Architecture Through the Ages, Part 2: Monte Alban

At the center of three fertile valleys, Oaxaca is a natural site for a city, and in fact has been one for thousands of years. From around 100 B.C. to 750 A.D. it was the capital of the Zapotec empire, which ruled southernmost Mexico contemporaneously with the Mayans further east and south and, for that matter, with Rome and Constantinople in Europe.

At it peak, it held around 25,000 people, with a big ceremonial center surrounded by temples and ball courts:





Among the most famous discoveries at Monte Alban were the "danzantes," sculptures initially thought to be of dancing men, which lent their name (many years later) to one of Oaxaca's best restaurants. But later research has shown that these "dancers" were actually shown being tortured and killed:


The religious history of Mexico is not a pretty one; more on that later as well.