Tenochtitlan, plan c. 1510 showing relation of the Aztec capital to the present center of Mexico City

Teotihuacán exemplified Classic priestly government, but Tula is a type-site for the warrior aristocracies of Middle America after about A.D. 1000. As the capital of the Toltec (‘builder’) dynasty, Tula flourished from the ninth to the thirteenth centuries, ruled by fighters rather than priests, who restricted political control to as few families as possible. Religion centred upon human sacrifice, in an aggressive, expansionist relationship to neighbouring tribes. Toltec skills included an …

TO APPROACH THE GENERAL historiography of New World events before Columbus as to their esthetic valuation, it is necessary to review surviving efforts before 1700 to salvage American antiquity, beginning with Columbus. Early scholars of the subject follow, who at first were European and only later of Amerindian origin. Most of the former were friars and priests, but only one of the Indian group, Diego Valadés (whose mother is thought to be Tlaxcalan), was allowed to be of religious profession as …