The history of the Inca Empire was broken suddenly and tragically at the peak of its blossom. Four and a half century has passed since the moment of its destruction. It is hardly possible to see this civilization through the past centuries. But unlike many other cultures, vanished and forgotten and which became for us a museum object, the Empire Inca remains alive. And not only because live their descendants, traditions, and ornaments. Because we can hear the live voice of this civilization - their music.

     Inca Music has been preserved in folk tradition, it is being developed by modern musicians. This music is tuneful and wonderful. It is harmonious like the nature. Some, especially solemn ,or lyrical musical works reach great heights of spiritual contemplation. They say about the  music of Bach  that God is in it. The same can be said about the music of the Incas.

     Traditional melody of the Incas in modern arrangement Qapaq nan (1)

       Musician,playing sikus ( the XIV-XV centuries.)

     Another evidence of this culture - survived till our days poetry of the Incas, which helps us better understand their inner world:

Where are you?

Outside? Inside?

Above this world in the clouds?

Below this world in the shades?

Hear me!

Answer me!

Take my words to your heart!

For ages without end

let me live,

grasp me in your arms,

hold me in your hands,

receive this offering

wherever you are, my Lord,

my Wiracocha.

        ( passage from the Sacred Hymn, written by the Emperor Pachacutec in the middle of XV century ,

These passage is from The Sacred Hymns of Pachacutec  

ANCIENT AMERICAN POETS Inca, Maya & Aztec Poetry translations and biographies of the poets by John Curl published by Bilingual Press(Arizona State University) [2]

    Written in the late XVI century the History of the State of the Inca by Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, a descendant of the Imperial family,is a work of great value. Inca Garcilaso de La Vega is  a man of great erudition and objectivity. (To Inca Garcilaso de La VEGA is devoted a separate Chapter on this site - see CONTENT at the top)

Garcilaso de La VEGA

Portrait by Alonso Cano

      Now, we can only guess what could have reached this civilization in its development, stopped brutally and cruelly from the outside. Let us turn to the history, to the fact that the miraculously came to our days.

     In these pages, attention is mainly paid to the history of the Inca Empire of the period of its blossom:the  XV - early XVI centuries. For the ease of reading material here is given the scheme of the Inca kings of this period.

Sapa Inca Pachacutec (1438 - 1471/72 gg.)

                                 I

Sapa Inca Tupac Yupanqui (1471 - 1493 gg.)

                                 I

Sapa Inca Huaina Capac ( born in 1476г.)( 1493 - 1527).

                                 I

Huascar - Following Streets :  Atahualpa - Manco-Yupanqui - Paullуu Inca

(1527-1532) (1532-1533) (1535-1544) 

                                                         I

                                  Titu Cusi Yupanqui (1558-1571)

                              (ruled after his elder brother SayryTupac 1544-1558)   

                                                          I

                                   Tupac Amaru (1571)

     As an introduction to the history of the Inca civilization we would like to present  an article of Professor А.С.Timoschuk, doctor of Philosophy , a specialist in history of religious. This article contains a lot of interesting information about the religion of the Aztecs, Incas, the Celts. These are quotes from the Lecture of Professor A.S. Tymoshchuk "The Problem of the Genesis of religion." [3]

    In this article, in the section devoted to the religion of the Incas, Dr. А.С.Timoschuk, in particular, writes:

      "The founders of the Inca state are considered the Indians Quechua."

      Таwаntinsuуu- in translation from the Quechua means Four Sides of the World.

      "If the farmer, accused of theft, could  prove before the court that it was hunger that made him comit the crime, the official whose governance had to hunger in the area, was punished.

      Every citizen must be to work on the field or in a workshop, or at home and take part in public works such as  construction of buildings, roads, bridges, irrigation canals,  military duties. The officials were to ensure that the hours of work do not exceed the set.

     The successes of the Inca in agriculture spread all over the world - it is they who bred the best varieties of potato and maize. The ancient Peruvians used many kilometers of irrigation aqueducts, made of tightly fitted stone slabs. Still some of the aqueducts act, although it is unclear how they were calculated. Inca also used  fertilizer for fields, arranged fields on the terraces in the mountains.

     It is the only nation in South America, raised cattle in the household . Lama (American camel) was widely used by the Peruvians. Hunting for wild lamas was prohibited by the law under the threat of the death penalty.

     From the Inca remained cyclopean architecture, which even earthquakes do not break . The crown of their architecture is considered to be the main temple of the Sun in Cuzco,Qurikancha. In this Church there was a large image of the Sun from gold deity of  Qurikancha , which likely had a human face, and the gold rays only framed the head and shoulders of the figure of the deity. On either side of it were two snakes, right and left stood the golden panther or jaguar.

     In Machu Picchu is the temple, which exactly reproduces the temple of the Sun Qurikancha. All the granite slabs fit exactly.

     Even taking into account  all the severity of the laws of the Empire, punishing with the death for many crimes , the Incas religion itself was not of  such a sinister and bloody nature, like the religion of the Aztecs and the Maya .

     In the common practice of religious ceremonies there was not a human sacrifice, and only the animals and agricultural products were sacrificed to the gods  .

     The custodians of the  knowledge were “аmaute” - a wise man. a sage. They brought up young people from noble families in severe Spartan conditions. In the same conditions was raised the future Inca.

      (About ancient civilizations on the territory of Peru):

      Some evidence suggests that the complex Тiuanаkо(lake Titicaca) has an age of about 1500 years. There are several buildings , in particular:

     The Gate Of The Sun. They were cut from a whole  piece of solid andesite and weigh more than 10 tons. Gates represent a stone calendar. The researchers consider that its structures are targeted to certain constellation. Gates also helped to fix the equinox and solstice;on the bas-reliefs of the Gates of the Sun one can see images, which can be interpreted as biological species, died out 10 000 years ago (toksodont, South American proboscidia)..."

      In the center of the Gates of the Sun God the Creator (Viracocha) is depicted , he is worshipped by beings,looking  like people-birds and having wings ( researchers identify them with the angels):

      There is a lot of stereotypes about the Inca civilization. Very often, speaking about slavery or bloody sacrifices, or ceramics with sexy scenes , all that refers to other nation and tribes which were included in the Inca Empire, and already had by the time their traditions, which were, as a rule, not accepted by the Incas.

The territory of the Chimu culture in Peru

      Particularly significant was the Chimu culture ( the city of Trujillo). It had already firmly by the middle of XV century subjugated the neighboring cultures. Peoples speaking languages belonging to the other, chimu group of languages, lived in the Northern part of modern Peru. Ancestor of the Chimu culture was a culture of Mochica, which had extremely cruel religious traditions that existed in this area from I to VIII century.

   The culture of the Chimu reached a high enough level of development, but it was not such a high level as the Inca civilization was by that moment. In general, the state of the Incas, from the modern point of view, we would call a more humane. In contrast to the Incas, who worshipped the Sun, the peoples of the Chimu deified mountains and volcanoes and other things, and worshipped the Moon, as the supreme deity. In their opinion, it was more powerful than the Sun, forthe Moon could obscure it. The Incas allowed Chimu to include the Moon in the local Pantheon and the Moon was given a "privileged" position. However, the Incas banned some cruel practices, mainly relating to the bloody sacrifices.

References

1.  Qapaq nan  (video)

2.  Древние Американские Поэты ( Д.Кёрл):  Ancient American Poets Inca, Maya & Aztec Poetry translations and biografies of the poets by John Kerl published by Bilingual Press ( Arizona State University)

3. Проблемы Генезиса Религий. Лекция профессора А.С.Тимощука

4.  Великий Инка Атауальпа. О завоевании Империи Инков (video Sapa Inca Atahualpa)

     Атауальпа