What are some distinctive elements of fifth-century art from the valley of Mexico?

Imagine that you could visit the tombs of the gods. That would be a pretty crazy feeling, right? For the ancient Mexica (the people known to their enemies as the Aztecs) this was actually a possibility, or so they thought. Just outside of the valley where the Mexica lived were the ruins of the great city of Teotihuacán.

Teotihuacán was one of the first urban centers in central Mexico, constructed between the first and seventh centuries CE. These people built the first monumental architecture of the region, organized the first complex cities, and then disappeared. We know very little about who these people were. Even the name, Teotihuacán, wasn't their own. When the Mexica arrived centuries later, they found the ruins of a great metropolis. To the Mexica, no ordinary people could have created such a magnificent city. So, they gave it the Nahuatl name Teotihuacán: the city of the gods.

Explanation: