CHAPTER 1 ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF MESOAMERICAN CIVILIZATION 59Several lines of evidence point to a powerful government that regulated many
aspects of life and society at ancient Teotihuacan. The city’s regular grid plan sig-
nals a high degree of urban planning, which could have been accomplished only by
a strong central authority. As the city grew in size early in the Classic period, many
rural farmers were forced to abandon their homes and move into the expanding
urban settlement. Although we are not sure of the reasons for this policy, it is likely
that only a strong centralized government could carry out such a practice.
As Teotihuacan grew in size and complexity, its economic and political influence
spread throughout much of Mesoamerica. The foreign influence of Teotihuacan was
of three types: a political empire in highland Central Mexico that maintained key po-
litical contacts in distant lands, a trading network throughout much of Mesoamerica,
and a sphere of ideological or religious influence even more widespread than the
trade system.
Teotihuacan’s armies conquered an empire that covered most of the central
Mexican highlands. Within this area, formerly dispersed settlements were congre-
gated into a small number of towns to facilitate administration and control of the con-
quered population. Many of these new towns were built in imitation of Teotihuacan
itself, with a similar cardinal orientation (16 degrees east of north), grid plan, and
use of a major central avenue.
Beyond the borders of its empire, Teotihuacan merchants engaged in an active
trade and with many areas of Mesoamerica. Green-tinted obsidian artifacts from the
Teotihuacan-controlled Pachuca source are found at Classic sites as far south as Hon-
duras, and Teotihuacan-style pottery is abundant in many areas. At distant sites such
as Kaminaljuyú in highland Guatemala, structures were built in the distinctive Teoti-
huacan style, perhaps as residences for merchants from the central Mexican city. At
least one neighborhood of foreign merchants has been excavated at Teotihuacan it-
self, providing strong evidence for the importance of the city’s international trade net-
works. The arrival of Teotihuacan officials at the Mayan center of Tikal in A.D. 378,
documented in Tikal’s hieroglyphic record, is linked to the establishment of a new
major dynasty and suggests direct Teotihuacan intervention in the political affairs
of distant lands. The ruling dynasty at Copan was also founded by an individual with
strong links to Teotihuacan in A.D. 426.
The ideological significance of Teotihuacan as a major religious and political
center was widespread and enduring. Iconographic symbols that emulate the military
and religious art of Teotihuacan are found throughout the Classic period Mexican
Gulf Coast, Pacific Chiapas, the Yucatan Peninsula, the Petén region of Guatemala,
and Copán, Honduras. Feathered serpent symbolism and mythology so prevalent in
the art of Teotihuacan became a primary focus of Terminal Classic and Postclassic
mythology throughout Mesoamerica.
Teotihuacan’s demise came rather suddenly in the seventh century A.D., when the
city was burned and destroyed. Evidence indicates that burning was quite selective,
with religious and administrative structures receiving the most damage and resi-
dences the least. This pattern suggests internal revolt rather than external invasion
as the means of destruction, although the reasons or causes for the revolt are not