"Know, whoever you may be who may chance to set foot in this land,
that it contains more gold and silver than there is iron is Biscay."
The Spaniards conquered Peru
over the course of several decades in an atmosphere of civil war and
chaos. The Incas had just concluded a
war between two brothers, Atahualpa and Huascar when the Spanish arrived on the
scene. Atahualpa had just captured
Huascar and was heading south to enter his capital, Cuzco, when he himself was
made hostage by the Spanish. Atahualpa
then had Huascar murdered. After
extorting the proverbial king's ransom, the Spanish, in turn, murdered
Atahualpa. The Spanish next marched on Cuzco, the capital and Holy City
of the Inca Empire, installing a puppet emperor. Throughout the period the Incas scurried
about trying to hide the most sacred religious items from defilement.
Gold and silver had no monetary significance to the Incas. They were considered sacred, with gold
regarded as the sweat of the sun and silver as the tears of the moon. Religious items were made of gold and silver,
but they had no worth, other than artistic, to the common man. Because
of their religious significance, gold and silver objects were well hidden and
well guarded for generations, never being turned into cash to satisfy short
term needs.
Cuzco's Temple of the Sun, was the most revered shrine in the
empire. Only three Spaniards ever saw
the Temple in
its full glory. These men were sent by
the Spanish commander, Francisco Pizarro, to speed up the collection of the
royal ransom. The temple had gardens in
which everything.....trees and grass and flowers, animals, birds, butterflies,
cornstalks, snakes, lizards and snails were all made of hammered gold. The main room of the temple held the high
altar which was dedicated to the sun.
The four walls of the room were hung with plaques of gold, from top to
bottom, and a likeness of the sun topped the high altar. The likeness was made of a gold plaque twice
as thick as those that paneled the walls and was composed of a round face,
surrounded by rays and flames. The whole
thing was so immense that it occupied the entire back of the temple, from one
wall to the other. The disc was
positioned to catch the morning sun and throw its rays into the gold-lined
temple, filling it with radiant light.
On either side of
this enormous golden sun were kept mummies of former Inca kings, which were so
well preserved that they seemed alive.
The mummies were seated on golden thrones and looked directly out at the
visitor.
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