Roger Townsend

Inca Myths and Legends Roger Townsend

INCA MYTHS AND LEGENDS The dramatic stories the Incas told about themselves and the world around them - are only available to us from post-conquest documents written by Spanish conquistadors and chroniclers. Roger Townsend looks at the basic elements of Inca culture and society described in these accounts and reviews the literary sources on which our knowledge of this ancient civilization's mythology is based. Drawing on published texts and unpublished documents, as well as the evidence from archaeological remains, he presents the reader with a variety of types of Inca mythic accounts, such as tales of cosmic creation, the founding of the Inca Empire, and the deeds of some of its prominent kings and queens. He also explores the mythic traditions of various ethnic groups fro around the Empire, including tantalizing remnants of state-origin myths from the north coast of Peru. Finally he details certain myths and religious beliefs of post-conquest, colonial descendants of the Incas that give us insights into age-old mythic themes uniting peoples throughout the Andes over time.