Tag: Garcilaso Inca de la Vega

Antediluvian, giant, "gentle" humanity

Published on: Last updated on: Written by: Categorized into: Archeology, Esotericism, folklore, Megalithism, Mito

We continue here the discourse on the Andean tradition, previously addressed in the four articles that we have already published on AXIS mundi [cfr. "Andini notebooks", In Ancient America]. In closing, we will also have the opportunity to make some comparisons with other traditions, including Mexican, Hellenic, Celtic and Norse).

di Marco Maculotti
cover: Machu Picchu, photo by the Author

Closely connected to the doctrine of cycles and of pachacutiย [cf. Pachacuti: cycles of creation and destruction of the world in the Andean tradition] is the belief in the existence of ancient proto-human races that populated our planet before the advent of the "Fifth Sun" - races which, as we have seen [cf. Viracocha and the myths of the origins: creation of the world, anthropogenesis, foundation myths], are cyclically eliminated, at the end of each "Great Year", by a catastrophic event, to leave room for the humanity of the next cycle (similar to the Hesiodic myth).

Keep readingโ€ฆ

Secret history of the conquest of Peru: the prophetic dream of the Inca Viracocha and the coming of the Spaniards

Published on: Last updated on: Written by: Categorized into: Mito, History, History of Religions

di Marco Maculotti

In an earlier essay from this cycle [cf. Viracocha and the myths of the origins: creation of the world, anthropogenesis, foundation myths] we were able to distinguish, in the Andean tradition, three types of characters called "Viracocha": the creator god of the origins, which we called "Divine Viracocha"; the civilizing hero of the beginning of the era of the "Fifth Sun", creator of Tiahuanaco, whom we have defined "legendary Viracocha"; and finally a historical figure, the eighth Inca ruler, the Inca Viracocha. If we have said enough of the first two, we now have to investigate the role of the third, referring to the most suitable chronicle in the study of the Inca royal dynasty of the "Sons of the Sun". We are obviously talking about the Royal Commentaries of Garcilaso Inca de la Vega, the only ancient source that has the supreme merit of listing, one after the other and with related enterprises, the twelve Inca who ruled the empire of Tahuantinsuyu.

Keep readingโ€ฆ

Viracocha and the myths of the origins: creation of the world, anthropogenesis, foundation myths

Published on: Last updated on: Written by: Categorized into: Esotericism, folklore, Mito, History of Religions

di Marco Maculotti


We have set our sights on this cycle of essays classified as "Andean Notebooks"ย to focus on the most significant aspects of the tradition of ancient Peru, which was much more extensive than the present, also including parts of Ecuador, northern Chile and Bolivia. Having previously treated the doctrine of the "Five Suns" and pachacuti [cf. Pachacuti: cycles of creation and destruction of the world in the Andean tradition] let us now analyze the main numinous figure of the Andean pantheon: the creator god Viracocha (or Wiracocha or Huiracocha). For the purposes of this investigation, we will mainly use ancient chronicles (Garcilaso Inca de la Vega, Sarmiento de Gamboa, Cristobal de Molina, Bernabรฉ Cobo, Guaman Poma, Juan de Betanzos, etc.) and the manuscript of Huaru Chiri, translated only recently, which we will integrate from time to time with the stories of rural folklore (collated by the anthropologist Mario Polia) and with some of the most recent hypotheses, if noteworthy.

Keep readingโ€ฆ