This complex is located in the western sector of the city, where a complex
housing system can be observed and part of its development shown through
several construction levels.
In some of its rooms, extraordinary murals with different themes are
exhibited, among which, due to their composition, color and symbolism, the
murals of Tlaloc, god of lightning, large eagles with outstretched wings,
pumas with large plumes positioned in profile on a throne luck, priests in
jaguar costumes associated with temples and streams.
In one of the main patios of this complex, the stylistic evolution of mural
painting can be observed, since three sets of paintings corresponding to three
different construction levels are exposed.
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Entrance to Tetitla Palace.
Entrance to Tetitla Palace (Spanish: Palacio de Tetila) in the
Teotihuacan archaeological zone.
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Cultural heritage of the state of mexico, the nation and humanity.
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Informational board.
Artist's conception of one of Tetitla's several courtyards as it looked
in ancient times.
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A priest lays an offering on an altar while a nearby female sits
reverently.
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The walls are vividly painted with murals and other symbols and the
roof is decorated with pyramid-shaped almenas.
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Notice the rows of circles below the almenas and on the platform
bases. These are called chachihuites, which represent something
precious, such as water or jewels.
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Tetitla was built during the Tlamimilopan Phase (250-350 AD) of
Teotihuacán's history and appears to have been occupied into the final
Metepec Phase (650-750 AD).
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Blandine Gautier explains the importance of Tetitla Palace.
Palace Tetitla has kept some of its interior paintings, as well as some
of the original colors.
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Two columns supported the roof at the entrance to the Palace.
On the ground, we can see the bases of the two columns in front of the
entrance to the door.
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Corridor lined with rooms.
A corridor is lined with rooms, including one with a bird and conch
mural.
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The mural room, in the upper right, is connected both with the
corridor and with the room to its right.
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Storm god.
White storm god casting a sinuous lightning serpent with his
atlatl.
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A spear-thrower, spear-throwing lever or atlatl is a tool that
uses leverage to achieve greater velocity in dart or javelin-throwing,
and includes a bearing surface which allows the user to store energy
during the throw.
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See more at
Spear-thrower - Wikipedia.
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Symbols representing water, fertility, and speech.
Symbols representing water, fertility, and speech alternate along each
wall.
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The curled pairs of symbols represent speech balloons emerging from a
toothy mouth.
- The speech balloon may indicate a word, a chant or a prayer.
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Symbols representing water, fertility, and speech.
Between each two pairs of speech balloons is another symbol showing two
bivalve sea shells from which drops of water descend.
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Taken together, all this may represent a fervent prayer for regular
rain and a good harvest.
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Red feline.
In the background, profile of a jaguar with swollen hindquarters (jaguar con vientre abultado), prominent claws, head turned to rear, raised front paws and long
curved tail.
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Room of the Nine Old Men.
The mural at the base of the wall shows the profiles of nine old men,
spread around the walls and all marching toward the back of the room.
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The room is square, roughly about 3.5 x 3.5 m (12 x 12 ft), and has a
hard, stucco floor.
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Room of the Nine Old Men.
In the center of the back wall (top center) is another figure, facing
front, but mostly obliterated.
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Room of the Nine Old Men.
This Old Men is seen in profile with his arms crossed over his chest.
- The Old Man wears a cloth draped over his neck.
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He carries a bag suspended between the two ends of the cloth.
Archeologists speculate that the bag contains copal incense.
- The Old Man's ears are decorated by large jade ear plugs
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Speech balloons emerge from his mouth. Their shape indicates a flowery
chant, perhaps in honor of the central figure he and the other eight
Old Men are reverently approaching.
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Room of the Nine Old Men.
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Room of the Nine Old Men.
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Diver putting a shell in a net.
This is yet another water-related mural. In it a swimmer holds a shell
in his right hand, preparing to place it in the net that is attached to
his neck. The diagonal and horizontal white lines represent water
ripples. This is one of the few murals at Tetitla that simulate
movement.
- Behind the swimmer are three shells, one of them a scallop.
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Outside the white lines that border the swimmer are a series of
symbols representing conch shells.
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While the mural illustrates Teotihuacán's focus on water, the
seashells also highlight the importance of long-distance trade.
Teotihuacán is located hundreds of miles from either the Gulf or
Pacific Coasts.
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Shellfishers (divers).
Shellfishers (divers) against background of waves.
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Room of the Eagles.
This is a large square room with entrances from rooms on either side and
one from the corridor.
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The fourth side contains an eagle with spread wings as well as several
eagle heads.
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From the corridor entrance to the eagle mural, a sunken area runs the
length of the room.
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Eagle with open wings.
There has been some dispute about what sort of bird this represents.
Both owls and quetzals have been suggested. However, zoologists have
identified them as eagles.
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These were very powerful totems throughout Mesoamerican history.
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In fact eagles and jaguars were the totem animals of the two most
important warrior cults in the later Toltec and Aztec empires.
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These eagles indicate a very high status family lived here, possibly
including powerful military figures.
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Eagle head.
One of several eagle heads surrounding the bird with outstretched wings.
- The gaze is steady and piercing.
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Red drops pour from the beak, possibly indicating blood from a kill.
- This seems to reinforce the military interpretation.
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Model of a temple.
This model of a temple, possibly serving as an altar, is found in front
of the Temple of the Werejaguar (Jaguar Man). The portico of the Temple
of the Werejaguar can be seen in the lower right corner of the
photograph.
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Portico of the Temple of the Werejaguar (right).
Talud of the wall on the right side os the Portico of the Temple of the
Werejaguar (Jaguar Man) facing the inner courtyard, with two colorful
paintings of the Jade Goddess or Green Tláloc.
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The main image is seen from the front, and although her body or limbs
are not visible, she appears to be sitting on a bench with her arms
folded.
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Her neck is covered by necklaces and her extended yellow hands, with
fingers spread and thumbs up indicate that she is a female or bisexual
deity of maize, earth, and vegetation.
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The figures wear a green mask that gives them a human appearance.
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Portico of the Temple of the Werejaguar (left).
Talud of the wall on the left side os the Portico of the Temple of the
Werejaguar (Jaguar Man) facing the inner courtyard, with two colorful
paintings of the Jade Goddess or Green Tláloc.
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The mouth plate, below the wings of the nose, is a strip with three
rings -arranged horizontally- in its center.
- The teeth are a center piece and two fangs that curve outward.
- The green earmuffs are formed from a concentric disk and ring,
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The collars are six uninterrupted semicircular bands that encircle,
descend, and expand below the mask.
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Below the bands that encompass the quads and above the cape, in the
center of the image is the pectoral with a rhombus design that
continues through angles, a horizontal bar with blue elements pointing
in the opposite direction and, below it, blue and white diagonal bands
descend.
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Portico of the Temple of the Werejaguar (right).
The headdress occupies less than the total height and width of the
image, the importance given to it in the pictorial space indicates its
quality to detonate the identity of the image.
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It is made up of two sections: the lower one, made up of superimposed
horizontal bands, which together give the appearance of a rectangle
with rounded corners, and the upper one, tucked in at the sides, which
is made up of other bands and feathers.
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In the center is placed an eagle's face, seen from the front, with
round eyes bordered by a semicircular band, the flat nose shows the
nostrils and the beak points towards the center.
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Below it there is a transversal bar with appendages -similar to teeth
and/or fangs- that are directed symmetrically up and down.
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On each side of the bird's face were placed two spiral designs, from
which a curved yellow shape spirals up, terminating in three blue
drops.
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Portico of the Temple of the Werejaguar (left).
The border is made up of two intertwined bands, like the bodies of
snakes, which are suspended at the corners with tied designs.
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One of the bands is dark red and has geometric designs of rectangles
and quads inside.
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The other has a blue background with a design of feathered bivalve
shells; the shells are red and the feathers are green.
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Entering the corridor on the right side of the temple
Entering the corridor where the colorful scene of the jaguar man
kneeeling in front of a temple is painted.
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Jaguar man kneeling in front of temple.
Two main images make up the scene: a human figure disguised as a jaguar
and a temple towards which he is heading; this is richly decorated with
jaguar skin, tassels and chalchihuites; both configure symbolic scenic
unity. Other images -objects, ornaments, designs, borders- reinforce the
meaning of the primordial ones.
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The man disguised as a jaguar, with a blue body, face, ears and
extremities, covered with red intertwining designs that simulate a
net, kneels on his left knee on the path of water that leads to the
temple; he raises the arm on the same side to hold a staff, and bends
the right to take up a shield; his posture identifies him as human.
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On a platform of slope and tabletop rises the temple whose walls are
decorated with designs of flowers -yellow and red- from the skin of
the feline; at the ends, like two pilasters, there are designs of
concentric green discs.
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The temple is accessed through a blue square that produces a mirror of
water to which three paths arrive: two with "eyes of water" and the
one in the middle with footprints; the ceiling is formed from the
bottom up, by a double band -red and blue-, above, the "tassel with
feathers" element is repeated seven times in a horizontal row, made up
of circles and bundles of feathers pointing downwards; above, a board
whose frame is made up of concentric green discs, the lower and upper
moldings, and a petal design -red and green- on the sides.
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Jaguar man kneeling in front of temple.
The two images of the jaguar-man and the temple stand out, like cut-out
paper figures, against the background composed of inclined bands: some
are thin -green, blue and white- and the others are wide segments with
spikes in two shades of red.
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The design of diagonal bands is interrupted at the bottom by three
large superimposed horizontal stripes: they are the water and dirt
paths that lead to the temple.
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The one below and the third one up are similar: on a blue background
they alternate, and in the opposite direction, "eyes of water",
- The second shows alternating red and green human foot prints.
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These three bands are doubled and end in the reflecting pool below the
temple.
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Wall painting with three green circles.
What archaeologist Richard Hansen believes is that the triadic pattern
was a representation of the Maya’s creation myth. It portrayed the place
of origin, which they represent in every day life as well as in every
Maya home.
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Three stones, known as the three hearth stones or Ox Te Tun, are found
in every Maya kitchen even today, where the fire they cook in
recreates a celestial image.
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Model of a temple.
The model is located in the middle of the largest patio.
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Appears to have been used as an altar after its original purpose was
served.
- In the back is the room with the orange felines.
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Orange felines.
It is a series of felines seen in profile that support their belly on a
bench, the claws of two of their legs reach the ground, and their tail
is curved at the tip and is directed upwards.
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The head is large and with vigorous features; the forehead is small,
the snout very open and thick lips revealing its teeth and large
fangs.
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His headdress is made up of a headband made of green and yellow
triangles, and a headdress made of green feathers.
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There are two trilobed shapes that seem to come down from the snout,
one aligned with the teeth and the other in the direction of the legs.
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Orange felines.
The slope is framed by a border, in which red and black triangles
alternate above a narrow yellow band. Above these triangles, footprints
can be seen that give the impression of paths.
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Walking towards the exit.
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See also
Source
Location
