PYRAMID TEMPLE OF CHICHEN ITZA 

 Pyramid temple with four broad stair- 

 ways and nine terraces. Chichen Itza was the 

 mother city in that prehistoric civilization that 

 students for convenience sake now agree to 

 call "Maya." No one tries to name or set 

 the time exactly of these building races of 

 Yucatan. Of this city seven other structures, 

 among them the Temple of the Jaguars, still 

 rear their walls while hundreds lie as shapeless 

 heaps of masonry 



Five hundred feet to the west 

 of this pyramid-temple but on the 

 same great terrace, rest two huge 

 moles of masonry, stone-faeed, 

 each 274 feet long by 30 feet high 

 and 30 feet thick. No lines of 

 cornice or bands of ornamentation 

 interrupt the sheer vertical walls, 

 but high up the inner wall sur- 

 face, two large stone rings once 

 projected, one on each side and 

 each opposite the other. One of 

 these has been broken from its 

 place and lies on the ground be- 

 neath, but the other still remains 

 firm and projects boldly from the 

 sheer surface. Between these two 

 moles is a level space 121 feet 

 wide, called the Ceremonial Court. 

 These stone rings and the Cere- 

 monial Court were probably used 

 in the performance of sacred rites 

 and in games of a religious char- 

 acter. 



Upon the southern end of the 

 eastern mole rests an edifice that 

 is in many respects the most in- 

 teresting of all the structures still 

 standing. It is called the Temple 

 of the Jaguars, from the remark- 

 able frieze or band of well-carved 

 jaguars that alternating with 

 shields, once extended around 

 the temple walls. 



Below the temple proper 

 which is two-chambered, the re- 

 mains of what was once a third 

 chamber is still visible, facing the 

 east and resting directly upon the 

 level surface of the great ground 

 terrace. A large portion of its 

 walls has fallen but upon the 

 portions of wall surface still 

 standing can be seen carvings in 

 low relief of intense interest. 



The inner chamber of the 



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