This huge monolith with at least 500 years of existence seems to speak to us from its silence of stone. The sunken eyes of Tonatiuh, the Aztec sun god, look out from the center of this cyclic sequence of glyphs and dates.
The impressive Stone of the Five Eras, has a diameter of 11.75 ft., 3.22 ft. deep, and weighs 24 tons; but above all, it is a work of art, the epitome of the warrior cosmogony and dazzling civilization that occupied the Valley of Mexico.
It is believed that the Aztecs named this monolith Ollin Tonatiuhtlan meaning “Sun of Movement“, and refers to the era of the Fifth Sun. This era , according to the Mexica culture, would correspond to our present time, and which is expected to end with a series of earthquakes.
Despite its calendar-like appearance, some anthropologists maintain that it was used as a temalacatl, a circular platform where the gladiatorial sacrifice was performed, and the blood and vitality of the warrior were fed to the sun god.
Obscure were the first centuries of existence of this monolith. It barely had a few years of splendor between 1512, when it was carved, and 1521, when Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, fell under Spanish rule.