Art of the Americas

Atlantean figures

The Atlantean figures are four anthropomorphic statues belonging to the Toltec culture in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. These figures are "massive statues of Toltec warriors". They take their post-Columbian name from the European tradition of similar Atlas or Atalante figures in classical architecture. Though the most famous Atlantean figures reside in Tula, the Olmecs were the first to use Atlantean figures on a relief discovered in Potrero Nuevo. Mayan sculptors also created "Atlantean" figures in Chichen Itza. Furthermore, the Aztecs also created warrior statues strongly inspired by these Atlantean figures in Tula.

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See also

• ▸Andean civilizations
• ▸Harmonic tremor
• ▸Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Plateau

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Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.