The ruins of Monte Alban are located 10 
kilometers from the city of Oaxaca and were one of the reasons we took our inland trip. Our Lonely Planet guidebook describes them as "one of the most impressive ancient sites to be found in Mexico" and although I think the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza and Palenque are more mysterious, the view from Monte Alban is spectacular. We arrived at the site about 40 minutes before the tour buses disgorged their hundreds of pasty white visitors and so for a few moments it was quiet and peaceful allowing us to feel the magic and enjoy the grandeur of this ancient site.
Without going into a great amount of detail here is a condensed description. Monte Alban was the ancient 
capital of the Zapotecs, "the cloud people", and was one of the first cities in Mesoamerica. It is located at an elevation of 1948 meters above sea level on an artificially leveled hilltop that intersects and divides the three valleys that radiate from the city of Oaxaca. Construction of the civil and ceremonial buildings with their maze of subterranean passage ways, rooms, drainage and water storage systems began around 500 BC and the city flourished until 750 A.D. At it's peak period, 300-700 A.D., the city's population is believed to have reached 35,000 in an area of hardly 6 square kilometers. 
An irrigation system supplied water to bottom lands east of the site and permitted intensive cultivation of the area. Though its location would suggest that it was a military fortress, there are no traces of warrior arms or fortified structures. For unknown reasons, possibly including disease and drought, it was essentially a 
ghost town by 1000 A.D.
The previous names for the city were the Zapotecan "Danibaan" (Sacred Mountain) or Mixtec names "Sahandevul" (At the Foot of the Sky), and "Yucucui" (Green Hill), but at the beginning of the 17th century, this spot came to be known as Monte Alban, owing to the fact that at that time, the lands belonged to a Spaniard with the surname of Montalvan or Montalban.
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