Panoramic view of the Pyramid of the Moon
As is mentioned in the book of Mormon cement was used for construction because trees were scarce. These pyramids are made of rocks and dirt and were covered with a plaster type of cement that has now been worn off. The plaster/cement was painted a bright red color which we could still see in a few places. The homes in Mexico today are still made largely of cement and then painted bright colors, as least where we see them in Mexico City.
The Pyramid of the Sun was completed during Teotihuacan Period I (150 BC–AD 200). The inner structure of the Pyramid of the Moon was also completed during Period I, with the upper structure being completed later.
Teotihuacan was a city that spanned hundreds of years. It was alive and well during the Book of Mormon times. It had a huge center plaza that included many of the pyramids and instruction rooms. All of the people lived out in the towns and villages around the plaza. I suppose in the beginning that it was occupied by well meaning Nephites and other people who built the city and plaza as a way of teaching the Plan of Salvation to all the people who lived around it. As you walked down the Avenue of the Dead the to get to the temple of the moon there are many instruction rooms before you get to it. The temple of the sun is the same size as the temple of the moon and it also has instruction rooms all around it.
At the time of the building of the Pyramid of the Sun, there was great activity in the Book of Mormon. The history recorded in the books of Mosiah, Alma, Helaman, 3 Nephi, and 4 Nephi all took place during Period I of Teotihuacan. During this time period (55 BC), a large company of Nephites migrated into the “land which was northward”—that is, the land that was northward from the land of Zarahemla.
If the land of Zarahemla was located in what today is Chiapas, Mexico, near the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, then perhaps this migration ended up in the Mexico valley. Mexico City is a land that is northward, and Teotihuacan manifested an increase in population during this time period as a result of migrations from the southern areas, “And it came to pass that in the thirty and seventh year of the reign of the judges, there was a large company of men, even to the amount of five thousand and four hundred men, with their wives and their children, departed out of the land of Zarahemla into the land which was northward. And it came to pass that Hagoth, he being an exceedingly curious man, therefore he went forth and built him an exceedingly large ship, on the borders of the land Bountiful, by the land Desolation, and launched it forth into the west sea, by the narrow neck which led into the land northward” (Alma 63:4–5; emphasis added).
Pyramid of the Sun. We climbed to the top.
Dennis and me as far as we could go on the temple of the moon. The stairs are extremely steep and far apart or tall so you have to practically walk up the stairs bend over. They were probably built that way on purpose so the patron would have to bend over as a means of showing reverence as they climbed to the top. At that top level there was a sign that explained about the rest of the temple or pyramid that had not been rebuilt yet. It said that on very top of the pyramid there was a church with one room that was divided into three rooms.
This is an original wall. Something had been in front of it for all these hundreds of years so it was preserved better that other areas. It is a jaguar that was so prevalent in this culture. While we were there Dennis bought an obsidian jaguar. The wall of the homes and dwelling were plastered with a cement and then painted on with a mural such as this.
Me with a monster. I think it is also a jaguar.
One of the temples or instructions rooms before arriving to the temple. This has the center court but the shaded halls around it have areas where there are holes in the walls. Curtains were hung in between the plaza and the small curtained off rooms for instruction.
This is the temple of Quetzalcoatl at the other end of the 2 miles walk between the temple of the moon and this temple. They portray Quetzalcoatl as the feathered serpent.
Quetzalcoatl feathered serpent. When this was built the great white bearded god name Quetzalcoatl had been distorted to look like this instead of Jesus Christ.
Notes from Joseph L. Allen
The Temple of Quetzalcoatl was built during Teotihuacan Period II, AD 200–350.
This time period corresponds with the beginning of the great apostasy in the Book of
Mormon. The Temple of Quetzalcoatl, as previously stated, represents one of the major
architectural accomplishments of the Teotihuacan history. The Christian theme of the white god Quetzalcoatl is very prevalent in the temple at Teotihuacan, as represented by the engravings of the feathered-serpent motifs. Latter-day Saints are often confused as they try to associate the name or title of Quetzalcoatl with Christ. The confusion arises because the Aztec word Quetzalcoatl means feathered serpent. The quetzal is a beautiful bird that is native to Guatemala. The bird has long, green tail feathers. Coatl simply means serpent. Apparently, however, the title or name of Quetzalcoatl
came about as a result of the visit of the resurrected Christ to the Nephites.
The symbolism of the white god Quetzalcoatl is represented at Teotihuacan in both the image of a feathered serpent and the image of earthquake and rain as shown on the Temple of Quetzalcoatl.
We went with the Beechers to La Gruta. The grotto restaurant after visiting the sites at Teotihuacan.
This was a cave restaurant that we walked down into. The last time the Beechers were there it was very busy. I was glad it was not the day we went.
Dennis' cena. He had barbecued lamb wrapped in leaves and cactus drink and of course chips with salsa and rolls as always.
this picture is taken from some candle lighted stairs at the other end of the cave.
Our waiter. The restaurants in Mexico specialize in their own distinctive waiter costumes.
Notes from Joseph L. Allen follow.
During the beginning of Teotihuacan Period III, AD 350, a change in the political system took place. The same type of priestcraft society that began in AD 200 in Maya territory formed at the same time in Teotihuacan. However, whereas the Maya priest system continued throughout the Classic Period (AD 250 to AD 900) and until the conquest of Mexico in 1519, the Teotihuacan political system changed. The priest system declined, and the political system increased.
During Period III, the civil authorities of Teotihuacan, who became more militarily and economically oriented, began to enforce a more capitalistic system as opposed to the previous mystical and religious system. This new form of government was more interested in regional development than in building great temples to their gods. Such an interest does not mean that the priests lost their power. It only suggests that during Period III (AD 350–600), the priests did not have supreme control over the political and economic structure of the people of the Mexico valley as they did in Maya territory.
A type of humanism developed wherein a leadership combination evolved consisting of the priests and the wealthy merchants. This religious and civil combination became a magnificent epicenter, a type of civil mercantilism dedicated to human success as opposed to tall pyramids dedicated to gods.
This type of government is what Moroni must have been referring to when he wrote the following: “And it came to pass that they formed a secret combination. . . . And they have caused the destruction of this people [Jaredites] of whom I am now speaking, and also the destruction of the people of Nephi” (Ether 8:18, 21).
For all intents and purposes, Teotihuacan was administered by secret combinations from AD 350–600, Teotihuacan Period III. Information that began to surface in the 1990s and that reached its pinnacle in the beginning of the new millennium relates directly to Stela 31 of Tikal.
We propose that it was this king, Yax Nuun Ayiin, to whom Mormon directed his epistle as recorded in Mormon 6:2: “And I, Mormon, wrote an epistle unto the king of the Lamanites, and desired of him that he would grant unto us that we might gather together our people unto the land of Cumorah, by a hill which was called Cumorah, and there we could give them battle.”
Cholula is a city located east of Mexico City and is home to the largest-based pyramid in the world. Although the ancient city of Cholula shared the same culture attributes as Teotihuacan, its political leadership was not the same. It may be compared to the Middle East countries throughout history—although the people are basically the same, the leadership and political boundaries change. Ignacio Bernal believes that the principal reason for the decline of Teotihuacan was the excessive centralization of the major powers of the society—that is, the combination of the merchants, priests, and military. This combination, according to Bernal, brought about deep dissatisfaction of the people toward the government.
The so-called representative of the gods had evolved into a dictatorship who were a minority. The breakup of the society paved the way for the Toltecs to come on the scene. They then became the dominant military force in the Teotihuacan area (Mexico valley) for the next three hundred years—or from AD 900 to AD 1200.
In AD 1325, more than a hundred years after the downfall of the Toltec nation, the people we know as the Aztecs became the ruling force in the valley. Thus, we can well understand why the culture of Teotihuacan was considered to be an ancient civilization by the fourteenth-century Aztecs. The gradual decay of Teotihuacan started a chain reaction throughout all of Mesoamerica. During the ninth century AD, other major centers whose governments deteriorated included Monte Alban, Tikal, Uxmal, and Chichen Itza. Chichen Itza was subsequently occupied by the Toltecs of the Mexico valley.
One must not confuse the culture of the Aztecs in Mexico City (AD 1325–1521) from the culture of Teotihuacan (150 BC–AD 900). Tenochtitlan is Mexico City, although the two cities are close geographically they are five hundred years apart in time.Teotihuacan fell around AD 800. Tenochtitlan did not begin until around AD 1300.
During the first century BC, from both the archaeological data at Teotihuacan and from the Book of Mormon, the political climate was ripe for just such a migration. Mexico City is much cooler than the Chiapas depression where Zarahemla was probably located, and the Mexico valley with its mild climate and ample rainfall must have seemed an ideal place in which to settle. If some of the new settlers at Teotihuacan were Nephites, that fact would help explain some of the legends that have been handed down regarding the area. For example, the idea behind the building of the Pyramids of the Sun and of the Moon reflects a Christian theme. The traditional history reports that the gods met in council at Teotihuacan before the earth was formed. They asked whom they should send down to bring about a new dawn. The account eventually was written down by a sixteenth-century Catholic priest, Bernardino Sahagun. Until recent years, this legend was portrayed in a light-and-sound production at Teotihuacan. The story has a familiar feeling when compared to the council in heaven as recorded in the Pearl of Great Price.
We will quote first from the account in the Pearl of Great Price and follow that quotation with the legend reported by Sahagun: And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said, I will send the first. And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him. And then the Lord said: Let us go down. And they went down at the beginning, and they, that is the Gods, organized and formed the heavens and the earth.
(Abraham 3:27–28; 4:1)
The mythological account associated with the Pyramids of the Sun and of the Moon has been passed down through the centuries as follows: It is told that when yet [all] was darkness, when yet no sun had shone and no dawn had broken—it is said—the gods gathered themselves together and took
counsel among themselves there at Teotihuacan. They spoke; they said among themselves: “Come hither, O gods! Who will carry the burden? Who will take it upon himself to be the sun, to bring the dawn?”
We need to understand the concept of God as understood by the AD 200–350 residents of Teotihuacan. If we can deduce anything from the sculptures of Quetzalcoatl, it is that beginning at AD 200, the knowledge of the true nature of God was lost. By AD 350, the apostasy was well established. We learn this from Mormon’s statement dated to AD 322: “But wickedness did prevail upon the face of the whole land, insomuch that the Lord did take away his beloved disciples, and the work of miracles and of healing did cease because of the iniquity of the people. And there were no gifts from the Lord, and the Holy Ghost did not come upon any, because of their wickedness and unbelief. . . . And it came to pass that there were sorceries, and witchcrafts, and magics; and the
power of the evil one was wrought upon all the face of the land, even unto the fulfilling of all the words of Abinadi, and also Samuel the Lamanite” (Mormon 1:13–14, 19).
With this type of environment at Teotihuacan in the third century AD, we can easily see why such a gruesome representation was made of Quetzalcoatl—or Christ. The people had lost the true concept of God. And that loss occurred at the same time the apostasy began in the Old World. Satan is also universal in nature. The Council of Nice was held in AD 325. During the course of this council in Italy, God was reduced to a being without body, parts, and passions. In Mexico, God was relegated to a silent stone serpent head with decorative feathers around its neck.
Communication apparently occurred between the Nephites in the land of Zarahemla and those who traveled by boat to the land which was northward, or to the land northward. The people knew which ships arrived and which ships did not arrive. They also seemed to know when provisions made it to the land northward. Alma 63:10 (53 BC): “And it came to pass in the thirty and ninth year of the reign of the judges, Shiblon died also, and Corianton had gone forth to the land northward in a ship, to carry forth provisions unto the people who had gone forth into that land.”
This scripture reaffirms that contact continued between the Nephites in the land of Zarahemla and the Nephites who went to the land northward by ship. The shipping distance from Tehuantepec to Acapulco is about three hundred miles. The distance is approximately 125 miles inland from Acapulco to Mexico City. Helaman 3:3–4 (46 BC): “And it came to pass in the forty and sixth, yea, there was much contention and many dissensions; in the which there were an exceedingly great many who departed out of the land of Zarahemla, and went forth unto the land northward to inherit the land. And they did travel to an exceedingly great distance, insomuch that they came to large bodies of water and many rivers.”
This period of time reflected great movements of people among the Nephites. The time period parallels the population growth that occurred in the Mexico valley, as illustrated at Teotihuacan, because of migrations from the south. From a Book of Mormon perspective, the migrations occurred because of dissensions in the land of Zarahemla.
3 Nephi 9:9 (AD 34): “And behold, that great city Jacobugath, which was inhabited by the people of king Jacob, have I caused to be burned with fire because of their sins and their wickedness, which was above all the wickedness of the whole earth, because of their secret murders and combinations; for it was they that did destroy the peace of my people and the government of the land.” The city of Jacobugath may have been located in the Mexico valley. We do not have enough evidence at this point to propose Jacobugath to be the city of Teotihuacan, but the pattern is similar to what we witness at Teotihuacan. Mormon 2:28 (AD 350): “And the three hundred and forty and ninth year had
passed away. And in the three hundred and fiftieth year we made a treaty with the Lamanites and the robbers of Gadianton, in which we did get the lands of our inheritance divided.”
Mormon 6:2: “And I, Mormon, wrote an epistle unto the king of the Lamanites, and desired of him that he would grant unto us that we might gather together our people unto the land of Cumorah, by a hill which was called Cumorah, and there we could give them battle.”
From what we know about Stela 31 of Tikal, the Lamanite king to whom Mormon wrote his epistle may have been the young son of Spearthrower Owl from Teotihuacan. As mentioned previously, the name of the young son was Yax Nuun Ayiin, who became the king of Tikal on September 12, AD 379, and ruled until AD 420. Some preliminary indications show that the name of the Teotihuacan king was Jacob and that the title bestowed upon the young son who became the king of Tikal has an association with the name Laman. Time will tell if these suppositions are indeed the case.
The activities described on Stela 31 of Tikal identify Teotihuacan as a dominating factor in the final
destruction of the Nephite nation.
These are the notes from Sister Beecher when she went to Teotihuacan with an LDS tour guide. We did not have a guide when we went so she gave me hers from last spring. They are long but they support the idea of the pyramids being a temple with places to receive instructions along the way as you go to the temple.
Teotihuacan was occupied from 200 BC- 900 AD. The Book of Mormon ended in 421 AD.
This place is a TEMPLE, not a city. Everything taught here was sacred in nature. All images represented the Plan of Salvation. As people walked from one temple to another down the Avenue of the Dean, they were instructed through speeches and images in each of the alcoves along the way. They learned the gospel in this way. This temple was dedicated to Quetzalcoatl, the white, bearded God. The entire compound is a part of the temple. People did not live here. Their homes surrounded the temple grounds.
The Temple of the Sun is masculine. The Temple of the Moon is feminine and dedicated to women. Around 800 AD the complex was turned into a military fortress. At that time, the temple grounds were profaned. The area was all abandoned. About 600,000 people in the vicinity. The temple's influence was felt as far away as Nicaragua and through out all of Mexico.
The temples were important for one reason: It was here that man was created. There was an old legend that two powerful individuals fell from heaven. One was chosen as the creator of humanity. As he fell, he changed into the sun. In the Church we have two opposing individuals: Christ and Satan. These people had that information before the Spanish arrived.
The Spanish were surprised to find evidence of so many Christian names. The mother of the God had the same attributes as the Virgin Mary. What is inside the Temple of the Sun? The core is built with adobe, covered with rocks and plaster. There is a tunnel and a doorway in the bottom. Once through the door, a visitor enters a natural cave with 7 different tunnels leading from it.
Not from the tour guides notes The seven caves or doors or wombs in Mesoamerica´s history represent the tribes that first started the people of this area. This is according to LDS writers.
Seven tribes are described in the Book of Mormon as having evolved from the families who came from the land of Jerusalem to the New World. The first mention of these lineage groups is circa 544 B.C., when the individual tribes were designated as Nephites, Jacobites, Josephites, Zoramites, Lamanites, Lemuelites, and Ishmaelites (Jacob 1:13). Almost 700 years later, these patriarchal tribal divisions were mentioned again, indicating the enduring nature of this tradition (4 Nephi 38). Over time, the order of the names remained the same; the last reference appears in Mormon 1:8, shortly before the demise of the Nephite nation as a result of war. From these scriptures we know that the seven families were remembered over a span of 866 years in the Book of Mormon. The importance of these lineages cannot be diminished as they are even mentioned in Doctrine and Covenants 3:17-18.
Some pyramids ore presently constructed of one temple built over another. How thick are the walls of the Temple of the Sun? A layer of rock was implanted to hold the mortar together. It was hauled in here from 35 miles away.
In 1900, Porfirio Diaz was President of Mexico. He commissioned archaeologist, Leopoldo Batres, to excavate and restore this area. When he arrived, he found rooms with holes in the walls.
Guide: "It is my conjecture that those holes were for poles to suspend curtains to separate rooms." A great deal of reconstruction has occurred since that time. It is easy to recognize original vs. reconstruction. When workers reconstructed the buildings, they put tiny black rock in lines between the stones. Guide: "It is my belief that the workers doing the reconstruction, put the holes in the walls in their present random order, rather that along the top of the rooms."
This temple was NOT used by the later group, the Aztecs on which to offer human sacrifices. That is a myth. They did perform human sacrifices, but not in a public forum. It was done privately--not as the movies portray. Some say it was a sacrifice just to climb to the top. It was felt prudent to climb in a bend-over, reverent manner.
Both sides of the Avenue of the Dead are lined with small cubicles, similar to classrooms, where instruction was given to the supplicants. This was purposeful to teach the gospel to those who attended. Those rooms were decorated with murals and paintings. Only one remains intact. Both the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon are the same height. The one remaining mural in one of the classrooms portrays a panther, or puma. It was preserved because another building fronted it and protected it from the elements.
Red was the most popular color in the murals. The colors were produced from plants and minerals surrounding the area. The panther is portrayed as standing in water with a line of circles (symbols of eternity) at his feet. No one knows why the Jaguar is here. The murals were constructed of plaster and then painted.
Symbols of the compass and square predominate through out the entire site.
No sleeping quarters, no markets, no houses were discovered on the site. The people came to the temple for instruction and then returned to their homes to live. At the end of the Avenue of the Dead where the Pyramid of the Moon stands, the guide took our group to some dwellings showing Quetzalcoatl as a bird with butterfly wings. One was called the Quetzalcoatl Papaloapan, the Temple of the Resurrection. As the butterfly goes through stages of caterpillar and cocoon and full-blown butterfly, so there are three stages to this area.
Guide: "With my knowledge of the gospel and the temple, I can understand this place and find a lot of it similar to the Mexico City Temple. That temple architecture reflects three different planes. That is true here as well. In the bottom of the Mexico City Temple, we do the work for the dead in the bottom, for the living on the middle floor, and the top is reserved for the future. It is the same here, only in a horizontal pattern."
The Aztec leader, Montezuma, was a high priest without the priesthood. Their priesthood reflected the clothing and some insignia. He had had a dream about their Spanish coming before they arrived. He knew they would be destroyed. Two hundred years before Christ, the priesthood was probably much closer to the original order, but by the time of the Aztecs, this was much corrupted. Elder Johnson and Bednar and the mission presidents who cam through with them concurred. Years ago, sound and light shows were presented here in the valley.
The schools here teach that people lived within the compound, but that is not true.
Why isn't the Temple of the Moon directly opposite the Temple of the Sun at both ends of the Avenue of the Dead? We entered at the place where people would have entered in the day of its glory. The first thing people would see, would be the Temple of the Sun. In the Plan, the first thing, the most important thing is the Glory of the Sun. The last time our group visited this site, Dr. Stevens read a scripture from one of the courtyards. Everyone was amazed at how the sound carried. The acoustics were incredible. At that time many saw a river where ceremonial washing was completed and also the place of the baptistery. There are many natural springs here. All of the temples excavated in Mexico are pre-Spanish. The Jaredites, of course, were...probably Olmec from Veracruz. In Egypt, pyramids were used as tombs. In Mexico they were used as temples.
The rocks in the rooms near the Pyramid of the Moon, are a mixture of original stone--red, and reconstruction--grey. The Quetzel bird in one of the rooms boasts a very black eye. He also has butterfly wings and is encircled in the room with the the same circles (eternal life symbols). At one time a fountain and pool graced the atrium. This water reflected the heavens, another symbol of eternal life.
Quetzel is also sometimes known as Venus (as in the planet). In the Tula ruins, much is made of the Quetzel bird being Venus. These people were very advanced. They had 3 calendars: a basic time of day calendar or solar calendar, a lunar calendar, and a ritual calendar.
When the Spaniards came, they found some white people mingled with the Aztecs. Some of those white people put mud on their faces to disguise their whiteness for fear, they would be kidnapped. In the ancient Aztec hierarchy, white men were their kings.
Mexico has two different histories: the official, government issue history and the peoples's history which was recorded by the Catholic priests. The Aztecs were a fallen, decadent race by the time the Spanish arrived. They were easily inducted into the Catholic faith. This facilitated by the fact that Montezuma anticipated their coming and his own downfall.
Christopher Columbus brought Jewish rabbis as well as Catholic Priests with him, although he never came as far West as Mexico City. Christopher Columbus was Jewish himself. He was amazed that so much of what he found was reminiscent of his own Jewish belief system. He believed that he had a personal mandate from God to explore and become a "carrier of light" to the people.
We explored another portion of the side rooms. This featured a central small plaza with a mock-up in stone of the temple. We reached the floor of this plaza by climbing down some very steep, narrow stone steps. The plaza (about the size of a very large room) was surrounded by more rooms (at the height of a woman) with murals on he back walls. One showed an animal (or a woman) on an altar. They knew of steel, but didn't use it.
