Toltec Civilization
English VII
Team 3:
Gabriela Elizabeth Avila Chan
Jesus Eduardo Casas Navarro
Diego Armando May Pech
Joshua Zamora Ramirez
Some facts
ORIGIN NAME
The word Toltec is from Nahuatl origin (Tōltēcah), which means Dweller of Tula. As their location in the current region called "Valle de Tula", in the Mexican state of Hidalgo.
WHO WERE THEY?
They were the forerunners of the Aztec apogee. Considered the master builders. Made the Aztecs proclaimed themselves descendants of the Toltecs to boast their deeds and achievements.
Origins
The Toltecs had roots in the Tolteca-Chichimeca people, who, during the 9th century, had migrated from the deserts of the north-west to Culhuacan in the Valley of Mexico.
The toltecs were originally nomades who used to go across diverse terrietories as plains, mountains, and deserts till they arrived in Tula.
Actually, the first settlement of the Toltecs was at Culhuacan, but they later established a capital at Tollan (or Tula, meaning 'place of reeds', a general Mesoamerican phrase to apply to all large settlements).
Sociopolitical Organization
The Toltecs obeyed a militaristic monarchy , which imposed a caste society : the warrior in the foreground together with the officials, priests and hierarchs, in charge of the leadership, the calendar and the ritual functions.
ART
Toltec artisans were skilled builders, potters, and stonemasons and they left behind an impressive artistic legacy.
Architecture
Toltec pyramids and palaces were impressive buildings, with colorfully painted relief sculptures and mighty statues holding up the roofs.
The Toltecs produced Mazapan-type pottery for internal use and export.
The Toltec potters produced pieces with remarkable faces.
Pottery
Sculpture
Tula is rich in statues and art preserved in stone. Some examples are: Atalantes, Chac Mool, "Wall of Serpents" of Tula.
TRADITIONS
Are cultural assets that are transmitted from generation to generation, communicating legacies that keep a way of life alive.
Music, a Toltec Custom
The Toltecs in their social customs left traces of their musical traditions. The ideophones, seashells, bones, snails, and copper bells give testimony of the songs sung according to the celebration.
Human Sacrifices
The Toltecs in their social customs left traces of their musical traditions. The ideophones, seashells, bones, snails, and copper bells give testimony of the songs sung according to the celebration.
TRADITIONS
Medicine as Wisdom
For the Toltecs, the diagnosis of various ailments was related to the heart. This is the balance of body and soul. They tried to cure life, soul, and spirit.
The priests used to use different herbs to make drinks or ointments, which according to the Spaniards helped to heal indigestion, nausea, headaches, and war wounds.
The food
DIET
based mainly on foods of vegetable origin, however, on special occasions or when they had a good day at home or fishing, they did not leave out meat.
PRINCIPAL FOOD
One of the foods that stands out in Toltec gastronomy is amaranth, also known as huautli.
DISHES
They used insects in some preparations.
Maguey worms were well used by the Toltecs.
Escamoles and jumiles were also part of their food.
Society
The Toltecs had a marked caste system, where the warriors were in the dome, who occupied the throne and related positions; the priests, government officials and the most economically favored hierarchs in society.
The next was the servile class, that is, the workers. In this class, all farmers, sculptors, carvers, carpenters, painters, potters and other trades that involve manual labor were in. Finally, the slaves followed. They were indigenous people from other ethnic groups who were captured in times of war.
SPORTS
BALL GAME
Preserved ruins have been found, from the places called "Ball Courts" which in Nahoa were called "Tlachco".
it was used for a divinatory rite. Fate was consulted with a party, in which each side represented a solution to a conflict. It is also possible that luck revealed the severity or possible improvement of a physical ailment.
The Toltecs also used this sport of the ball as a method to guess future events.
EDUCATION
THE CONCEPT TLACAHUAPAHUALIZTLI, WHICH MEANS "THE ART OF RAISING AND EDUCATING MEN".
TOLTECÁYOT L
Toltec education stood out thanks to its educational system, which was compulsory, public and free with no distinctions about ages.
The Toltecáyotl is the set of knowledge that aims to achieve the spiritual transcendence of existence, from reaching "the balance of the four directions of life"
The Toltecs developed an interesting irrigation system to make planting more efficient. In addition, in relation to art, another of the economic sources of the Toltecs was the carving of stones and the creation of different sculptures
ECONOMY
The Toltec culture was predominantly based on agriculture.
Toltecs cultivated the food with which to provide to all the vast inhabiting people in the Tula valley. Among the products they sowed are beans, corn and amaranth, highly valued by the indigenous people at that time.
REFERENCES
What Sort of Art Did the Toltec Culture Produce? (2018, April 24). ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/toltec-art-sculpturearchitecture-2136270
Cartwright, M. (2023, January 28). Toltec Civilization. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/Toltec_Civilization/ 403 Forbidden. (n.d.). https://warbletoncouncil.org/caracteristicascultura-tolteca-7710
Cartwright, M. (2023b, January 28). Toltec Civilization. World History Encyclopedia. https://www.worldhistory.org/Toltec_Civilization/ La Alimentación de los Toltecas. (2021, 24 agosto). CONAMECA.
https://conameca.lat/la-alimentacion-de-los-toltecas/ Costumbres y Tradiciones de los Toltecas. (2020, 28 enero). Etnias.
https://etnias.mx/toltecas/costumbres-y-tradiciones-de-los-toltecas/ Cultura Tolteca - Información, historia, características, religión. (s. f.). Concepto. https://concepto.de/cultura-tolteca/
T. Kiss. "Cultura Tolteca - Historia, sociedad, economÃa, caracterÃsticas". Enciclopedia Humanidades. https://humanidades.com/culturatolteca/ (accedido el 30 de enero de 2023).
"LOS TOLTECAS". Historia de la educación.
http://marisolapodaca.blogspot.com/2013/07/toltecas.html?m=1 (accedido el 30 de enero de 2023).
"TLACHTLI O JUEGO DE PELOTA".
https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/repositorio/node/4721#:~:text=El%20tla chtli%20o%20juego%20de,pesaba%20alrededor%20de%20tres%20kilos. (accedido el 30 de enero de 2023).