Chapter 15 Chapter 15 Babel in Mexico

We drove from Tula, headed southeast, along a series of disorganized highways, through the haze and choking foul air on the outskirts of the capital, Mexico City, and then climbed all the way into the pine forested hills, passing Snow-capped Popocatepetl, driving on a shady road in the fields. In the evening, we reached Holula.Although this lifeless town has a population of only 11,000, there is a wide square in the city center.We drove east, through narrow streets, over a railroad, and parked in the shadow of an "artificial hill" the Indians called Tlahchiualtepetl.The purpose of our trip is to admire the elegance of this historic site.

This gigantic building is known as one of the largest engineering projects in the ancient world.It was once a sanctuary dedicated to Quetzalcotel, the god of peace, but is now occupied by Catholics, who have built a richly decorated church on top of it.The foundation of this ancient building covers an area of ​​45 acres and is 210 feet high, three times larger than the Great Pyramid of Egypt.Under the erosion of the years, although the outline has become blurred and the surrounding area is covered with weeds, it can be vaguely seen that it was originally a magnificent and solemn ancient Babylonian pagoda (Ziggurat), with four neat and straight "steps" ", straight to the sky.The bottom of the pagoda is almost half a kilometer long on each side.Although it has been trampled and humiliated, this ancient building still maintains its dignity and beauty.

Dusty monuments will not remain silent forever.Sometimes it confides in the world.Standing under the pagoda now, I seem to hear its heartfelt voice.The pagoda bears witness to the physical and psychological trauma suffered by the Mexican people when the "Conqueror" Cortez led the Spanish army to sweep across Mexico, "uprooting a culture like a passer-by tearing down a sunflower on the side of the road." and humiliation.At that time, the city of Zhulula was a great religious holy place with a population of 100,000.In order to completely wipe out Mexico's ancient traditions and way of life, the conquerors racked their brains and tried their best to ruin the temple of Quetzalcotel.The gang finally came up with a trick: smash down the entire temple standing on the top of the pagoda, and build a church on the original site.

Kertesz and his men are just a small group of people, while Zhulula City has 100,000 residents.However, when the Spanish army marched into the city of Zolula, they had a major strategic advantage: this group of foreigners with white skin, beards and armor, seemed to the native Mexicans to be ancient. The legend prophesied that when the "Feathered Serpent God" Quetza Cotel left, he promised the people that one day he would lead his disciples to "cross the East China Sea" and return to Mexico②. Under such anticipation, the innocent and honest residents of Zhulula let the Spanish army climb the steps of the pagoda and enter the main courtyard of the temple.Here, groups of beautifully dressed girls take turns singing operas and playing various musical instruments to welcome distinguished guests from afar.The servants shuttled through the banquet, bringing trays of bread and carefully cooked dishes.

A Spanish historian witnessed the course of events.According to his records, all the people in the city, rich or poor, high or low, male or female, old or young, gathered in front of the temple. speech".Taking advantage of the innocence and ignorance of the townspeople, the Spaniards took the opportunity to close and block all the entrances to the temple, and then drew their swords unexpectedly, and assassinated the hosts who had warmly entertained them③.A total of 6,000 people were killed in this bloody massacre④.The brutality and savagery of the Spaniards is not much worse than that of the Aztecs who held murder rituals. "The townspeople of Zorula were caught off guard. They didn't carry swords, arrows and shields, and they couldn't resist the Spaniards. In this way, they died one by one in a daze. They were tricked by the Spaniards and became unjust dead ghosts." ⑤

Ironically, the Spanish armies that conquered both Peru and Mexico benefited from the indigenous myth that a fair-skinned, bearded god would one day return.If the deity is a deified mortal, then he must be a civilized, decent figure, or, more precisely, two figures of similar background, one operating in Mexico, who became the later deity" Quetzalcotel", another appeared in Peru, becoming the "god of Viracocha".The invading Spaniards looked exactly like these two white men who had come to America earlier, which made their plan to conquer America go very smoothly.However, unlike these two benevolent and wise ancestors, General Pizarro, who conquered the Andes, and General Kertesz, who ravaged Central America, were two hungry wolves.As they marched, they opened their mouths wide, devouring the lands, peoples, and cultures that fell into their hands.They destroyed almost everything...

cultural havoc When the Spaniards, blinded by ignorance, prejudice and greed, arrived in Mexico, they destroyed a precious legacy left by human ancestors in one fell swoop.Because of their stupidity, the descendants of human beings can no longer truly understand the once prosperous civilization that rose in Central America. For example, what is the origin of the luminous "god statue" enshrined in the temple of Achiotlan, the capital of the Mixtec Indians?Through the records of an eyewitness, Father Burhoa (Father Burhoa) in the 16th century, we know that there was indeed such a rare treasure at that time:

This thing is priceless.It is an emerald, the size of a pepper, with a small bird and a small snake curled up waiting for an opportunity to attack.The gem is crystal clear, so transparent that it emits light from within, as bright as cannon fire.This is a very ancient piece of jewelry, and now no one knows its origin, and no one knows why it was enshrined in the temple and worshiped by the common people⑤. Today, if we had the opportunity to examine such "very old" gems, what secrets would we discover?How old is it?We will never find out, because Fr Benito, the first missionary sent by the Catholic Church to Aciotlan, snatched this jewel from the Indians: "A Spaniard offered 3,000 Gold coins bought the gem, but the priest refused. The priest crushed the whole gem and ground it into a powder, then mixed the powder with water, poured it on the ground, and trampled it hard with his feet..."⑦

The two gifts from the Aztec emperor Montezuma to the Spanish commander Cortez are extremely precious Mexican historical relics, but if they fall into the hands of reckless people, they will inevitably suffer the same fate.The two gifts are circular calendars, the size of a vehicle, one made of silver and the other made of pure gold, both of which are engraved with beautiful hieroglyphs, containing precious historical materials.General Kertesz received the gift and ordered it to be melted down on the spot and cast into gold and silver ingots. All over Mesoamerica, people scoured for historical artifacts, piled them up, and set them on fire.In this way they systematically wiped out the ancient culture and knowledge of the Indians.For example, in July 1562, Fr Diego de landa personally burned thousands of Tens of thousands of manuscripts of ancient Mayan books, picture books of stories, and hieroglyphic scrolls written on deerskin.At the same time, he also smashed countless statues and altars-according to him, these things are "the devil's stuff, used to deceive the Indians,..."9 He also burned books in other cities Idol thing.By his own admission:

We found a large number of books (all in Indian script).Since the books are full of superstitions and lies of the devil, we simply set a fire to burn them.The local aborigines watched helplessly, heartbroken and sad10. Isn't it only the "indigenous people" who are heartbroken!Anyone who wants to explore the truth of ancient culture and history, no matter what era they live in, will feel heartache for this cultural catastrophe. There are also many "clergy" who participated in the action of the Spanish occupying forces to eradicate the traditional culture of Central America, and some of them have a more ruthless and "efficient" style of work than Diego Duranda.The most notorious of this group was the Mexican, Juan de Zumarraga; by his own admission, he destroyed 20,000 Indian idols and 500 Indian temples during his tenure. In November 1530, he tied an Aztec nobleman who had converted to Catholicism to the stake and burned him alive on the charge of privately worshiping the "Rain God" of the Indians.Not long after, he started a massive fire in the market square of the city of Texcoco, disposing of precious artifacts looted from the Aztecs by Spanish occupation forces over the past 11 years, such as astronomical materials, paintings, manuscripts and The hieroglyphic scrolls were burnt to pieces⑾.With the rising flames and flying ashes, our knowledge of the ancient culture and history of Mesoamerica was wiped out.

How many of the written records left by the various ethnic groups in ancient Mesoamerica survive today?The answer is: due to the atrocities committed by some Spaniards in ancient times, there are less than twenty manuscripts and books that survive today. It is said that many of the documents burned by those people contained "ancient history". What is the history?What secret does it contain? Tales of Giants and Towers Just as the book burning was in full swing, some Spaniards had already begun to understand: "A truly great civilization existed in Mexico before the Aztecs." ⑿ Strange to say, the one who first woke up was the one who burned the book Diego Duranda burned most.Apparently, he had a "clear moment" in his mind after performing a public book-burning show in Mannytown.In his twilight years, he made up his mind to try his best to collect the myths and oral histories written on the Yucatan Peninsula, in order to restore the ancient culture and wisdom that he had spared no effort to destroy. The Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagun was a historian; we have much to learn from his records of the history and legends of Mesoamerica.It is said that this outstanding linguist "visited the Indian elders everywhere, begging them to use Aztec hieroglyphics, and write down the history, religion and legend of the Aztec people as far as they can remember"⑶.He compiled the ethnic, mythological, social and historical data of ancient Mexico collected over the years into a 12-volume masterpiece.After its publication, the work was banned by the Spanish authorities.Fortunately, a copy has survived, though incomplete. Another Franciscan monk, Diego de Duran, worked tirelessly all his life to collect local myths and legends, trying to restore the lost ancient culture and knowledge. In 1585, he visited the city of Chollula.At that time, Mexican society was undergoing an unprecedented upheaval.In Zhulula City, Diego interviewed an old man who was said to be over 100 years old and listened to him tell the story of building the pagoda: In the beginning, the light of the sun had not yet been created, and the place of Chollula was filled with darkness.The land is flat and vast, without hills; the whole plain is surrounded by water, without trees or living things.Immediately after the sun and light had risen from the east, there appeared in the world a host of monstrous giants, occupying all the lands.They fell in love with the beautiful sun and light and decided to build a tower; this tower was so high that the top of the tower touched heaven.They collected building materials, and then found a kind of mud and asphalt with strong stickiness, and immediately started to build the tower... The tower was finally built to the maximum height, and the top of the tower touched heaven.The Lord of Heaven was very angry, and said to the inhabitants of heaven: "Have you not seen that the mortals on the earth, fascinated by the light and beauty of the sun, build a tower of pride and come straight to us. Go and teach them Don't let these mortals come into heaven and live with us." Then the inhabitants of heaven struck like lightning; they destroyed the tower, and scattered its builders to all parts of the world. This Mesoamerican legend is similar to the story of the Tower of Babel (Tower of Babel) told in the Christian Bible, which evolved from an even older Mesopotamian legend .In order to explore the meaning of this story, I specially came to Zhulula City to investigate. There is clearly a close relationship between the legend of the tower in Mesoamerica and the story of the Tower of Babel in the Middle East.The similarities between the two are obvious, but we cannot ignore the important differences.Of course, the reason why the two stories of the East and the West have these commonalities may be because the cultures of the two regions had contacted before Columbus discovered America, but it was not recorded in history.There is a theory that can explain the similarities and differences between the two stories at the same time: the two versions of the legend of the tower originated from a common and very ancient ancestor, and then evolved and developed independently over the thousands of years to form the current form. .Is there such a possibility? eternal buildings The story of "The Tower of Babel" told in "Bible Genesis" is as follows: At that time, people all over the world spoke with the same accent.When they migrated eastward, they found a plain near the south and lived there.They said to each other, "Come on, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used bricks for stones, and tar for mortar.They said, "Come, let us build a city and a tower, and the top of the tower will reach to heaven, so that we may make a name for ourselves, so that we may not be scattered over all the earth." The LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the world had built.Yahweh said: "Behold, they have become one people, and they all speak the same language. Now that they have done this, nothing will be impossible for them to do in the future. Let us go down there and confuse their speech. so that they could not understand each other's languages." So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth.And they stopped working on the city.The name of the city was Babel, because the LORD confused the language of the people of the world there, and scattered them all over the whole earth. The verse of this passage that interests me the most is this: The builders of the Tower of Babel claimed that they built an eternal structure in order to keep their name immortal—even if their civilization and language were forgotten.Did the builders of the Chollula Tower have the same motivation? According to the calculations of archaeologists, in Mexico, there are only a few ancient buildings with a history of more than 2,000 years.Zolula City is definitely one of them.No one is sure how far back its battlements began.There are indications that when the city began its active expansion and development in 300 BC, some ancient buildings had existed for thousands of years; on their site now stands the magnificent Quetza Cotel Pagoda. Some previous discoveries in the archaeological world are enough to prove that the remains of an extremely ancient civilization are still hidden in various parts of Central America, waiting for archaeologists to dig. Next to the highway in the city (Cuernaca), stands a circular step pyramid with a very complicated structure, with four corridors and a main staircase. In the 1920s, part of the remains of the pyramid was excavated from volcanic lava by archaeologists.A group of geologists was invited to the site to help date the lava.To everyone's surprise, after detailed examination, they came to the conclusion that the volcanic eruption that buried three sides of the pyramid (and then covered the surrounding 60 square miles of land) must have occurred "at least 7,000 years ago." ⒃. This geological evidence has been deliberately ignored by historians and archaeologists, because they simply do not believe that in such an ancient era, there was a civilization capable of building pyramids in Mexico.It is worth mentioning that the American archaeologist Byron Cummings (Byron Cummings), who excavated this monument for the National Geographical Society (National Geographical Society), was confronted with the clear hierarchy above and below the pyramid (including volcanic eruptions). Completed before and after), I have to admit: "So far, this is the oldest temple found on the American continent." The date he calculated is even older than the geologists identified.He pointed out categorically: "This temple was reduced to ruins about 8,500 years ago."⒄ layered pyramid Entering the interior of the Zhulula Pyramid, it feels like drilling into an artificial hill.The tunnels inside (more than 6 miles in total) are not ancient—several teams of archaeologists dug hard inside the pyramid from 1931 until 1966, when funding ran out, leaving behind them.However, for some reason, these narrow and low underground corridors are infected with the ancient atmosphere of the surrounding buildings, which are both damp and cool, eerie and creepy. Guided by a flashlight, we walked into the depths of the pyramid step by step.Archaeologists concluded from the unearthed cultural relics that this pyramid was not a product of a certain dynasty (this is different from the pyramids in the Gisha area of ​​Egypt), but after a very long period of time-according to conservative estimates, at least about 2000 years ——Gradually completed.In other words, it is a collective engineering project, carried out by many generations of laborers.Participants come from a variety of cultures and peoples, including Olmec, Teotihuacan, Toltec, ZaPotec, Miztec, Zorula and Az Turk and other Mexican nations have risen successively.Since prehistoric times, these cultures have influenced the ancient city of Chopra⒅. While we have no way of knowing for sure who built the pyramid, archaeologists have established that the earliest works included a towering conical pyramid shaped like a bucket with an upturned bottom and a flat top with a shrine. temple.After many years, a second similar earth-made pyramid was added to the original one. At the same time, thick stone slabs were added to the top of the first pyramid, making the foundation of the temple more than 200 meters above the surrounding plain. foot.In the next 1500 years, it is estimated that four or five other peoples and cultures participated in the construction project, making the excellent Lula Pyramid what it is today.These peoples successively expanded the base of the pyramid, but no longer increased its height.In this way, as if implementing an overall engineering plan, the "artificial mountain" of Chopra City revealed its typical four-story pagoda structure step by step.Today, its base measures 1,500 feet on each side, roughly twice the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, and its total volume is a staggering 3 million cubic meters.As one expert put it: "It is the largest structure ever built by man on earth."⒆ So why come? Why bother? What exactly did the people of Central America want to make of themselves? Traveling through the cobweb-like tunnels, inhaling the cool sandy atmosphere of the ground, I only felt that the huge and heavy pyramid above my head was mercilessly pressing down on me.This is the largest building in the world; it was erected here to honor a mysterious Mesoamerican god. Due to the ignorance and prejudice of the Spanish occupation forces and the Catholic Church, today we know almost nothing about the origin and deeds of Quetzalcotel and his disciples.These invading Spaniards demolished the ancient temples in the city of Zolula, smashed statues of gods, altars, and steles engraved with calendars, and burned countless cultural relics, including manuscripts, paintings, and hieroglyphic scrolls.These guys tried to wipe out the history and culture of the peoples of Mesoamerica, and they almost succeeded.However, the myths circulating among the common people clearly and definitely tell us that the first people to build the Zhuolula Pyramid were a group of "deformed giants". Notes: ① "White Race and Stone Face", p. 12. ② Same as above, pages 3-4. ③ "Mystery of the Mexican Pyramids", p. 6. ④ "Mexico", 224 pages. ⑤ Eyewitness accounts, included in "Mysteries of the Mexican Pyramids", page 6. ⑥ "Magic and Mystery in Mexico", pp. 228-229. ⑦ Same as above. ⑧ "Mystery of the Mexican Pyramids", p. 7. ⑨ "The Yucatan Peninsula before and after the Spanish Invasion". 9 pages.See also The Mystery of the Mexican Pyramids, p. 20. ⑩ "The Yucatan Peninsula before and after the Spanish Invasion", p. 104. ⑾ "Mystery of the Mexican Pyramids", opposite page. ⑿ Ibid., p. 23. ⒀ Ibid., p. 24. ⒁ Diego Diduran, "The Ancient History of New Spain" (1585), collected in Ignatius Donnelly's "Atlantis: The World Before the Flood", 200 pages. Diego de Duran． "His. tora antlquade la Nueve Espana" (1585), In lgnatlus Donelly, Atlantis: The Antediluuian Wordl, p. 200． ⒂ Chapter 11, Section 1-9 of "Old Testament Genesis". ⒃ Recorded in "The Map of the Ancient Sea King", page 199.See also Gods and Giants, p. 54 and The Mystery of the Mexican Pyramids, p. 207. ⒄ Byron Cummins, "Quiquico and Ancient Mexican Culture", "Journal of the University of Arizona" No. 8, published on November 15, 1933. Byron S． Cumming S, "Culcullco and th Archaic Culture of Mexico," Uniuersity of Ariaona Bulletin, Volume N: 8, 15. November 1933 ⒅ "Mexico", 223 pages.See also Kurt Mendelsohn, The Mystery of the Pyramids, p. 190. Kunt Mendelssohn, The Riddle Of the Pyramids, Thames Hudson, Iondon, 1989, p. 190 pages. ⒆ "Mystery of the Pyramids", p. 190.