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Show 268 Bt<>OK VI. "--_.I H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. formerly a temple confecrated to that falfe deity, and .J)OW a h~ly fanctu1ry of the mother of the true God; but the pyr~nud from 1ts ~reat antiquity is fo covered with earth and bul11c~, that 1t ~eems mor~.ltke.a natural eminence than an edifice. We are 1gnorant, mdeed, ot 1ts dtmenfions, but its circnmferencc in the lower p:trt is not lcfs than half a mile (g.) One may ::lfceud to the top by a path made.in a fpiral dirc~tion round the pyramid, and 1 went up on horfeback 111 I744· Tlus is tlut famous hill about which fo many fables have been feigned, and which Botmini believed to have been raifcd by the Toltecas as a place of refuge in the event of another deluge like No:1b's. . The famous edifices of Tcotihuacan, about three mtles fouth from that place, and more than twenty from Mexico, towards Greco, fiill fub!li!l: thofe immenfe buildings which ferved as a model for the ternpi s of that country, were two temples confecrated the one to the fun and the other to the moon, r prefcnted by two idols of monfirous bulk, made of !lone and covered with gold. That of the fun had a great concavity in the breaft, and an image of that planet of the purefi gold fixed in it. The conquerors poile!red themfelves of the gold, the idols were broken by order of the fir!l bifhop of Mexico, and the fragments remained in that place till the end of the hft century, and may, perhaps be there frill. The bafe, or inferior body of the temple of the fun, is twenty-eight per hes long, and eighty-fix broad, and the height of the whole building is in proportion (h). That of the moon is eightyfix perches long in the bafe, and fixty-three broad. Each of thefe temples is divided into four bodies, and as many ftair-cafes, which arc arranged in the fame manner with thofe of the great temple of Mexico; but cannot now be traced 1 partly from their ruinous condition, and }Xlrtly from the great quantity of earth with which they are every where .covered. Round thefe edifices are fcattered feveral little hills, which are fuppofed to have been as many leffer temples, dedicated to the other (g) Betancourt fays, that the height of the pyramid of Cholula was upwards of forty l}latfos, that is, more than two hundred and five Parifi:m feet; but this author has been too fp·1rin~ in his mcafurc, as that height unquenionablc exceeds five hundred feet. (/.•) Gemelli meafurcd the length nnd breadth of thofc temples, but hnd no in!humcnr to •m,(·afure their height. Cav. Boturini meafmed their height, but when he wrote his work he lu1d nos the lllcafurc by him, yet he thinks he found the temple of the fuo to have been two ilUndred Callili~n cubits high, that is, eighty-fix perches, planets , / H I S T 0 R Y 0 F M E X I C 0. planets :u:d 0ars; an.d from this place being fo full of religions buildmgs, anttqutty gave 1t the name of 'I'eott'buacan. The number of temples throughout the whole Mexican empire was ~ery great. Torquemada thought there might be above forty thouiand; but I am perfuaded they would far exceed that number, if we fhould take the Jelfer ones into the account'· for there 1's 11ot a 1 · J ' ' l lll \J .• bited place without one temple, nor any place of anv extent without a confiderctble number. · The ~rchiteCl:ure 'of the great temples was for the mofi part the ~arne .With tha~ of the gr at temple of Mexico; but there were many hkewlfe of _::t d1.fferen~ il:ru~ure. ~any confified of a fingle body in th.e form. ot a ~yramLd, wlth a .fian·-cafe; others of ordinary bodies, wtth fitmlar il:atr-cafes, as appears in the fubjoined plate, which is copie~ from one publifhed by Didaco Valades in his Chrfllian Rbt!tori, · ( i). The fu~erftition .of th?fe. ~eople. not contented with fuch a great number of temples 111 the1r Clttes, villages, and hamlets, ereCl:ed many altars upon the tops of the hills, in the woods, and in the frrects, not only for the purpofe of encouraging the idolatrous worfhip of travelle~ s, but for the celebration of certain filcrifices to the gods of mountams and other rufl:ic deities. The revenues of the great temple of Mexico, like thoft: of the other temples of the court and the empire, were very large. Each temple had its own lands and pofie{ljons, and even its own peafants to cultivate them. Thence was drawn all that was neceGary for the maintenance of the priefts, together with the wood which was confumed in great quantities in the temples. BOOK vr. ~ The priefi:s that we1·e the fi:ewards of the temples fi·cquently vifitcd their po.«emons, and thofc who cultivated them, th ught thcmfclves happy in contributing by their labour to the worG1ip of the gods and the Cupport of their minifb.: rs. ln the kingdom of Acolhuacan, tho{( nine and twenty cities which provided necefi~u·.ies for the royal p..1ltce, SRCT. XIH. Hcv nucs of the tcm1•lco. (i) Dida~o Val;~dcs Frnncifcano, :tftcr having been emplnycu mnny years in the ronvcdion of t~1e Mcxtcan s, came to Rome, where he wns made prot:Lirator-gcucrnl of his order. A Itt• tie ~lll\C after he publi01ed his learned nnd •·al liable \\'(JI'k in Lutin, intitkd, Rbrtorim Cbr·i}lr'<mrr, dc~t~nted to J>Opc Or~ gory the XI !lth, udomcd with m~ny rcprcfcntatiolls of Muxic~n nntiquttiCS, were |
