Inca mythology

Inca mythology includes many stories and legends that attempt to explain or symbolize Inca beliefs.

Ethnographic and anthropological studies such as Prof. Gary Urton's demonstrate that Inka believe systems were inter-related to their view of the cosmos, in particular the way that they observed the motions of the portion of the milky way and planets of the solar system as seen from the Cusco or Qosqo (their capital whose meaning is 'the centre of the earth'). From this perspective their stories depict the movements of constellations, planets, planetary formations, which are connected to their agricultural cycles for a society that relied on cyclical agricultural seasons, which were not only connected to year cycles (as in Europe) but to a much wider cycle of time (every 800 years at a time). This was the main tool to ensure cultural transmission of key information, in spite of regime change or social catastrophes.

The Inca myths have been interpreted from a Eurocentric perspectives, this is detached from cosmology and agriculture, depriving of its richness and practical ancient functionality.

All those that followed the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire by Francisco Pizarro burned the records kept by the Inca culture. There is currently a theory put forward by Gary Urton that the Quipus could have represented a binary system capable of recording phonological or logographic data. Still, to date, all that is known is based on what was recorded by priests, from the iconography on Incan pottery and architecture, and from the myths and legends that have survived among the native peoples.

Manco Cápac the legendary founder of the Inca Dynasty in Peru and the Cusco Dynasty at Cusco. The legends and history surrounding this mythical figure are very jumbled, especially those concerning his rule at Cuzco and his birth or his origins respectively. In one legend, he was the son of Tici Viracocha. In another, he was brought up from the depths of Lake Titicaca by the sun god Inti. However, commoners were not allowed to speak the name of Inca Viracocha, which is possibly an explanation for the need for three foundation legends rather than just the first.

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