Templ Mayor

The first place in Mexico City we took our outlaws was Templo Mayor right next to the Zocolo. This is a large Aztec pyramid with twin towers right in the middle of downtown Mexico City.
This pyramid was built in stages, one layer on top of the other making it larger and larger over time.







According to legend, the Aztecs traveled from Aztlan and were told by their god to build a temple where they found an eagle eating a serpent on top of a nopal. The Aztecs found this here and built Templo Mayor on what was the then an island on Lake Toxcoco.



This is now the symbol of the Mexican flag.
Kinda put our Bessie Ross story to shame, huh?

The twin temples on the summit of Templo Mayor were dedicated to Huitzilpopchtli, the god of war, and Tlaloc, the rain god. Theses god were often appeased by human sacrifices.
These sacrifices were done by ripping the hearts out of people while they were still alive and then throwing them down the steps.




This circular stone was foud at the bottom of the stair case, it's believed to have been placed there to stop the sacrificial bodies as they fell down.



It symbolizes Huitzilpopchtli's disembodied sister Coyolxauhqui. Who he killed in a legendary battle.