Toltec

The Toltecs (or Toltec or Tolteca) were a Pre-Columbian Native American people who dominated much of central Mexico between the 10th and 12th century AD. According to pre-hispanic traditions (compiled in the Historia Tolteca Chichimeca, a codex written between 1547-1560), they may have spoken the language Nahuatl, which was also spoken by the Aztecs. The name Toltec in Nahuatl means "inhabitant of Tollan"."

Among the Nahua, especially the Aztec, "Tolteca" was synonymous with artist, artisan or wise man. Sometimes is difficult to determine which is meant in references to the historical "tolteca".

The Atlantes – columns in the form of Toltec warriors in Tula

They originated as a militaristic nomadic people called Tolteca-Chichimeca, and they or their ancestors may have sacked the city of Teotihuacan (ca. 750). In the year 900, a group called Nonoalca, who had been expelled from Cholula, migrated to the area, and joined the Tolteca-Chichimeca. After they established a more settled existence, the Toltec fused the many small states in Central Mexico into an empire ruled from their capital, which originally was Tulancingo. According to legends, it was Topiltzin Ce Acatl Quetzalcoatl who moved the capital to Tollan ("Xicotitlan" or simpy "Tolán" by the Nahua; presumed to be the modern Tula), which was in a more strategic location at the top of a hill.

Their influence spread through much of Mesoamerica in the Post-Classic era of Mesoamerican chronology. The Toltec influence on the Post-Classic Maya of Yucatán is heavy, especially evident at the city of Chichen Itza. Their pottery has been found as far south as Costa Rica. They were also accomplished temple builders.

Some writers have maintained that the cult of Quetzalcoatl, the "plumed serpent", was initiated by the Toltec. However, this deity was commonly depicted throughout Mesoamerica centuries earlier, with the earliest-known depictions of a feathered serpent deity dating from the Formative-era Olmec in the first millennium BCE.For example, La Venta Monument 19 shows a snake-figure crested with feathers and with an avian beak, next to two quetzal birds on either side of a glyph representing a sky band, postulated to be a reference to "quetzal sky" or "quetzal snake". Representations of Quetzalcoatl are also known from Teotihuacan, ca. 3rd century CE. See Miller and Taube (1993:141). But it was in Tula where the figure of Quetzalcoat became more human, when it was associated with the name of the most famous Toltec ruler, CTopiltzin Ce Acatl Quetzalcoatl.

The Toltec empire is believed to have been annihilated around 1200 AD by the nomadic warriors of the Chichimecs. In the accounts of the "Historia Tolteca Chichimeca", the fall of Tula was due to differences between the two cultures that lived there, the Nonnoalca and the Tolteca Chichimeca. There are also stories that say that after the fall of their capital, some of the Toltec retreated to Cholula, which did not fall until centuries later when it was burned by Hernán Cortés and the Spanish conquistadores.

Most Toltec history is known from writings of later peoples, such as the Aztec, written centuries later after a "dark age" in Central Mexico, together with some references by the Maya. Miguel León Portilla has written that in Nahua legend, the Toltec were the originators of all civilization, and their city, Tollan, was described as full of wonders. When the Aztecs rewrote their history, they tried to show they were related to the Toltecs; the ruling family of the Aztecs claimed to descend from Toltec ancestry via the sacred city of Colhuacán. Unfortunately this means that much of the tradition of the Toltecs is legend, and difficult to prove, specially since there are other cities, like Teotihuacan and Cholula, which are also called "Tollan".

Toltec rulers are said to have included:
* Chalchiuh Tlatonac – first Toltec king, founder of Tula
* Mixcoamazatzin
* Huetzin
* Mixcoatl Totepeuh
* Ihuitimal
* Topiltzin Ce Acatl Quetzalcoatl, son of Mixcoatl and the most famous Toltec ruler
* Matlacxochitzin
* Nauhyotzin
* Matlacoatzin
* Tlilcoatzin – died c. 1000 (?)
* Huemac – the last Toltec king, died in exile c. 1100 (?), some 6 years after the fall of Tula

In 1941, the Sociedad Mexicana de Antropología confirmed that Tula was the capital of the Toltec, as had long been tradition and suggested by archeologists since the 19th century. Some scholars, including Laurette Séjourné, regret the decision, claiming that several seasons of excavation only revealed a minor city, not enough to justify the legend of the Toltecs. The site of Tula actually shows it to have been a large city in its prime, although the ceremonial art and architecture visible there today is less impressive than that at other Mesoamerican sites. It should be understood, however, that some chronicles from the time of the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores and later confuse the Toltec with other earlier Mesoamerican civilizations and sometimes tend to attribute all achievements of the centuries before the rise of the Aztec to the Toltec. In recent years, scholars such as Enrique Florescano have suggested that Teotihuacan was the origin of the myths of the Tolteca as the originators of the arts, according to writings of the Zapoteca and Maya.

During the late twentieth century, some Mexican shamans, including Don Miguel Ruiz, who claim to be descendants of the Toltec and inheritors of their spiritual powers, began writing and teaching for a worldwide audience, causing a renewed interest in the Toltec. Another such author is Victor Sanchez who was inspired by the writings of Carlos Castaneda.

For the concept Toltec in the writings of Carlos Castaneda, see: Toltec (Castaneda)

Notes

References

* The Toltecs Until the Fall of Tula by Nigel Davis, University of Oklahoma Press, 1977, ISBN 0-8061-1394-4
* Ancient America Rediscovered. As recorded by Mariano Veytia (1720-1778), and compiled by Donald W. Hemingway and W. David Hemingway. 2000. Bonneville Books. ISBN 1-55517-479-5