Tula Secunda
Tula Ixchilco Ixchilco | |
|---|---|
| 100 BC–726 AD | |
 Glyph Banner | |
| Status | City state hegemony |
| Capital | Ixchilco |
| Government | Unknown |
| Historical era | Antiquity |
• Established | 100 BC |
| 726 AD | |
| Area | |
| 1rst century BCE | 17 km2 (6.6 sq mi) |
| 5th century CE | 25 km2 (9.7 sq mi) |
| 8th century CE | 10 km2 (3.9 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 1rst century BCE | 50,000 |
• 5th century CE | 150,000 |
• 8th century CE | 2,000 |
Ixchilco, known to the Palatinates historians as Tula Secunda was an ancient city-state located in modern day Karazawa, in a valley of the modern day northern Erechi Mountain Range. At its height, Ixchilco was home to an estimated 125,000 people, one of the largest cities of its time. It is remembered today for its many pyramids, some being the largest of Karazawa, and the main rival to the Palatinate, blocking the expansion of the latter eastward. Apart from the pyramids, the city is also anthropologically significant for its complex, multi-family residential compounds and its vibrant murals that have been well-preserved.
No written document from Ixchilco is known. Instead, historians are limited to the texts left by Palatins historians and monuments or stelae left by the vassals of the city. The totonacs claim to have been the founders of the city, but it had clearly become multicultural by the first century CE, and the exact nature of its rulership is still subject to debate among specialists.
Name
The exact etymology of the name "Ixchilco" is hotly debated, but it seems to be from the totonac verb "to see". Ixchilco might then mean "Place of the visions", in reference to the city's nature as a religious center.
As a hegemon in the political landscape of the Conitian antiquity, Ixchilco was referred to as a "Tula" by both its vassals and rivals. The name "Tula Secunda" was specifically used by Palatins Historians to distinguish it from the other "Tula" that existed at the time. The exact correspondence between Tula and Ixchimilco was not proven until 1942, when excavation in the city of Ewa led to the discovery of a stelae written in both Latin and Ewaguatl, copy of a treaty between the Palatinate and the kingdom. In this document, Tula Secunda is clearly identified as Ixchilco, answering the question of the historians.
History
Origins and foundation
The early history of Ixchilco is quite mysterious and the origin of its founders is uncertain. Around 900 or 800 BCE, people of the valley began to gather into larger settlements. It marks the transition between the Nomadic Agriculturalism that had previously dominated the hinterlands of the Erechi Peninsula. The builders of the city took advantage of the geography of the Tollan Valley : from the swampy ground, they constructed raised beds, creating high agricultural productivity despite old methods of cultivation. This allowed for the formation of channels, and subsequently canoe traffic, to transport food from farms around the city.