesoamerica 9:183-232. Smith ME. 2016. Toltec Empire. In: MacKenzie JM, editor. The Encyclopedia of Empire. London: John Wiley Sons, Ltd. Smith ME. 2011. The Aztecs, 3rd edition. Oxford: Blackwell. Smith ME. 2003. Comments on the historicity of Topoilzin Quetzalcoatl, Tollan, and the Toltecs. Nahua Newsletter.