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Tula

 
Dictionary: Tu·la   (tū'lə) pronunciation
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A city of western Russia south of Moscow. First mentioned in 1146, it was an important fortress in the 16th century and became an armament-manufacturing center in 1712. Population: 466,000.

 

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Tula
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Four statues carved as human figures, each 4.6 metres tall; from the Tula Grande archaeological …
(click to enlarge)
Four statues carved as human figures, each 4.6 metres tall; from the Tula Grande archaeological … (credit: Juan Barreto — AFP/Getty Images)
Ancient city in Mexico, the capital of the Toltecs, which flourished in the 9th – 12th centuries. Its exact location is uncertain; the archaeological site now designated Tula, near the town of that name in Hidalgo state, has been the choice of historians. The Tula site suggests a city that had a population in the tens of thousands. The major civic centre consists of a plaza bordered by a five-stepped pyramid, two other pyramids, and two ball courts. Tula's art and architecture are strikingly similar to those of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán, and its artistic themes suggest that the Aztecs' concept of themselves as warrior-priests of the sun god was borrowed directly from Tula.

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Archaeology Dictionary: Tula, Mexico
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[Si]

Capital of the Toltec state (Tollán), founded on the site of an existing settlement by the priest-ruler Topiltzin c.ad 960. The city flourished and by ad 1000 had expanded to cover 11 square kilometres with a population of perhaps 50 000.

The focus of the ceremonial centre within the site is the Temple of Quetzalcóatl which contains six Atlantean statues. Each nearly 5m tall, they support the roof.

Tula was destroyed in the mid 12th century ad, probably by Chichimec groups.

[Sum.: R. A. Diehl, 1983, Tula: The Toltec capital of central Mexico. London: Thames & Hudson]
 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Tula
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Tula (tū'lə), city (1991 pop. 545,000), capital of Tula region, N central European Russia, on the Upa River, a tributary of the Oka. It is an important rail and highway hub and a manufacturing city of the Moscow industrial region. Russia's oldest metallurgical center, it also produces heavy and light machine tools. Lignite is mined nearby and is used to support a chemical industry. First mentioned in 1146, Tula was included in the Ryazan principality. In the 16th cent., the city became a key fortress of the grand duchy of Moscow. Peter I built Russia's first arms factory at Tula in 1712, based on the discovery nearby of iron and coal deposits. Tula subsequently became a center of the Russian ironworking industry. Serving as the southern anchor of the Moscow defense line during World War II, the city withstood heavy German assaults. The 16th-century kremlin, with turreted walls, has been preserved. Yasnaya Polyana, the home and burial place of Leo Tolstoy, is nearby.

 
 

 

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Archaeology Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Copyright © 2002, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more