CORTÉS—the height of three men = say 16′.
ANONIMO—the height of two men = say 10′ 8″.
MOTOLINIA—1½ to 2 Brazas = say 11′.
The size of the platform on the top of the Teocalli cannot be decided
from the written records. Torquemada says that there was ample room for
the Priests of the Idols to carry out their functions unimpeded and
thoroughly, yet in an earlier paragraph he appears to limit the width to
a little more than seventy feet. Possibly this measurement of seventy
feet is meant to apply to a forecourt of the two sanctuaries.
Motolinia gives the measurement of the base of the Teocalli at Tenayoca
as 222½′ × 222½′ (English), and the summit platform as about 192′ × 192′
(English). Applying the same proportion to a Teocalli measuring 300′ ×
300′ at the base, the summit platform would measure about 259′ × 259′.
Duran says “in front of the two chambers where these Gods
(Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc) stood there was a Patio forty feet square
cemented over and very smooth, in the middle of which and fronting the
two chambers was a somewhat sharp pointed green stone about waist high,
of such a height that when a man was thrown on his back on the top of it
his body would bend back over it. On this stone they sacrificed men in
the way we shall see in another place.”
Ixtlilxochitl gives a similar description but, says the sacrificial
stone was on one side towards (hacia) the doorway of the larger chamber
of Huitzilopochtli.
=The Oratories of Huitzilopochtli= and =Thaloc=.
Motolinia, Torquemada, Ixtlilxochitl, and Gomara agree in placing the
two oratories or shrines on the extreme eastern edge of the platform, so
that there was only just room for a man to pass round them on the east
side. The two oratories were separate one from the other, each being
enclosed within its own walls with a doorway towards the west. The
oratory of Huitzilopochtli was the larger of the two and stood to the
south. The oratory of Tlaloc stood to the north. No measurements are
given of the area covered by these two oratories, but there is no
suggestion that they were large buildings[7] except in height. The roof
and probably the upper stages were made of wood (Torquemada), and we
know that they were burnt during the siege.