"Man is alone everywhere. But the solitude of the Mexican, under the great stone night of the high plateau that is still inhabited by insatiable gods, is very different from that of the North American, who wanders in an abstract world of machines, fellow citizens and moral precepts. In the Valley of Mexico man feels himself suspended between heaven and earth, and he oscillates between contrary powers and forces, and petrified eyes and devouring mouths. Reality -- that is, the world that surrounds us -- exists by itself here, has a life of its own, and was not invented by man as it was in the United States."
Octavio Paz, joven
Octavio Paz, viejo
The Return of Quetzalcoátl and the Fall of Man Click on icon for the Myth of Quetzalcoátl
Click on icon for text of lecture
Bandera de Mexico con águila y serpiente
Detalle de águila y serpiente
Templo Mayor El Museo Nacional de Antropología cuenta con esta reconstrucción del Templo Mayor, el recinto sagrado de la capital mexica, donde se puede apreciar la magnitud del conjunto ceremonial. Back to previous page
Serpientes: Templo Mayor, México, D.F.
Templo Mayor: Tenochtitlán (Mexico City)
Click on head for Aztec Cosmogony
Click on Aztec Sunstone for Aztec Links
Coatlicue: The Lady of the Skirt of Snakes
The Náhuatl Language of the Aztecs The Aztecs spoke a language called Náhuatl (pronounced NAH waht l). It belongs to a large group of Indian languages which also include the languages spoken by the Comanche, Pima, Shoshone and other tribes of western North America. The Aztec used pictographs to communicate through writing. Some of the pictures symbolized ideas and other represented the sounds of the syllables.
Haced Click en la imagen
Historia de La Conquista J.C. Orozco, Hospicio Cabañas
El Hombre de Hierro; J.C. Orozco, Hospicio Cabañas
Cortés y La Malinche J.C. Orozco, Hospicio Cabañas
Xochicalco, Centro Ceremonial, Morelos, México
Cancha de Pelota, Xochicalco
Xochicalco, Centro Ceremonial, Morelos, México
Tepozlán (Morelos, México)
Teotihuacán: Avenue of the Dead and Pyramid of the Moon
Teotihuacán: Pyramid of the Moon
Teotihuacán: Pyramid of the Sun
Teotihuacán: Temple of Quetzalcoátl
Cabeza de Quetzalcoátl, Templo Teotihuacán
Quetzal = Green Parrot (The Good in Man) Coátl = Serpent (The Evil in Man) Quetzalcoátl = Feathered Serpent
Quetzalcoátl
José Clemente Orozco: The Prophecy Baker Library, Dartmouth College
José Clemente Orozco: The Departure of Quetzalcoátl Baker Library, Dartmouth College
José Clemente Orozco: Aztec Warriors Baker Library, Dartmouth College
Aztec Human Sacrifice
Skull rack altar (tzompantli) of Templo Mayor, Mexico City
Since the Toltecs' era, the chac-mool served as a vessel from man to the gods. It was believed to deliver the sacrificial heart to the gods in the heavens. While the Aztecs used such large bowls like the aforementioned eagle and jaguar bowls, they also employed the more traditional chac- mool for the same purpose. One of the oldest constructions of the Great Temple shows a very early chac-mool in the Aztec empire.
José Clemente Orozco: Ancient Human Sacrifice Baker Library, Dartmouth College
José Clemente Orozco: Modern Human Sacrifice Baker Library, Dartmouth College
José Clemente Orozco Hombre en Llamas (Man Aflame) Hospicio Cabañas
José Guadalupe Posada
"History has the cruel reality of a nightmare, and the grandeur of man consists in his making beautiful and lasting works out of the real substance of that nightmare. Or, to put it another way,it consists in transforming the nightmare into vision; in freeing ourselves from the shapeless horror of reality--if only for a moment -- by means of creation."
Octavio Paz Epitafio para un poeta Quiso cantar, cantar para olvidar su vida verdadera de mentiras y recordar su mentirosa vida de verdades.
Bajo tu clara sombra … Donde vibra el instante, La frenética música; La cima de los besos La plenitud del mundo y de sus formas.