page_title: Mesoamerican pyramids
section_title: Teotihuacan
hierarchical_section_title: Mesoamerican pyramids / Teotihuacan
caption_attribution_description: Pirámide del Sol, Teotihuacán, México
context_page_description: Mesoamerican pyramids form a prominent part of ancient Mesoamerican architecture. Although similar in some ways to Egyptian pyramids, these New World structures have flat tops and stairs ascending their faces. The Mesoamerican region's largest pyramid by volume – the largest pyramid in the world by volume – is the Great Pyramid of Cholula, in the east-central Mexican state of Puebla. The builders of certain classic Mesoamerican pyramids have decorated them copiously with stories about the Hero Twins, the feathered serpent Quetzalcoatl, Mesoamerican creation myths, ritualistic sacrifice, etc. written in the form of hieroglyphs on the rises of the steps of the pyramids, on the walls, and on the sculptures contained within.
context_section_description: The Teotihuacan civilization, which flourished from around 300 BCE to 500 CE, at its greatest extent included most of Mesoamerica. Teotihuacano culture collapsed around 550 and was followed by several large city-states such as Xochicalco (whose inhabitants were probably of Matlatzinca ethnicity), Cholula (whose inhabitants were probably Oto-Manguean), and later the ceremonial site of Tula (which has traditionally been claimed to have been built by Toltecs but which now is thought to have been founded by the Huastec culture).
  El Castillo & High Priest's Temple in Chichen Itza
  Pyramids of the Sun, the Moon and Temple of the Feathered Serpent in Teotihuacan
  Xochicalco
  Talud-tablero
caption: Pyramid of the Sun
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