98 



In the time of Cortez, Cholula was considered 

 as a holy city. No where existed a greater num- 

 ber of teocallis, of priests, and religious orders 

 (tlamacazque) ; no spot displayed greater mag- 

 nificence in the celebration of public worship, or 

 more austerity in its penances and fasts. Since 

 the introduction of Christianity among the In- 

 dians, the symbols of a new worship have not 

 entirely effaced the remembrance of the old. 

 The people assemble in crowds from distant 

 quarters at the summit of the pyramid, to cele- 

 brate the festival of the Virgin. A mysterious 

 dread, a religious awe, fills the soul of the Indi- 

 an at the sight of this immense pile of bricks, 

 covered with shrubs and perpetual verdure. 



We have above remarked the great similarity 

 of construction between the Mexican teocallis 

 and the temple of Bel or Belus, at Babylon. 

 This analogy had already struck Mr. Zoega, 

 though he had been able to procure but very in- 

 complete descriptions of the group of the pyra- 

 mids of Teotihuacan*. According to Hero- 

 dotus, who visited Babylon, and saw the temple 

 of Belus, this pyramidal monument had eight 

 stories. It was a stadium high, and the breadth 

 of its basis was equal to its height. The outer 

 wall which surrounded it, the jeyfroKot, was two 



* Zoega, de Origine Obeliscerum, p. 380. 



