# Papantla picture, 1894



## JWW427 (Aug 16, 2021)

All I got.
Its pristine!


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## enthusiast (Aug 17, 2021)




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## Jd755 (Aug 17, 2021)

Now if it were a photograph.....dated 1894.....


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## enthusiast (Aug 17, 2021)

JWW427 said:


> All I got.





Carl Nebel - «Voyage pittoresque et archéologique dans la partie la plus intéressante du Méxique»

Original - MEXICO [9] 엘 따힌 선(先) 스페인도시 ( El Tajin)
Translate - MEXICO [9] El Tajin, Spanish city (El Tajin).


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## HELLBOY (Aug 22, 2021)

Engraving of how the splendor of the Totonaca city of Tajin was imagined at the end of the 19th century. This city had its peak between 600 and 1200 AD, being its main construction the so-called "pyramid of the niches", which is seen in this illustration.
_View: https://twitter.com/cuauhtemoc_1521/status/1067528284722720768?lang=fi_





This is how it looked in 1913.



​
Just to give you an idea of the distances.​



Google Maps​And in fact the image does not look like the aerial shot where it is noticed that there was no street planning as it is noticed in Teotihuacan.



​The site was already totally depopulated when the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the 16th century, so it was not destroyed.
In 1785, an official by the name of Diego Ruiz stumbled upon the Pyramid of the Niches, whilst looking for clandestine tobacco plantings breaching the royal monopoly in this isolated area rarely visited by the authorities.
German architect Charles Nebel visited the site in 1831 and was the first to graphically and narratively detail the Pyramid of the Niches. El Tajín - Wikipedia


Finally, the legend of the pyramid of Tajin.

The following legend narrates the formation of the pyramid of Tajin, near Veracruz, which belonged to the ancient Totonaca people; and was dedicated to the deity of rain, thunder and lightning.

It is said that one day seven priests gathered in a cavern where there was an altar to the god of thunder, water and rivers. As they stood facing the four cardinal points, they chanted songs of the winds and invoked the gods.

Their prayers were heard, the sky flashed, the echoes resounded loudly and instantly the rain fell in torrents. For several hours a heavy deluge was observed. For many days a tempest fell; then the rivers, today known as Papaloapan and Las Mariposas, overflowed, their waters covered the banks and destroyed everything in their path. The more they played the drums and invoked the deities of the four cardinal points of the cave, the louder the thunder became.

Some time later, a group of uniquely dressed people arrived to the place. They brought other customs and their particular characteristic was the permanent smile on their faces. They said they came from distant lands where the sea is as blue as the turquoise itself. They had spent many hardships in violent waters until they reached these tropical coasts and thought they would finally settle down. They named those lands Totonacapan and called themselves Totonacans, according to their language.

This race brought great culture, which frightened the priests. They hid again in their cavern to provoke thunder and lightning to scare away the newcomers.
In the ancient records, which time has erased, it is said that it rained heavily for several days, until they realized that the storms were caused by the seven priests in the cavern.

The Totonacs were not fond of violence, so they embarked the priests on a small raft, providing them with water and provisions and sending them away for good.

However, the Totonaca people had a problem: the fury of the winds and rain would not cease. It was necessary to dominate the thunder deities to end the disaster, so they gathered wise men and priests, who decided to worship the gods. In the same place where the temple and the cave were, where the worship to the god of thunder took place, the Totonac smiling men built the amazing temple of Tajin, which in their language means Place of the Tempests.

Today you can see this marvelous temple, known in the world as the Pyramid or Temple of Tajin, erected with veneration to the god of thunder; there, curiously, the storms, thunder and the fiercest rains of the country seem to begin. This happened many years ago before the arrival of the Spaniards.


In my search for Tajin I could not help but notice the symbol called: "Salomon's Knot" marked in red. What I marked in white is a man with a helmet similar to the Olmec heads.





The symbol has already been identified in many places as this Mayan and Roman image. According to wikipedia the symbol may also be related to the Swastika. Solomon's knot - Wikipedia


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