By Ines Keane
Ask five sources how tall the Pyramid of the Sun is and you get four answers. That is the right way into Teotihuacan. The city is real, large and carefully planned, but almost every figure attached to it moves depending on who is counting. This page lays the figures next to each other and says where they come from.
Where it is
UNESCO places the site about 50 kilometers northeast of Mexico City, and gives 48 kilometers in another section of the same file. Wikipedia says about 40 kilometers (25 miles). UNESCO inscribed it in 1987 as the “Pre-Hispanic City of Teotihuacan” under criteria (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) and (vi), with a property area of 250 hectares and a buffer zone of 3,118.15 hectares. Wikipedia gives the inscribed area as 3,381.71 hectares instead. We pass both on. The site is managed by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History, according to UNESCO.
A name from later people
“Teotihuacan” is a Nahuatl name given by the Aztecs, who found the ruins long after the city fell. UNESCO renders it as “the place where gods were created.” World History Encyclopedia says “Place of the Gods.” Britannica, an encyclopedia, says “The City of the Gods.” Wikipedia adds that Maya texts seem to call the city “Place of Reeds” and that the builders’ own name is unknown. World History Encyclopedia agrees that the original name has not been deciphered.
The grid
UNESCO describes a layout “based on cosmic harmony” and a main north-south axis, the Avenue of the Dead, lined with monumental buildings. It adds that the course of the San Juan River was altered so the avenue could cross it. World History Encyclopedia says the grid is oriented 15.5 degrees east of true north and that the city held more than 2,000 small building groups arranged around courtyards. Wikipedia and UNESCO both name the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, also called the Feathered Serpent, inside a large compound. World History Encyclopedia dates that temple to about 200 CE and says it has seven levels.
Side by side
- Pyramid of the Sun, base: UNESCO 225 by 222 meters; Wikipedia 219.4 by 231.6 meters; World History Encyclopedia sides of 215 meters.
- Pyramid of the Sun, height: UNESCO 75 meters; Wikipedia 65 meters; World History Encyclopedia 60 meters.
- Avenue of the Dead, length: Wikipedia says about 2 kilometers in one passage and roughly 4 kilometers in another; World History Encyclopedia says 3.2 kilometers.
- Avenue of the Dead, width: 40 meters (World History Encyclopedia); 45 or 40 meters (Wikipedia, two passages).
- City area at its height: UNESCO 36 square kilometers; Wikipedia over 30; World History Encyclopedia over 20.
- People: UNESCO says “at least 25,000”; Wikipedia says likely about 100,000, with estimates up to 250,000; World History Encyclopedia says as high as 200,000 between 375 and 500 CE.
Our reading: these are not errors so much as different edges. Some count the ceremonial core, some the whole sprawl, and some measure the pyramid with its restored casing. None of the pages say so.
Dates in order
- About 600 BCE: first settlement in the area, according to Wikipedia.
- About 100 BCE: the city is founded, per Wikipedia. World History Encyclopedia gives a formation window of 150 BCE to 200 CE.
- 1st to 7th centuries CE: the city is built and becomes one of the largest in the Americas, according to UNESCO.
- About 250 CE: major monument building ends, per Wikipedia.
- About 550 to 650 CE: fire destroys major buildings. Wikipedia says around 550; World History Encyclopedia says around 600; UNESCO says abandoned “towards 650.”
- 750 CE: the date in Wikipedia’s infobox for abandonment.
- 1987: the UNESCO listing.
What ended it
Wikipedia says scholars once blamed invaders. It adds that newer evidence points to burning limited mainly to elite structures, possibly from internal unrest, and that drought tied to the climate disruptions of 535 to 536 is another proposed cause. It notes both may be partly true. World History Encyclopedia says the city stayed populated for about two more centuries after the fire. We do not pick a cause.
What the city ran on
World History Encyclopedia says obsidian from deposits at nearby Pachuca supplied spear and dart heads and underpinned the city’s wealth. UNESCO says Teotihuacan’s influence reached across central Mexico and Yucatán, and as far as Kaminaljuyu in Guatemala. Wikipedia lists open questions: whether the city was ruled by kings or collectively, and whether its reach was military or cultural.
What we left out
Ticket details, hours, guides and anything about ritual practice. We also left out the 2018 name suggestion Wikipedia mentions, because it rests on one scholar’s view and the page gives no second source.
Quick answers
Where is Teotihuacan? About 50 kilometers northeast of Mexico City, according to UNESCO. Wikipedia says about 40 kilometers.
When was Teotihuacan listed by UNESCO? In 1987, as the “Pre-Hispanic City of Teotihuacan,” according to UNESCO’s own listing for the site.
How tall is the Pyramid of the Sun? It depends on the source: 75 meters per UNESCO, 65 per Wikipedia, 60 per World History Encyclopedia.
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