The Temple of Quetzalcoatl and the Cult of Sacred War at ...

The Temple of Quetzalcoatl

war

and the cult of sacred

at Teotihuacan

KARLA. TAUBE

at Teotihuacan

The Temple of Quetzalcoatl

has been

the source of startling archaeological

since

discoveries

the early portion of this century. Beginning

in 1918,

excavations

revealed an elaborate

by Manuel Gamio

and beautifully

later

preserved facade underlying

construction.

Although excavations were performed

some of

intermittently during the subsequent decades,

the most important discoveries

have occurred during

the last several years. Recent investigations have

revealed mass dedicatory

burials in the foundations of

warrior

in the Maya region also appear

Zapotee of Oaxaca.

Finally, using

Iwill discuss

data pertaining to the Aztec,

elements

found

the Classic

among

ethnohistoric

the possible

of war.

The Temple

ethos

surrounding

of Quetzalcoatl

the Teotihuacan

cult

and the Tezcacoac

the Temple

in the rear center of the great Ciudadela

is one of the

the Temple of Quetzalcoatl

compound,

at

In volume,

structures

Teotihuacan.

largest pyramidal

it ranks only third after the Pyramid of the Moon and

the Pyramid of the Sun (Cowgill 1983: 322). As a result

(1989) persuasively

argues that many of the

Sugiyama

individuals appear to be either warriors or dressed

in

the office of war.

it is now known

Project,

Mapping

that the Temple of Quetzalcoatl

and the enclosing

are located in the center of the ancient city

Ciudadela

1976:

iswidely

considered

(Mill?n

236). The Ciudadela

to have been the seat of Teotihuacan

rulership, and

of Quetzalcoatl

(Sugiyama 1989; Cabrera,

at the time of this

and

1988);

Sugiyama,

Cowgill

more

than

individuals

have been

writing,

eighty

discovered

interred in the foundations of the pyramid.

The archaeological

investigations by Cabrera,

and to comment

Sugiyama, and Cowgill are ongoing,

on

the

of

their work would be

extensively

implications

both premature and presumptuous.

the

Nonetheless,

recent excavations

have placed an entirely new light on

the significance

of the Temple of Quetzalcoatl

and its

remarkable sculptural format. In this study, Iwill be

concerned with the iconographie meaning of the

In recent work,

I noted

facade.

Temple of Quetzalcoatl

that the temple facade represents serpents passing

through a facade of circular mirrors (Taube 1986,

1988). Two forms of serpents are present, Quetzalcoatl

In this respect,

and an ancestral form of the Xiuhcoatl.

the Temple of Quetzalcoatl

to

facade may be compared

the Postclassic wind temple of Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl,

which also appears with mirrors and serpents (Taube

in this paper Iwill be concerned

not

1986). However,

with

the feathered serpent and Quetzalcoatl

but with

the other entity, the early Xiuhcoatl.

Iwill argue that on

the Temple of Quetzalcoatl,

this serpent head serves as

an emblem of the office of war. Although decidedly

in origin,

this serpent is commonly worn

rulers. In both effigy and natural form,

a basic component

of a Teotihuacan

into the Maya area. Itwill

introduced

be argued that at Late Classic Tikal, the Maya explicitly

identified this serpent with Teotihuacan,

and one

structure in particular?the

of

It

Temple

Quetzalcoatl.

Teotihuacano

by Classic Maya

this creature was

warrior complex

will

be noted

that many

of the Teotihuacan-derived

Located

of the Teotihuacan

held the palaces of the principal Teotihuacan

lords

1964: 307; Mill?n

1973: 55; Coe 1981:

(e.g., Armillas

168; Cowgill 1983: 316). According to Cowgill (ibid.),

"it seems

that the Ciudadela

generally accepted

combined

and the

political and religious significance,

cult or cults associated with the Quetzalcoatl

Pyramid

were

intimately connected with rulership of

Teotihuacan."

The excavations

of 1918 to 1922 by

Manuel Gamio at the Temple of Quetzalcoatl

revealed

that the Plataforma Adosada on the principal west face

covered and preserved portions of an earlier facade (see

Gamio

This structure, often referred

1922, I: 145-156).

to as the Old Temple,

is famed for its remarkable

serpent heads and bas

sculptured facade of projecting

relief sculpture (fig. 1). Although

the Plataforma

Adosada preserved much of the frontal west face,

Mill?n

(1973: fig. 34, legend) stresses that the Old

"When the mural

Temple was never entirely covered:

was built, it did not, as is

cover all the carvings on the west

attested,

commonly

on

its

either

sides or its upper bodies."

facade,

excavations

of 1980 to 1982 by

the

Moreover,

during

e Historia,

the Instituto Nacional

de Antropolog?a

decorated

Adosada

remains of sculpture

identical to the west face were

on the north and south sides of the pyramid

1982: Piano 3). It thus appears

(Cabrera and Sugiyama

that at least three if not four sides of the pyramid

the same sculptural format, with only the

displayed

discovered

54 RES21 SPRING1992

Figure 1. Detail of the Old Temple of Quetzalcoatl

facade, Teotihuacan.

Photo: Karl A. Taube.

Taube: The Temple of Quetzalcoatl

frontal west

side being largely covered by the later

Adosada.

in

The Old Temple seems to have been constructed

or

either the terminal Miccaotli

early Tlamimilolpa

phases, roughly in the mid-third century a.D. (Sugiyama

have uncovered mass

1989). Recent INAH excavations

burials in association with the erection of

dedicatory

the Old Temple. One multiple burial on the south side,

Plataforma

Burial 190, contained

individuals, and there

eighteen

are reports of similar mass burials in other portions of

the pyramid (Sugiyama 1989; Cabrera, Sugiyama, and

to Sugiyama

1988). According

(1989), the

Cowgill

burial goods accompanying

these and other dedicatory

burials at the foundation of the Old Temple suggest that

the individuals were warriors.

Sugiyama cites the

abundant presence of obsidian points, tezcacuitlapilli

in the

back mirrors, possible

trophies or war emblems

form of actual human maxillas and mandibles,

and

shell imitations of maxillas and teeth. Sugiyama

(ibid.)

also notes that all of the eighteen

individuals of Burial

190 and the single individual in Burial 203 were

55

2a). During the Late Postclassic

period, the circular

is

mirrors placed on

with

of

found

temple

Quetzalcoatl

the conical temple roof, at times with serpents either

lying on or passing through the circular mirrors (figs.

2b-c).

through the surface

in Postclassic

Mesoamerican

iconography. Thus on page 24 of the

Codex Cospi, a yellow fire serpent passes out of a blue

rimmed mirror (fig. 2d). In the Cospi, similarly rimmed

mirrors are frequently depicted at the back of the head

or as tezcacuitlapilli

back mirrors. At the Late

The concept of serpents passing

of mirrors is a common

convention

Postclassic Maya sites of Santa Rita and Tulum, serpents

are commonly

from mirrors worn at the

found emerging

back of the head (fig. 2e). In outline,

several of the

Santa Rita serpent heads closely

resemble an Aztec

of a serpent emerging from a

back mirror, here from the Tlaloc

tezcacuitlapilli

the Templo Mayor

(fig. 2f ). The partially effaced

representation

side of

mature

but not aged males, of appropriate age for

warriors. Burial 190 contained mass amounts of worked

(ibid.). Aside from shell

shell, in all 4,358 pieces

serpent is covered with the quincunx

sign of turquoise,

and it is likely that it represents the Xiuhcoatl,

the

fire.

turquoise serpent of

and sixteenth

Citing pre-Hispanic

representations

I have interpreted the mirrors on the

century accounts,

carved in the form of human maxillas and teeth, there

were also rectangular plates drilled at either end (ibid.:

Berlo (1976) has suggested that

fig. 9, nos. 14-28).

similar items, found at Teotihuacan

and in the Maya

area, were platelets for shell armor. This platelet armor

in terms of the

Temple of Quetzalcoatl

(Taube 1986). Thus in the Histoyre du

the sun shot an arrow

Mechique,

people emerged when

at the House of Mirrors (Garibay 1945: 7-8; Le?n

of serpents on the

Portilla 1963: 107). The placement

In view of

in detail.

be subsequently

discussed

Burial 190, Burial 203, and other dedicatory

in the Old Temple,

internments

it appears that even

its creation this structure was

identified with war.

The iconographie

program of the Old Temple

in two distinct zones corresponding

to the

appears

sloping talud and the vertical tablero, or entablature

House of Mirrors denotes

the act of lightning fertilizing

or rending open the earth, an important episode

in

accounts of Mesoamerica

and the American

emergence

Southwest

(Taube 1986). A recently reported Late

will

at

of

architecture. On the talud, the plumed

in profile, with marine shells flanking

serpent appears

its curving body. The feathered body of Quetzalcoatl

also occurs with shells on the tablero; here, however,

to the

the serpent body and shells are but a background

most remarkable motif on the Old Temple?great

Teotihuacan

serpent heads surrounded by feathered mirror rims (see

Taube 1986, 1988). In other words,

the serpent heads

are either placed on or passing through the surface of

mirrors (fig. 1). Yet, in the tablero reliefs, only the

Quetzalcoatl

serpent is explicitly depicted passing

the

ring. A similar scene is found on the

through

Teotihuacan

the

style Las Colinas Bowl, where

feathered serpent again passes through a mirror rim (fig.

Teotihuacan

emergence

Classic Maya Codex Style vessel provides striking

at

support for the episode of lightning and emergence

scene

the House of Mirrors (figs. 3a-b). The complex

depicts a temple structure marked with Caban curls,

it as the earth. On both sides of the

clearly denoting

structure, alternating with the Caban curl earth signs,

there are round mirrors rendered with the curving

found with Teotihuacan

petaled edges commonly

style

mirrors. At our left, a composite

form of two Maya

lightning gods, the Classic Chac and God K, strikes at

the structure with a smoking axe and an eccentric

flint.

again on our right with the same

in a cavelike hole on the roof. The

lightning weapons

at

Chac

the left has the serpent foot of God

composite

which

to

coils

cleave open the roof and penetrate

K,

up

the earth house. The burning serpent foot of God K is

none other than lightning. Like examples

from Central

Chac

appears

56

RES 21 SPRING 1992

Figure

highland

3

2.

of mirror

Representations

Mexico,

(a) Teotihuacan

from

serpents

pre-Hispanic

passes

serpent

plumed

through feathered mirror rim, detail of Las Colinas Bowl (from

Taube 1986: fig. 8b). (b) Lightning serpent with Xolotl-head

and Xiuhcoatl tail passes through mirror placed on wind

temple roof, detail of Nochistlan Vase (after Seler 1902-1923,

III:524). (c) Itzcoatl lightning serpent on mirror placed on

wind temple roof, Codex Borgia, 37. (d) Serpent projecting

through

blue-rimmed

emerging

Mound

wall,

(f ) Partially

from

mirror,

mirror,

1, Santa

effaced

detail

Rita,

Aztec

Codex

Belize

24.

Cospi,

of mural

from

east

(after Gann

representation

of

(e) Serpent

half of north

1900:

serpent

pi.

29).

emerging

from mirror, detail of mural within early Tlaloc temple of the

Templo

copy

3

Mayor,

Tenochtitlan.

Drawing:

in the Museo Templo Mayor.

Karl A.

Taube,

from

Taube: The Temple of Quetzalcoatl

w

;

57

%?*&},

H*?&?$&M&*\

Figure 3. Representation of the House of Mirrors emergence episode on a Late Classic Maya vase, (a) Roll-out photograph of

Codex Style vase, showing Chac with lightning foot of God K striking open House of Mirrors. Photo: ? Justin Kerr 1985. Courtesy

of Barbara and Justin Kerr. (b) Detail of vessel scene showing House of Mirrors; note petaled mirrors on sides of house and Caban

curl earth signs on cleft roof.

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