atively new to them, the residents of the HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Another theory is that The Creation em an area, the Aymaras of that time, refused to communicate with the Spaniards about their ancestors, The following creation myth comes from the Tiahuanaco culture, an important highland civilization that flour- ished in the region of Lake Titicaca before the Incas invaded. Since the 1960s, archaeologists have been inves- tigating sites in the area of the famous ruins of Tiahuanaco. Monumental stone figures, located near the southern Lake Titicaca, which extends from Peru to Bolivia, plays a major role in the mythology of both the Inca of Peru and the Aymara of Bolivia, When the Incas extended their rule to the Bolivian shores of Lake Titicaca, they shore of Lake Titicaca in the Andean adopted and transformed the myths of the native Aymara people and the highlands of Bolivia, were built in Tiahuanaco culture to reflect their own approximately A.D. 500, and testify to the importance of the Tiahuanaco nationalistic point of view. The Incas political values also led them to estah. culture, Archaeologists have discovered that lish their Quechua language as the the city Tiahuanaco began as a rural official language of their empire, even village in about 1000 B.C. and that it though Aymara was the most wide. was occupied for over two thousand spread native language at that time Although the Inca emperors demanded years, becoming important enough to that the Aymara people accept their influence the culture of the Andean authority and their religion, they did peoples from about A.D. 500 to 1200. not require the Aymaras to give up By 1200, Tiahuanaco had become the their own, older religion. Thus, the two capital of the great Tiahuanaco empire, which may have included much of religions coexisted. Chile and Peru, as well as the Andean Today, more than five million peo- highlands of Bolivia and Argentina. ple continue to speak the Quechua The reason for the empire's collapse language. However, the Aymara lan- remains a mystery, but the area it guage also is a living language. Many encompassed did not become unified of the Aymara people continue to live again until the Incas conquered it in the Andean highlands of Bolivia, sometime during the late fourteenth where most of them are still involved and early fifteenth centuries. in herding and agriculture. Scholars are mystified by the fact that the Spaniards could learn nothing about the culture from the Aymaras APPEAL AND VALUE who were living in the area. The local population had no idea who the peo- Inca mythology and sun worship are ple were that had constructed the directly related to the religion of the huge structures. One theory is that Tiahuanaco culture, since the Incas the Incas shifted populations from built their myths upon those of older one area to another, so tribes could civilizations. For example, the Incas have been living in areas that were rel- adopted Con Ticci Viracocha (creator The Americas Pf 0 + emerging with thunder) as their own creator-god. The creator who is also a benefactor of the human race is common in American cultures, such as the Aztec and the Haida/Tsimshian/Tlingit. Other cultures also have a divine creator who teaches moral values and punishes those who ignore them. Like many other creators, Viracocha uses a flood to destroy a race of human beings who have acted immorally. The role played by stone in this cre- ation myth reflects the abundance of rock and the presence of ancient, rock-shaped figures in the area. The religious practice of worshiping natural phenomena is reflected in the birth of human beings from caves, rivers, mountains, and rocks. The following myth was recorded in the early 1550s by Juan de Betanzos, the official interpreter for the Spanish governor of Peru. He took it from a Peruvian narrative song. Such songs were a customary way for Inca histori- ans to preserve their nation's history. tains were under water. THE CREATION In the beginning, Lord Con Ticci Viracocha, prince and creator of all things, emerged from the void and created the earth and the heavens. Next he created animals and a race of gigantic human beings who lived upon the earth in the darkness of an eternal night, for he had not yet created any form of light. When the behavior of this race angered Viracocha, he emerged again, this time from Lake Titicaca, and he punished these first human beings by turning them into stone . Then he created a great flood. Soon even the peaks of the highest moun- When Viracocha was satisfied that the flood had destroyed all forms of life, he caused the flood waters to subside until the face of the earth was revealed once again. So great was his creative power that he then created day by causing the sun to emerge from the island of Titicaca and rise into the heavens. In the same way, he created the moon and the stars, setting each brilliant light upon its proper path . With a wave of his hand and a command from his mouth, some hills and mountains sank to become valleys, while some valleys rose to become hills and mountains. With another wave and command, streams and rivers of fresh water sprang from the rocky cliffs, cascaded down the mountainsides, and flowed Viracocha then turned his attention to creating new animals and a new race of human beings. First he created birds to fly in the air and fill the silence with song. He type of bird a different melody to sing, sending some to live deep in the forested valleys and others to live in the high plains and mountains. Then he created the animals that walk the earth on four legs and the creatures that crawl on their stomachs. These too he divided between the lowlands and the highlands. through the valleys. gave each The Creation
Purchase answer to see full attachment