The temple of
Pachacamac is an archaeological site 40 km southeast of
LimaLima is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, on a coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It forms a contiguous urban area with the seaport of Callao...
,
PeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.Peruvian territory was home to the Norte Chico...
in the Valley of the
Lurín RiverThe Lurín River is a is a long river located in the Lima Region of Peru. It originates in the glaciers and lagoons of the western Andes and is known as the Chalilla River until joining the Taquía creek where it receives its common name. Its main tributaries are the Taquía, Llacomayqui, Tinajas,...
. Until today, several pyramids have been uncovered; the archeologist have identified at least 17 pyramids (many of them irreversibly damaged by El Nino phenomena). Apart of pyramids, it had cemetery and multicolored fresco of fish by the Early Intermediate period (c. 200-600 CE). Later, the Huari (c.
The temple of
Pachacamac is an archaeological site 40 km southeast of
LimaLima is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, on a coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It forms a contiguous urban area with the seaport of Callao...
,
PeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.Peruvian territory was home to the Norte Chico...
in the Valley of the
Lurín RiverThe Lurín River is a is a long river located in the Lima Region of Peru. It originates in the glaciers and lagoons of the western Andes and is known as the Chalilla River until joining the Taquía creek where it receives its common name. Its main tributaries are the Taquía, Llacomayqui, Tinajas,...
. Until today, several pyramids have been uncovered; the archeologist have identified at least 17 pyramids (many of them irreversibly damaged by El Nino phenomena). Apart of pyramids, it had cemetery and multicolored fresco of fish by the Early Intermediate period (c. 200-600 CE). Later, the Huari (c. 600-800 CE) sponsored construction of the city, probably using it as an administrative center. A number of Huari influenced designs appear on the construction in this period and on the ceramics and textiles found in the cemeteries of this period. After the collapse of the Huari empire Pachacamac continued to grow as a religious state. The majority of the common architecture and temples were built at this stage (c. 800-1450 CE).
By the time the
TawantinsuyuThe Inca civilization began as a tribe in the Cuzco area, where the legendary first Sapa Inca, Manco Capac founded the Kingdom of Cuzco around 1200. Under the leadership of the descendants of Manco Capac, the Inca state grew to absorb other Andean communities. In 1442, the Incas began a...
arrived on the scene, the valleys of the
RímacThe Rímac River is located in western Peru and is the most important source of potable water for the Lima and Callao Metropolitan Area.The river is part of the Pacific watershed and has a length of 160 km...
and
LurínThe Lurín River is a is a long river located in the Lima Region of Peru. It originates in the glaciers and lagoons of the western Andes and is known as the Chalilla River until joining the Taquía creek where it receives its common name. Its main tributaries are the Taquía, Llacomayqui, Tinajas,...
had a small state they called
Ichma and they used Pachacamac as primarily a religious site for the veneration of the
Pacha KamaqPacha Kamaq was the deity worshipped in the city of Pachacamac by the Ichma.Pacha Camac was believed to have created the first man and woman, but forgot to give them food and the man died. The woman cursed Pacha Camac, accusing it of neglect, and Pacha Camac made her fertile...
creator god. The Ichma joined the Inca empire and Pachacamac became an important administrative center. However the Inca maintained it as a religious shrine and allowed the Pachacamac priests to continue functioning independently of the Inca priesthood. This included the
oracleAn oracle is a person or agency considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophetic opinion. It may also be a revealed prediction or precognition of the future, from deities, that is spoken through another object or life-form ....
, whom the Inca presumably consulted. The Inca built five additional buildings, including a temple to the Sun on the main square.
Pacha Kamaq God
Pacha KamaqPacha Kamaq was the deity worshipped in the city of Pachacamac by the Ichma.Pacha Camac was believed to have created the first man and woman, but forgot to give them food and the man died. The woman cursed Pacha Camac, accusing it of neglect, and Pacha Camac made her fertile...
('Earth-Maker') was considered the creator god by the peoples who lived in
PeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.Peruvian territory was home to the Norte Chico...
before the Inca conquest. He was taken into the Inca
pantheonA pantheon is a set of all the gods of a particular polytheistic religion or mythology.Max Weber's 1922 opus, Economy and Society...
, but somewhat reluctantly, being seen mainly as an ineffective rival of
ViracochaIn pre-Inca and Inca mythology, Apu Qun Tiqsi Wiraqutra , was the creator of civilization, and one of the most important deities in the Inca pantheon. Viracocha was a god of sun and storms. He was represented as wearing the sun for a crown, with thunderbolts in his hands, and tears descending from...
.
His myths are sparse and confused: some accounts, for example, identify him as
Manco CapacIn Inca mythology, Manco Cápac was the first king of the Kingdom of Cuzco. There are several versions of the story of the origin of Manco Capac.- Inti legend :...
's cowardly brother Ayca, while others say that he, Manco Capac and Viracocha were the sole three sons of
IntiAccording to the Inca mythology, Inti is the sun god, as well a patron deity of Tahuantinsuyu. His exact origin is not known. The most common story says he is the son of Viracocha, the god of civilization.- Worship :...
the sun god. Another story says that he made the first
manA man is a male human. The term man is used for an adult human male, while the term boy is the usual term for a human male child or adolescent human male. However, man is sometimes used to refer to humanity as a whole...
and the first
womanA woman is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent...
, but forgot to give them food — and when the man died and the woman prayed over Pachacamac's head to his father Inti to make her the mother of all the peoples of earth, Pachacamac was furious. One by one, as the children were born, he tried to kill them — only to be beaten and to be thrown into the sea by her hero-son Wichama, after which he gave up the struggle and contented himself by becoming the supreme god of fish.
In popular culture
Pachacamac was the name of the ship that originally carried the abducted
Professor CalculusProfessor Cuthbert Calculus is a fictional character in the series The Adventures of Tintin...
in
The Seven Crystal BallsThe Seven Crystal Balls is the thirteenth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero....
album of
The Adventures of TintinThe Adventures of Tintin is a series of comic strips created by Belgian artist Hergé, the pen name of Georges Remi . The series first appeared in French in Le Petit Vingtième, a children's supplement to the Belgian newspaper on 10 January 1929...
. The next album,
Prisoners of the SunPrisoners of the Sun is the fourteenth of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero. Its original French title is Le Temple du Soleil...
, dealt with Tintin discovering an ancient Inca tribe still active in South America.
A character that appears in the video game
Sonic Adventureis a video game developed by Sonic Team and released on December 23, 1998 in Japan by Sega for the Sega Dreamcast and is the first game in the Sonic Adventure series. One of its development titles was Sonic RPG,...
is named Pachacamac after the ancient ruin.
Pachacamac was also the name of the main villain in
Juken Sentai Gekirangeris Toei Company's thirty-first entry in the Super Sentai franchise. Its themes are those of Kung-Fu, and animals, especially wild cats. Production began on September 29, 2006 with principal photography beginning on October 6, 2006. It premiered on TV Asahi on February 18, 2007, and concluded its...
vs.
Boukenger crossover direct-to-video movie. He was said to initially fight Brusa Ii and won just barely. His descendant, Pachacamac the 12th attacked Earth and the two Sentai teams had to team-up and defeat him in the movie.
External links