Chapter 6 Chapter 5 Traces of the Ancient Incas

In human history, many cultural relics, monuments, cities and temples have disappeared under the ravages of time, but the most resilient religious traditions have always survived.These traditions, whether they are recorded in the pyramid scriptures of ancient Egypt, or expressed in the Hebrew Bible or the Indian Vedas, are the most immortal things created by human beings: they carry human knowledge, Sailing on the river of time. The last guardians of Peru's ancient religious traditions were the Incas. In 1532, the Spaniards conquered Peru.In the next 30 years, the beliefs and "idolatry" practices of the Incas were "uprooted" and their treasures were looted.Fortunately, some early Spanish travelers recorded the essence of the Inca tradition in writing before it was completely forgotten.

Although little attention was paid to the event at the time, some Inca legends do mention that a great civilization arose in Peru thousands of years ago.In the memory of his father, this civilization was created by the Viracocha people, and this mysterious ethnic group is said to be the drawer of the Nazca lines. "Sea Spray" When the Spanish "conquistadors" arrived, the territory of the Inca Empire covered the Pacific coast of South America and the Andes, from Ecuador in the north, through all of Peru, and south to the Maule River in central Chile.Running through this great empire is a huge and sophisticated road system: two parallel longitudinal roads, 3,600 kilometers long, one goes south along the Pacific coast, and the other passes through the Andes.These two thoroughfare roads are paved very evenly, with numerous transverse roads running through them.In addition, the two roads also display some design and engineering features that stand out, such as suspended suspension bridges and tunnels through rocky cliffs.The road network was clearly created by a technologically advanced, disciplined, and grand society.Ironically, this road network later turned out to be an accomplice to the invaders: when the Spanish army led by Francisco Pizarro invaded Peru, they used the extensive road system to drive straight into the heart of the Inca Empire.

The capital of the Inca Empire was Cuzco (COZc0) - which means "navel of the earth" in the local Quechua dialect.According to legend, the city was founded by two sons of the sun god: Manco Ca pac and Mama Occlo.Although the Incas of Peru worshiped a sun god called Inti, they most worshiped another god.This god is "Villacocha"; the group that bears its name is said to have drawn the lines of Nazca.The name Viracocha means "spray of the sea"②. Coincidentally, Aphrodite, the god of love in Greek mythology, was born in the sea; she was named Aphrodite because "she was formed from the waves (aphros in Greek)"③.This is of course pure coincidence.Viracocha has always been 100 percent male in the minds of Andean inhabitants.That's all we know about the deity's life and origins.No historian knows how long the cult of Viracocha existed before the Spaniards invaded Peru.This sect seems to have always existed; in fact, long before the Incas included it in the creation myth and built a great temple to it in Cuzco, the imperial capital, various evidences show that the great god Viracocha has been influenced by the long history of Peru. worshiped by all nations.

Castle of Viracocha A few days after leaving the Nazca Plateau, Sansa and I came to Cuzco City to look for the great temple built in the pre-Columbian period to worship the god Viracocha.The temple, called Coricancha, has long since disappeared.More precisely, it was buried under several houses built later.The Spaniards retained its unusually strong Inca foundations and lower walls, upon which they built a grand, colonial cathedral. As I walked towards the gate of the church, I remembered the Inca temple that once stood here.It is said that the entire temple is covered with more than 700 pieces of gold (each weighing 2 kilograms), and several rows of corn made of gold are planted in the wide courtyard.This reminds me of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem.According to Jewish scriptures, this temple is also decorated with gold sheets, and there is also a magical orchard with golden trees beside it⑤.

Two earthquakes in 1650 and 1950 leveled the Spanish "Cathedral of Santo Domingo" (Cathedral of Santo Domingo), built on the foundations of the Viracocha Temple.The church was thus rebuilt twice.However, the foundation and the lower end of the wall built with the typical Inca-style construction method-interlocking polygonal stones to form a beautiful system-have escaped these two natural disasters.Except for the octagonal high platform built of gray stone standing in the center of the large rectangular courtyard, there are only some polygonal stones left in this temple, as well as the vaguely visible overall design for future generations to pay tribute to.It is said that the courtyard was paved with 55 kilograms of pure gold⑥.The front hall of the temple is located on both sides of the courtyard. The architectural form is very elegant. The upper end of the wall is tapered and conical. There are shrines carved out of a single piece of granite.

We wandered the narrow, cobbled streets of Cuzco.Browsing the surrounding scenery, I found that what the Spaniards imposed on the ancient Inca culture was not just the cathedral—the whole city seemed to suffer from mild schizophrenia in the eyes of outsiders.On the hillsides rise spacious colonial mansions with balconies in pastel-coloured pastels.However, most of these houses were built on Inca foundations, and some even copied the polygonal design of the Coricancha temple in its entirety.In an alley named "Hatun rumiyoc" (Hatun rumiyoc), I stopped for a moment and looked at a puzzle on the wall that was inlaid with countless stones and had a very complicated structure.The stones come in all shapes and sizes, but all fit together perfectly, interlocking at dizzying angles.Carving these blocks and combining them into such complex forms must have required great skill and a long architectural tradition.On a stone slab, I found 12 corners and 12 sides, and this slate is so tightly integrated with the surrounding slabs that even a thin piece of paper cannot fit into the gap.

stranger with beard In the early 16th century, before the Spanish began their formidable destruction of Peruvian culture, the statue of Viracocha stood in the holiest nave of the Temple of Coricancha.According to records at the time, the statue was carved out of marble; it is said that the god's "hair, skin color, facial features, clothes and slippers on his feet are very similar to the apostle St. Barthol depicted by Western painters." Luo Ying (Saint Bartholomew)". ⑦According to other people's descriptions, the appearance of Viracocha is like Saint Thomas, another disciple of Jesus. ③I looked up some Christian scriptures with illustrations, and found that the two saints were depicted as thin, bearded, Caucasian over fifty years old, wearing flowing gowns and slippers on their feet.Below we will talk about the appearance of God Viracocha in the minds of believers at that time.Regardless of his origins, he could never be American Indian, because Indian men are generally dark and have thinning facial hair.Viracocha, with his bushy beard and fair skin, looked more like a Caucasian.

The Incas of the 16th century also identified Viracocha as Caucasian.This is what their traditions and religious beliefs have shaped the deity, so that when the fair-skinned, bearded Spaniards landed on their borders, they thought it was Viracocha who led his heavenly soldiers The god will return to Peru - According to ancient legend, Viracocha once promised that one day it would return to its people.This interesting coincidence gave Pizarro, who led the Spanish army to invade Peru, a decisive strategic and psychological advantage, allowing him to wipe out the numerically superior Inca troops in one fell swoop in subsequent battles.

Who was the prototype of the Viracocha people? Notes: ①For this period of history, please refer to the book "Abolishing Peruvian Idolatry Customs" written by Father Pablo Joseph. Father Pablo joseph, The Extirpation of Ldolatry in Peru (translated from the Spanish by L. Clark Keating), University of Kentucky Press, 1968. ② "Encyclopedia of World Myths and Legends", page 657. The Facts on File Encyclopaedi a of World Mythology and Legend, London and Oxford, 1988, p. 657． ③Moncreve's "A Guide to Drawing Classical Mythology", p. 153. A． R． Hope Moncreiff, The Illustrated Guide to Classical Mythology, BCA, London, 1992, P. 153．

④ "Eradication of Idolatry in Peru", p. 181. ⑤ "Jewish Encyclopedia", Volume 2, p. 105. Jewish Encyclopaedia, Funk and Wagnell, New York, 1925, vol. II, p. 105． ③ "Eradication of Idolatry in Peru", p. 182. ① "Encyclopedia of World Myths and Legends", 658 pages. ③ For example, Osborn's "South American Mythology", page 8l. H. Osborne, South American Mythology, Paul Hamlyn, London, 1968, P. 8l.