The teocalli for Mesoamerican communities was the temple or literally, the house of God. It was built on top of a monumental structure and of course, it was a sacred place.
Commonly, these types of buildings are mistakenly called "pyramids", since those of Egypt are taken as a reference and they are associated, but they have nothing to do with them or even their shape.
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In the Nahuatl language (spoken in Mexico since the 5th century), a "teocalli" literally means "house of God" or "temple." It is composed of the suffix "teotl", "divinity" or "deity", and "calli", "house".
After the conquest of America in the hands of Spain, the term "teotl" was transmuted to "teo" (theological concept of God), and therefore the Castilianization of "teocalli".
Teocalli characteristics
It is a monumental construction typical of Mesoamerican communities (those that lived in present-day Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Costa Rica), of great proportions that account for the extensive knowledge that ancient civilizations had. on architecture and other sciences.
They were made up of levels with terraces that rested one on top of the other and that at the end, there was a temple. Specifically, these levels had the name "tzacualli", while the temple on the top "teocalli." As a whole, the entire building was called "teocaltzacualli", although it was also known as "teocaltzacua".
They are generally called "pyramids", which is not correct. In the first place, it does not have a pyramid shape, since if the definition of the same is taken into account, this is a formation with a base of a polygon and whose faces are triangles that converge at a single point called the vertex. Something that in the "teocaltzacua" is not fulfilled.
Another difference with respect to the Egyptians is that they were built as mausoleums, that is, as the place where the remains of the pharaohs rested, whereas those of Mexico were sanctuaries of public worship.
Some words derived from «teocalli»
Next, words in the Nahuatl language derived from "temple."
- «Teocalmamali»: «consecrate» or «inaugurate» a temple.
- «Teocalptepiton»: «small temple» or «chapel».
- «Teocalchaiani»: one who made the consecration of a temple.
- «Teocalchaliliztli»: the act of consecration of the tempo, that is, the ceremony itself.
Its function and meaning
When the ancient settlers of Mesoamerica became sedentary, they began to build these monuments around which the social and spiritual life of the inhabitants revolved.
In these buildings, specific rituals were celebrated and for their inhabitants they represented sacred mountains that symbolized the center of the universe.
The peoples that erected them were diverse, the Mayans being the ones with the greatest renown and historical weight, but also the Zapotecs, Olmecs and other societies built them.
Only in Mexico there are 187 sites with this type of buildings, which have different shapes. The most important and well-known are in Chiapas, Mexico City, Yucatán, Campeche, Quintana Roo, Puebla, Veracruz, Guanajuato, Oaxaca, and Hidalgo.
One of the most mysterious is perhaps that of the Teotihuacán civilization, which was prior to the arrival of the Aztecs and lived near the current capital of Mexico.
It is unknown what became of it, since from one day to the next they disappeared, although two structures remained standing, called by the Aztecs "Sun" and "Moon", on whose peaks they believed that some kind of cosmic energy was received due to their special orientation of the structure with respect to the summer solstice.
References
- Ross Hassig. (2001). "Time, History and Belief in Aztec and Colonial Mexico". Recovered from: books.google.it
- Teocalli. "Dictionary of the Nahuatl or Mexican language". Recovered from: books.google.it
- Pyramid. (2019). Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy. Recovered from: dle.rae.es
- Teotl. (2019). Great Nahuatl Dictionary. Recovered from: gdn.unam.mx
- Teocalli. Recovered from: arqueologiamexicana.mx
- Teotihuacan. (2015). "The pyramids of Teotihuacán and the cosmos". Recovered from: elmundo.es