12.6 Xiuhtlaltzin, Last Queen of the Toltec (Mexico)

The history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica is hard for historians because the best sources were all destroyed. Those that remain are of dubious historicity, but they do tell of the Queen Xiuhtlaltzin, who reigned somewhere in the 800s or 900s, shortly before the fall of the Toltec empire. Since the records are so sketchy, this episode is not exactly a biography, but it does cover:

what written records the people of Mesoamerica left

why the written records didn't survive (they got burned)

how the people reconstructed their oral histories in the 1600s

how those reconstructions tell a very little about Xiuhtlaltzin

what archaeology of Tollan/Tula can tell us

how Xiuhtlaltzin might have worshipped a frog goddess

how she might have cheered and/or played and/or sacrificed the losers of the famous Mesoamerican ball game

In the end, the jury's out on whether Xiuhtlaltzin even existed. Feel free to tell me what you think in the comments on the website or on social media.
Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.
Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/herhalfofh8).
Join Into History (intohistory.com/herhalfofhistory/) for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.
Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows.
Follow me on Twitter (X) as @her_half. Or on Facebook or Instagram as Her Half of History.
Feature image by AlejandroLinaresGarcia - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24460525
 
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The history of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica is hard for historians because the best sources were all destroyed. Those that remain are of dubious historicity, but they do tell of the Queen Xiuhtlaltzin, who reigned somewhere in the 800s or 900s, shortly before the fall of the Toltec empire. Since the records are so sketchy, this episode is not exactly a biography, but it does cover:

what written records the people of Mesoamerica left
why the written records didn't survive (they got burned)
how the people reconstructed their oral histories in the 1600s
how those reconstructions tell a very little about Xiuhtlaltzin
what archaeology of Tollan/Tula can tell us
how Xiuhtlaltzin might have worshipped a frog goddess
how she might have cheered and/or played and/or sacrificed the losers of the famous Mesoamerican ball game

In the end, the jury's out on whether Xiuhtlaltzin even existed. Feel free to tell me what you think in the comments on the website or on social media.

Visit the website (herhalfofhistory.com) for sources, transcripts, and pictures.

Support the show on my Patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/user?u=83998235) for bonus episodes, polls, and a general feeling of self-satisfaction. Or make a one-time donation on Buy Me a Coffee (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/herhalfofh8).

Join Into History (intohistory.com/herhalfofhistory/) for a community of ad-free history podcasts plus bonus content.

Visit Evergreen Podcasts to listen to more great shows.

Follow me on Twitter (X) as @her_half. Or on Facebook or Instagram as Her Half of History.

Feature image by AlejandroLinaresGarcia - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24460525

 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices