Evolution And History

256 CHAPTER 11 | The Emergence of Cities and States

The view looking south down Teotihuacan’s principal avenue, the Street of the Dead.

This urban axis was unequaled in its scale until the construction of such modern-day

avenues as the Champs-Élysées in Paris.

Visual Counterpoint

© William A. Haviland © Image Source/Getty Images

Ancient peoples incorporated their spiritual beliefs and

social order into the cities they built. For example, the lay-

out of the great Mesoamerican city Teotihuacan, founded

2,200 years ago, translated the solar calendar into a unified

spatial pattern. The Street of the Dead—a grand north-

south axis running from the Pyramid of the Moon and

bordered by the Pyramid of the Sun and the royal palace

compound—was deliberately oriented to an astronomi-

cal marker, east of true north. Ancient city planners even

channeled the San Juan River to run through the city in

conformity with the grid (Figure 11.2). Surrounding this

core were thousands of apartment compounds, separated

Figure 11.2 The founders of Teotihuacan imposed an audacious plan on several square kilometers

of landscape in central Mexico. At the center is the Street of the Dead, running from the Pyramid

of the Moon (near top), past the Pyramid of the Sun, and, south of the San Juan River (Rio), the

palace compound. Note the gridded layout of surrounding apartment compounds and the channeled

San Juan River.