Teotihuacan: Where One Becomes a God

The ancient city of Teotihuacan is one of the greatest cities ever constructed in the Americas. It was a city that was remembered by subsequent cultures long after it was abandoned. Because it was never inhabited again, archaeologists can explore the entire city and try to reconstruct the life and history of this magnificent site. Let’s find out what made Teotihuacan such a spectacular city and culture.

Special thanks to MajoraZ and Hunter Itzkowitz for assisting in research and in photo use. Thank you to Daniel Parada and David Romero for their digital reconstructions. Also thanks to Yan Garcia of the channel CanalNahuatl for all the Nahuatl reading.

[velociraptor]

Much better than previous misinformation (by others), which clearly confused Teotihuacan with Tenochtitlan, which was a different culture over a thousand years later. I was embarrassed to watch that earlier posting, which had hundreds of thousands of views. Thank you for this more accurate historical rendering.

[gamertrub]

Just discovered this channel yesterday and I'm hooked. Sending support from Kenya 🇰🇪

[garykeenan]

This is a superb presentation. I am so grateful you took the time and effort. Pre-Columbian America is one of most important and most neglected areas of study in American education. I hope this video is part of a change in that. Many thanks.

[stevenv]

I have to say as a Mexican that we have some of the most interesting history. I just wish we had more prehispanic written records.

[FF-pifq]

When I think of native Americans I've never thought of "Huge urban centers with ethnic neighborhoods." Just fascinating stuff.

[mrniceguy]

It’s not surprising that the average Teotihuacano had a relatively high standard of living after hearing about how there was a lot of economic specialization and presumably trade. The ancient central Mexican economies are increasingly interesting to me. The Aztecs seemed to have continued in that direction, I know they had a large merchant class.

[little.bear]

The ancient Greeks had a concept known as _apotheosis_ and that's when man becomes more than just a man through his acts, he becomes a myth, a legend, he becomes a god. This culture undoubtedly had the same concept.

[chucklearnslithics]

All the way down by Chichen Itza there is a cave that archaeologist found a sealed chamber in recently - Balankanche cave. It was dated at having been sealed around 100 CE, during the time of Teotihuacan. I have been in there and pottery abounds. Much/most of it Teotihuacan style and had clearly visible sculpture of Tlaloc and his iconic goggles. Centuries before the Chichen it would appear the Teotihuacan influence was being spread all the way to the eastern end of the Yucatan and Mayan lowlands along with the well documented "incursions" into the southern ends of the Mayan Highlands.

[dewycocoa]

A topic I'd be thrilled to see is the relationship Mesoamerica had with southwestern cultures like Chaco Canyon! Btw, I write Maya glyphs back in my channel if ur interested, I'm planning to do more things with the beautiful script there ✨

[Rafael_Mena_Ill]

Tipically I don't give "Americas" youtubers much time of day because they frequently aren't up to snuff with the current data, so I admit I had ignored you up until now, but I have to say I'm impressed with this video and a lot of others you've done!
Great Content, instant follow and I'll be anxiously awaiting new content!

[nicolewildman]

Hello. I think what really impressed me was the fact that this civilization had no access to our modern machinery such as drills, tractors or even cranes yet they were able to build this complex of huge, impressive and beautiful structures, move heavy blocks most likely weighing tons and excavate tunnels deep in the ground. They had expert architects and masons. I visited Teotihuacan a few years ago and the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon are surprisingly well intact considering their age. Thanks for sharing. It was a great video.

[sheepbaad]

The youtube algorithim has bestowed me a beautiful bounty.

I really appreciate the framing, format, and sources. Great work, and I appreciate putting the context of the city's development in to the video lecture!

[josephjarosch]

28:00 They should make a movie about this! A warlord named *fireborn* leads an army on a long, dangerous slog through the jungle, against a crafty and well-armed foe, yet emerges on top, slaying a king and replacing him with another. Fireborn and his crew return, triumphant, a train of war-trophies in tow. Hollywood would jump at this!

[thetalamhclisteach]

I think I've been waiting for a Teotihuacan episode ever since I learned about this channel

[Teporame]

It is not a coincidence that México was one of the cradles of civilization.. Mexico culture is one of the richest in the world, no doubt.

[fredriks]

America is one of the great centers of civilization and has brought us some of the best things ever;

Chocolate, Maize, Chili and Potatoes

[chrisball]

Grid patterns seem to have been a common layout in planned cities in ancient times as well as modern- there are grid-patterned cities found in other ancient cultures as well- e.g. in the Indus Valley. I think we sometimes associate them with modernity because so many European cities evolved organically from small villages and have a chaotic street plan as a result, but where cities have been planned from an early stage, they frequently follow a grid pattern.

[habitualforeigner]

So well done! I was at Tikal in 1982 when they had just opened (like, just a few weeks earlier) the district that was probably the Teotihuacano enclave. It had endured long enough for the pyramid temples to have acquired a few layers, and the area was definitely larger than any Mayan delegation precincts in Teotihuacán. ... It is so interesting that the watery underworld theme would be prevalent in the Valley of Mexico, when that theme is so much more akin to the natural environment of the lowland Maya (and maybe Olmec as well?) with karst topography, caves, cenotes and explorable underground waterways. Where in the Nahua heartland is there such a thing? Several sites purported to have inspired Aztlán have multi-branched caves under the principal pyramid, but it seems the watery part is missing.

[JonnoPlays]

Thanks so much for posting this! It's very hard to get information about this place that isn't full of conspiracy stuff. There are some crazy interesting features of the site that still hold mysteries we need to solve. I'll be watching closely to see if any of it is mentioned in the video and how non conspiracy archeology explains it 👌 💯

[xdeser]

7:40 I live in Arizona so I often try to take trips to Native American ruins around the state, and something mentioned at pretty much every single one of them is evidence of trade connections with Mesoamerica because of artifacts such as Obsidian, parrot feathers etc, something someone may not expect when ancient Arizona was pretty sparsely populated when compared to Mexico, Central, and South America at the same time. In that same vein of thought, I was reading something else recently that was pretty striking - In Egypt, an artifact called the Narmer Palette, which commemorates the Pharaoh Narmer (who first united upper and lower Egypt) and was made at a time at very least roughly contemporary, is decorated partly with motifs that strongly suggest a Mesopotamian artistic influence, and this is on something dated to around 2900 BC. It's pretty striking to me how early *extremely* extensive trade networks and knowledge of neighboring (and not so-neighboring) cultures form between human societies, even without the ability to quickly transport goods long distances like across an inland sea or with access to pack animals (like Native American societies lacked).