Skip to Content

Teotihuacan II

Showing 7 of 30


Print this page

Teotihuacan II does not have an image.


Teotihuacan II
200-300 AD
Mexican, (active 200–300)
Teotihuacan is an ancient Mesoamerican city located 30 miles (50 km) northeast of modern-day Mexico City. The city, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, was settled as early as 400 B.C. and became the most powerful and influential city in the region by 400 A.D. By the time the Aztecs found the city in the 1400s and named it Teotihuacan (meaning “the place where the gods were created”), the city had been abandoned for centuries. Teotihuacan’s origins, history, and culture largely remain a mystery.

It’s unknown who built the ancient city. Scholars once believed the ancient Toltec civilization may have built the massive city, based largely on colonial period texts. But the Toltec culture (900-1150 A.D.) flourished hundreds of years after Teotihuacan peaked. Other scholars believe the Totonacs, a tribe from the east, built and inhabited the city. Another theory holds that immigrants flooded into the Teotihuacan valley following the eruption of a volcano, and those immigrants built or augmented the city. Teotihuacan appears to contain features of various cultures, including the Maya, Mixtec and Zapotec. Whatever the case, Teotihuacan was founded as early as 400 B.C., though the largest structures of the city weren’t completed until about 300 A.D. It’s thought that the city reached its peak around 100 years later, with a population as high as 200,000 people.


Artist Objects

Your current search criteria is: Exhibition is "Ancient Americas in a New Light".