erra translated as "the place of the masters as keepers of
the gods" or "the place where the gods were adored," most probably really
meant "the divine four-sided mountains or pyramids" or, possibly, "the
sacred pyramids of the lords."

Until an extensive, carefully-planned and systematical exploration has
been carried out at Teotihuacan, it is impossible to form any definite
conclusions concerning its past history. Cherishing the hope that such an
exploration may yet be made during my lifetime, I shall merely make a few
remarks concerning the ruins, which I visited many years ago. Approaching
them from the south one enters a broad straight road, several miles in
length and about 250 feet wide, which is bordered at each side by a series
of irregular mounds, probably covering ruined structures. This imposing
road leads directly into the vast courtyard which stretches across the
base of the great pyramid of the Moon. As the City of Mexico lies to the
south of Teotihuacan it is significant to find that this road leads from
that direction to a vast pyramid situated at the north, which was,
according to the ancient Mexicans, the region of the Underworld, darkness
and death. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that the ancient
native name which still clings to the roadway is "the path of the dead."
The presence, moreover, of innumerable small clay heads which are,
undoubtedly, portraits or effigies of persons represented as dead, points
to the alternative that Teotihuacan may have been the necropolis of an
ancient civilization or that it was, even at the time of the Conquest, the
place where a register of deaths was kept by the priest-rulers, by means
of small clay effigies.

Considering the native idea, it seems more than probable that all matters
pertaining to the dead should be relegated to the northern region and the
fact that the road from the south leads to a pyramid which tradition
associates with the moon, the symbol of the nocturnal cult of the "Below,"
lends color to these views.

There is a temptation to imagine that possibly after the adoption of two
distinct cults of which the second pyramid seems to furnish
incontrovertible proof, a further divergence ensued resulting in the
ultimate abandonment of the capital by the votaries of the Sun, the male
principle and the Above. As the native civilizations were based on such a
plan that dissension and disorganization inevitably led to utter downfall
and ruin, it i