The Second Ruined City


The Second Ruined City - Labna, Tikal, Kabah?

Episode 27-28 - It has been generally accepted that the Second Ruined City was mostly based on Labna because of its arch. Although I agree that the city is partially based on Labna, I think that portions of the city is also based on the ruins of Kabah and Tikal.
Kabah Arch
Kabah is home to the stunning façade of the Codz-Pop (meaning "rolled-up mat"). Try to visualize the effect of a whole wall of Chac masks, around 250 in total, with big round eyes and protruding, curled noses. The intricacy of the carving is amazing and much of the detail is intact, though many of the noses are incomplete. Even the steps into the building are part of a Chac face; the footstep is a curved nose. It’s a tremendous sight, and the suggestion that each nose may have held a torch to light up the whole structure conjures up a remarkable picture in the mind. Note also the elaborate roof comb, once 10 ft (3 m) high, perforated with rectangular openings.
On the same side of the road are the Great Temple and Temple of the Columns, palace-like structures with plainer façades, where restoration work is ongoing. The grounds are lawned and fairly flat, so it’s easy to wander around.

Don’t miss the Arch of Kabah on the other side of the road, marking the end of a ceremonial sacbe about 2½ miles (4½ km) long leading from Uxmal. In the other direction the sacbe is believed to have extended to Labná.

Palace of Labna

Labna, which means "Old or abandoned house", was thus named at the time of its discovery and exploration. Along with Uxmal, Sayil and Kabah, it forms the jewels of Northern Maya architecture and sculpture. This site has attracted worldwide attention for its well-formed and finely ornamented arch, which must have been the entrance to an area dedicated to great celebrations.
Sculptures on the facade include representations of thatch-roof huts and stylized serpents. Some of the details have been lost, but the remaining architecture indicate the purity of the Puuc style, in which stone columns gives it its distinctive quality. A ceremony center includes the Palacio and the Mirador united by a "sacbe" or stone causeway some 170 meters long. This site is 120 Kms. from Merida with easy access by highway.

http://www.thenettraveler.com/labna_in.html

Temple of the Second City - Tikal

Temple 1.A - Temple of the Jaguar - Tikal

Tikal (tkäl´), ruined city of the Classic Period of the Maya, N central Petén, Guatemala. The largest and possibly the oldest of the Maya cities, Tikal consists of nine groups of courts and plazas built on hilly land above surrounding swamps (which may have been lakes in former times) and interconnected by bridges and causeways. The main civic and religious center of the city covers about 500 acres (200 hectares). Temples and palaces rise above the plazas. The design of the buildings is for the most part monumental and static and utilizes harmonious combinations of solid masses. The tallest structure, a temple, is 229 ft (70 m) high. With a backdrop of lush tropical vegetation the abandoned city is an impressive sight.

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2001 Columbia University Press.

Tikal

El Castillo at Chichen Itza

Statue of the Winged Serpent

Temple of the Feathered Serpent at Teotihuacan
Temple of the Feathered Serpent at Teotihuacan

Episode 23-25, 27-28 - According to MCoG, the Winged Serpent built the Cities of Gold and many of the cities the heroes

Quetzalcoatl, Toltec and Aztec god and legendary ruler of Mexico, usually referred to as the Plumed, or Feathered, Serpent, the translation of his Nahuatl name. In the 10th century AD the Toltecs transformed what had been a god of soil fertility, worshiped in Teotihuacán before the 9th century, into a deity associated with the morning and evening star, Venus. The Aztecs later made him a symbol of death and resurrection and a patron of priests. The opposing deity in the dualistic Toltec religion was Tezcatlipoca, the god of the night sky. He was believed to have driven Quetzalcoatl from his capital, Tula, into exile, from which, according to prophecy, Quetzalcoatl, described as light-skinned and bearded, would return in a certain year. Thus, when the Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés appeared in 1519, the Aztec king, Montezuma II, was easily convinced that Cortés was the returning god.
The legend of the exile of Quetzalcoatl may reflect changes in Toltec religion from agricultural ceremonies to the practice of human sacrifice (also adopted by the Aztecs), or it may have been based on the exile from Tula of a priest-king named Quetzalcoatl in the 10th century.

Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 98 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Quetzalcoatl The Feathered Serpent. The Precious Twin who lifts the sun out of darkness, god of the winds and the breath of life, First Lord of the Toltecs. Lawgiver, civilizer, creator of the calendar. Demons tempted Quetzalcoatl constantly to commit murder and human sacrifice, but his love was too great for him to succumb. To atone for great sins, Quetzcoatl threw himself on a funeral pyre, where his ashes rose to the heavens as a flock of birds carrying his heart to the star Venus. A frieze in the palace at Teotihuacan shows his first entry into the world in the shape of a chrysalis, from which he struggles to emerge as a butterfly, the symbol of perfection. Quetzalcoatl is by far the most compassionate of the Aztec gods -- he only demands one human sacrifice a year. Often considered synonymous with HUITZILOPOTCHLI.

Kukulcan (Maya) "The Feathered Serpent.) Serpent god. The city of Quirigua was dedicated to his service. Roughly similar to Quetzalcoatl of the Aztecs. He is said to have built the great city of Chicen Itza.

Viracocha (Inca) Literally, Sea-Foam. The Creator. The teacher of the world. After the Great Flood, which covered even the highest mountains and destroyed all life, Virococha molded new people out of clay at Tia Huanaco. On each figure of clay he painted the many features, clothes and hairstyles of the many nations, and gave to them their languages, their songs and the seeds they were to plant. Bringing them to life, Viracocha ordered them to travel underground and emerge at different places on the earth. Then Viracocha made the sun and the moon and the stars, and assigned them to their places in the sky. Raising up smaller Viracocha, the God ordered them to go about the world and call forth the people, and see to it that they multiplied and followed the commandments they had been given. Some of the little viracocha went south, some went southeast, while the God's two sons traveled northeast and northwest. Viracocha himself traveled straight north. Some tribes had rebelled, and these Viracocha punished by turning the people into stone. At Pucara, forty leagues north of Cuzco, Viracocha called down fire from the sky upon those who had disobeyed his commandments. Arriving at last at Cuzco and the seacoast, Viracocha gathered together his two sons and all the little viracocah, and they walked across the water until they disappeared.

http://nikki.sitenation.com/namerican/southgods.html

Doors of Night - Olmec Jaguar Statue

Olmec Jaguar statue

Episode 27 - In one of the temples of the second city, our heroes find a stone jaguar that guards the doors of night. I can't remember where I found this picture so if anyone knows, please tell me.

Statue of the Second City - ?

 

 

Main | Series Info | Episode Guide | Characters | Gallery | Sound Files | Music | Real MCoG | Fan Fics| Fan Art
King's Fifth | Discoverer's List | Videos | Miscellaneous | Quiz | Adoptions | Fan List | About Me | Links