groups, all bearing the typological name Tolteca, that mi-
grated to central Mexico. In addition, the term Toltec was
generally applied to any person who exhibited extraordinary
skills, arts, or wisdom.
The present article discusses, in turn, each of these five
groups, which overlap only to a certain degree. The familiar
hybrid picture of “Toltec,” resulting from an unsophisticated
merging commonly found in overall descriptions, can no
longer be supported. Presumably there never existed either
a single, homogeneous Toltec culture or, consequently, a sin-
gle Toltec religion. But many traits are certainly common to
various of the above-mentioned “Toltecs,” including reli-
gious traits. In this article, common features will be stressed,
but the reader should be aware that they are not necessarily
all elements of one coherent whole.
TOLTECS OF TULA. The rather extensive archaeological site
of Tula de Allende in the modern Mexican state of Hidalgo,
75 kilometers north-northwest of Mexico City, has been ex-
cavated professionally since 1940. Its main ceremonial cen-
ter, Tula Grande, flourished from about 950 to 1200 CE
(dates established by ceramic crossties but only very few ra-
diocarbon readings). In its final shape, Tula Grande consist-
ed of some ten hectares of magnificently arranged buildings,
surrounded by ten to twelve square kilometers of living quar-
ters. So far, Tula-Toltec religion can be reconstructed only
from the archaeological remains of the main ceremonial cen-
ter. In contrast to buildings of the earlier metropolitan civili-
zation of the region, Teotihuacan, Tula-Toltec religious
buildings were designed for the full participation of large
groups of people, who gathered in pillared halls, or colon-
nades, along one side of the huge central square. Different
types of benches along the walls of the colonnades suggest
that they were intended for groups of people of varying rank,
although all participants probably belonged to the social
elite. Numerous bas-reliefs show them dressed as warriors
and aligned in rows, emphasizing their function in the cult
as a homogeneous group: no single person is highlighted.
Archaeological vestiges indicate that the ceremonies of
the Tula-Toltecs focused on the strange effigies known as
chacmools. These are approximately lifesize sculptures of a
reclining male figure dressed in some of the paraphernalia of
a warrior, but clearly no warrior himself. He holds an object,
perhaps a receptacle, over his belly and glares with sharply
turned face at approaching worshipers. Despite recent at-
tempts to interpret the chacmools as the stones on which
human sacrifice was made, their specific function is as yet
unknown. The practice of human sacrifice, however, was not
uncommon among the Tula-Toltecs. The practice seems to
be addressed metaphorically in endlessly repeated sculptural
reliefs depicting eagles devouring human hearts. There are
also frequent allusions in the reliefs to death in the form of
skulls and bones.
More difficult to establish from archaeological data is
the deity to whom the devotion of the presumed caste of war-
riors was directed. Most probably it was that highly complex
being that in Tula is metaphorically depicted by a combina-
tion of reptilian, avian, and human elements: the face of a
man with circular, spectacle-like eyes is shown looking out
of or emerging from open reptilian jaws. The figure, depicted
en face, is surrounded by feathers and supports itself on legs
with birdlike claws. Despite clear analogies, this hybrid being
is not the famous feathered serpent, which in Tula architec-
ture is represented only as a subordinate element.Another quite different aspect of Tula-Toltec religious
activities centered on a ritual ball game, which is generally
believed to have been important as a symbolic reenactment
of cosmic movement. In Tula Grande at least three giant ball
courts existed, but there is no basis for any extensive interpre-
tation.TOLTEC-MAYA. Similar to Tula-Toltec culture in its essential
expression, Toltec-Maya also seems to have been restricted
to a single, extremely important place: Chichén Itzá in
north-central Yucatán. The great resemblances between Chi-
chén Itzá and Tula, 850 kilometers away, as the crow flies,
are a commonplace in Mesoamerican archaeology, although
the site of origin of these particular traits has not been defini-
tively established. Chichén Itzá was always an important cen-
ter of late Classic Puuc Maya, which toward its final period
(c. 900 CE) exhibited an increased extra-Mayan influence.
Subsequent development, to be found only at Chichén Itzá,
shows a merging of traditional and newly introduced ele-
ments, the latter having been found so far only in Tula. The
center of the Toltec-Maya city covers some thirty hectares,
the general outline very much resembling that of Tula: large
courts, colonnades, and ball courts. The more abundant and
detailed iconography and a historical tradition, albeit a faint
one, give the picture a little more color: the dominant social
stratum, that of the warriors, is principally the same as in
Tula, but a wider variety of grades is displayed.The central deity of Toltec-Maya culture at Chichén
Itzá is depicted, as in Tula, as the man-reptile-bird combina-
tion. The image is omnipresent, but there are practically no
variations to provide deeper insight, although sometimes art-
ists misinterpreted the stereotyped picture and made it look
like a heavily adorned warrior with his pectoral and feathered
headdress. The theme itself is an old Maya one: a man’s head
emerging from a snake’s mouth. It is already known in Clas-
sic Maya representations and is frequent in the Puuc-style
ruins, where the feathered rattlesnake is also common. Colo-
nial sources call this mythological animal k’uk’ulkan
(“quetzal-feathered serpent”) and mention a famous leader
of Chichén Itzá who bore this name and who is said to have
“returned” to central Mexico. A person intimately associated
with this feathered serpent serves as the focus of a story with
a mythical flavor, the wording of which is unknown but
which is depicted with considerable detail in various Chi-
chén Itzá temples. The sculptural narration makes clear that
this feathered serpent was the center of devotion for the Tol-
tec-Maya elite.9222 TOLTEC RELIGION