MESOAMERICAN HISTORY


[With particular relevance to the deities mentioned in the 'poem ' and the
 art work used for reference in the designs]

Both the text and artwork for this project date from the civilisations of 
Mesoamerica during the two and a half thousand years before the conquest of
the Aztec - Mexica by the Spanish in 1521. 
 The race called the Nahua lived and roamed the central highlands of what is
now New Mexico. Nahua means 'Those who live by Rule' to distinguish them from
the less civilised tribes of the region. They were the foundation of  the 
civilisations of the Toltecs, Mixtecs and Aztecs spanning a period from around
1200 BC to the invasion of the Spanish in the 16th century. 
  In the pre-classical period [ BC 1200  - AD 250 ] civilisation spread first
to tlatilc in the valley of Mexico and Tlapacoya to the east.
  The city of Teotihuacan [AD 0 - 750] became one of the largest cities in the
world covering over 20 square kilometres with a population of about 200,000.
 After it's collapse, smaller cities rose to prominence and the Toltecs 
[AD 50 - 1250] became the dominant culture of the Central Highlands.
Toltec art was to serve as a model for the nomadic warrior group from the north, 
the Aztec - Mexica.They settled in the valley of Mexico in the late Post - Classic
period and created a huge empire.From their city of Tenochtitlan they governed millions
of people all across Mesoamerica.
In the Oaxaca valley the Pre - Classical culture of the Zapotecs, which 
traded closely with Teotihucan, was taken over in Post - Classical times 
by the Mixtecs from western Oaxaca [ post 900 AD] They themselves were 
conquered in the 15th century by the Mexica.
both art and beliefs were freely exchanged and copied between races.
 The great god of the Nahua parthenon was Tezcatlipoca or Smoking Mirror.
He was originally the god of the air and, like Jupiter after him, could 
raise storms and wind. His rival in many myths was the god Quetzalcoatl or
Feathered Serpent. It was to this god that the Quetzal bird with its
magnificent plumage was sacred. He also had many aspects including Yolcuat,
the Rattlesnake, Tohil, the Rumbler and Ehecatl, the Wind.
  The Mayan race further south flourished from the 3rd century to around the 10th.
Cities such as Tikal and later Palenque and Copan contained highly 
worked monuments, ritual architecture and fine wall paintings.
For unknown reasons possibly including climate, politics, and the decline 
of Teotihuacan, the classic Mayan civilisation collapsed  during the 9th
century. 
  In the north cities such as Uxmal and Chichen Itza flourished
even after the Toltec invasion in the late 10th century and became the 
centre of a new hybrid Toltec/Mayan art. Their mythology too  included 
deities closely connected with both the gods mentioned previously. 
The Mayan Kukulcan was identified with  Quetzalcoatl and  their Ek Chuah
with Tezcatlipoca.