Mexico's Teotihuacan ruins may have been "Teohuacan"

MEXICO CITY – Mexican experts say Spanish chroniclers may have altered the name of the pre-Hispanic city of Teotihuacan to erase its importance as a place of governance.

The Aztecs may have called the city "Teohuacan" — literally "the city of the sun," rather "city of the gods" or "place where men become gods."

Archaeologist Veronica Ortega said Tuesday a lesser-known early Indian document contained a pictogram referring to the city as a combination of sun, temple and ruler signs.

In the Xolotol Codex, the word "Teohuacan" is written underneath.

But later Codices — Aztec pictographic documents drawn up to inform the Spanish — contain the spelling "Teotihuacan."

Ortega said the Spanish were uncomfortable because the sun was a symbol for rulers and they wanted to concentrate all power in nearby Mexico City.