Tags
Ancient Mexican civilizations, Architecture, Burial Place, discovering mexico, geometric stone mosaics, Mexico, Mitla, Mixtec civilization, Monte Albán, Oaxaca, Zapotec civilization
Hey guys 
hope you enjoyed reading my previous post on The Archaeological Zone of Monte Albán in Oaxaca
Today’s post is on the Zapotec ruins of Mitla which lie just outside the town of San Pablo Villa de Mitla, about kms from Oaxaca City
The name ‘Mitla’ or ‘Mictlan’ is of Nahuatl origin and means ‘Place of the Dead.’ In Zapotec, it is called ‘Lyobaa’ which means ‘Burial Place’. It is considered as the fabled home of Mictlantecuhtle, Lord of The Underworld.
Mitla was the second most important ceremonial centre after Monte Albán. It was a religious centre, run almost entirely by priests who spent most of their time undertaking human sacrifices, often by extracting live hearts from the victims being sacrificed, and depositing them in a pit of fire as an offering to the gods. The ruins are of Zapotec and Mixtec origin, and date back to around 600 BC.
Mitla is known for its fret-ornamented structures and its most unique feature is the rich variety of geometric stone mosaics that are displayed throughout the different buildings in the site.
The main attraction is the Grupo de las Columnas (Group of columns) which includes Patio de Mosaicos (Patio of Mosaics), Sala de las Columnas (Hall of Columns) and the Columna de la Vida (Column of Life).
You can read more about Oaxaca, my travel experiences there and at many other beautiful destinations in Mexico in my eBook Discovering Mexico
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Here’s a cool song for you from the German band E-Nomine : Schwarze Sonne
Thanks for stopping by…hasta luego
