ABSTRACT
For almost three thousand years, Mesoamerican societies have crafted spaces for ritual performance with the express purpose of forging power relations. However, in order to develop an understanding of the public discourse, Mesoamerican scholars must attend to the details of the data. The site of El Tajin was a major Epiclassic urban center on the northeastern fringes of Mesoamerica. During the Epiclassic period, the entire Mesoamerican political landscape was reshaped as the Classic centers and systems fell between 700–900 AD. Even though large-scale public displays of political power had been a part of the Mesoamerican political process since Olmec times, during the Epiclassic period these displays were a strategic imperative for individuals to secure and strengthen newly formulated social roles inside of burgeoning new polities. Snake Mountain was a central Ancient Mesoamerican aesthetic trope that regulated the shape of various mythic narratives, rituals, and ceremonial centers.
