The Ankh, an Egyptian symbol discovered in an Aztec temple in Mexico
The ruins of an ancient and mysterious Aztec temple contains a structure that bears a strange and surprising resemblance to one of the fundamental emblems of Egyptian culture, the “ankh” cross.
The ankh (☥), also known as the key of life, is an ancient Egyptian sacred symbol. The original meaning of this symbol in Egyptian culture remains a mystery and the theories proposed on the origins of the ankh are many and contradictory to each other.
Certainly, it is a symbol linked to divinity as in Egyptian iconography the gods are often depicted with an ankh in their hand, or carried on their elbow, or on their chest.
However, the ankh could be an important symbol not only for ancient Egypt, but also for other cultures, very distant in space and time (as far as we know) from the Egyptian one.
Among the ruins of an ancient and mysterious Aztec temple in Mexico, called Calixtlahuaca, there is a curious structure made with stones with a shape surprisingly similar to that of the Egyptian ankh cross. The construction is perfectly aligned with the remains of two stone pyramids similar to the Egyptian ones.
Originally known as “Matlatzinco” (the city of the Matlatzinca), this Aztec urban settlement is part of what was once a powerful capital from which kings controlled a large territory in the Toluca Valley.
Clearly, conventional scholars rule out any connection between Aztec and Egyptian cultures, since they evolved on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean and could therefore not have come into contact. Yet, strangely, the meaning of the Aztec ankh seems to parallel the meaning behind the Egyptian ankh.
As illustrated in previous articles, the cultures of ancient Egypt and those of pre-Columbian America show incredible parallels, even though they developed on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Calixtlahuaca seems to confirm the disconcerting similarity between these two great civilizations of the past.
The Calixtlahuaca site
Calixtlahuaca (in the Nahuatl language “cali” means “house”, and “ixtlahuatl” means “prairie”, so the translation would be “house on the prairie”) is an archaeological site from the Mesoamerican postclassic period, located near the current city of Toluca, Mexico.
It is believed that the first settlers of this region were nomadic natives who only used the site seasonally. Later, around 200 BC, the Matlatzinca arrived and founded a small settlement; they subsequently received the influence of the Toltec culture and, finally, were dominated by the Aztecs in 1476 AD, who renamed the city with the dome of Calixtlahuaca.
The site includes two important structures: the Temple of Quetzalcoatl and the “Egyptian” cross altar called Tzompantli.
The Temple of Quetzalcoatl was probably dedicated to the god Ehēcatl, as the circular buildings of pre-Columbian Central America are generally linked to this deity. Ehēcatl, according to Aztec mythology, was the god of the wind, one of the guises of Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent.
Since the wind blows in all directions, the Ehēcatl temple is circular in shape to reduce air resistance. Ehēcatl is often depicted with two protruding masks through which the wind blows. Ehēcatl fell in love with a human named Mayahuel and gave humanity the ability to love, so that she could reciprocate his passion.
The other structure, the Tzompantli altar, is located on the north side of the square. The ankh cross shape is the aspect that most disconcerts researchers, who are unable to provide definitive answers as to the reason for this architectural shape.
Originally, the sides of the altar were covered with skulls carved from stone.
Two cultures so distant, so similar…
Calixtlahuaca adds a new element to the theory according to which all the megalithic civilizations of the past, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Mesoamerican and Asian, all descended from a great previous global culture that was destroyed in a cataclysm of catastrophic proportions.
The most disconcerting parallelism concerns the civilizations of Ancient Egypt and that of pre-Columbian America: both cultures built pyramids; both used solar symbolism and both believed in life after death, preparing their dead for the sacred journey to the afterlife through a very elaborate ritual ceremony.
Calixtlahuaca also reveals that both cultures used very similar symbols, such as the ankh cross, for the same purposes: to indicate the forces and interactions between physical life (valued as temporary) and spiritual life (considered eternal).
The prevailing contemporary view among scholars is that ancient and indigenous peoples around the world were perfectly capable of developing complex cultures independently of any external influence or inspiration. Any contrary views are generally dismissed and labeled as ridiculous and embarrassing.
Yet, evidence of a different history continually crops up, in a nagging manner, to annoy the linear and coherent theories developed by "orthodox" scholars. The question is that the "conventional" ones are and remain theories, while the archaeological evidence is there and provokes, inviting us to consider another "story".
