| Cacaxtla is one of a number of hilltop sites in the Puebla-Tlaxcala border area. It was a seat and fortress of the Olmeca-Xicallanca, whose capital was then Cholula. The name 'Olmeca' (not to be confused with the Archaeological Olmec of the Preclassic) means "people of the region of rubber," that is , of the southern Gulf Coast. 'Xicallanca' is another Nahuatl name, referring to "the people of Xicallanco" (or land of calabashes). In the Red Temple staircase paintings we find Maya gods, including the patron of merchants, God L, walking on a painted stream of water that runs along the edge of the stairs. As the deities move upward along water that is known to run downhill, the artist has conveyed one of the contradictions of quickly moving water, in that it seems to be running uphill, an observation that has fascinated western poets and philosophers. |
