TOLTEC

Nahuatl-speaking people who held sway over what is now central Mexico from the 10th to the 12th century AD. Their name has many meanings: an urbanite, a cultured person, and, literally, the reed people, derived from their urban centre, Tollan (Place of the Reeds), near the modern town of Tula, about 50 miles (80 km) north of Mexico City. About AD 900 they sacked and burned the great city of Teotihuacn under the leadership, according to tradition, of Mixcatl (Cloud Serpent). Under his son, Ce Acatl Topiltzin Quetzalcatl, they formed a number of small states of various ethnic origins into an empire later in the 10th century. The ruler Topiltzin introduced the cult of Quetzalcatl (Feathered Serpent), which name he adopted. This cult and others, as well as the Toltec military orders of the Coyote, the Jaguar, and the Eagle, were introduced into important Mayan cities to the south in Yucatn, such as Chichn Itz and Mayapn, indicating the broad influence of the Toltec. The advent of the Toltec also marked the rise of militarism in Mesoamerica. They also were noted as builders and craftsmen and have been credited with the creation of fine metalwork, monumental porticoes, serpent columns, gigantic statues, carved human and animal standard-bearers, and peculiar reclining Chac-Mool figures. Beginning in the 12th century the invasion of the nomadic Chichimec destroyed the Toltec hegemony in central Mexico. Among the invaders were the Aztec, or Mexica, who destroyed Tollan about the mid-12th century. See also Mesoamerican civilization.