Names of Zeus: Viracocha

In Inca belief, Viracocha is revered as the prime creator God who brought forth the world, humans, and even the Sun itself. The Inca Empire was an extremely large, cosmopolitan polity of four distinct parts and the acknowledgement of this God spread from modern day Colombia to the central part of Chile.

In one widely recorded myth preserved by the 16th-century chronicler Juan de Betanzos, Viracocha rose from the waters of Lake Titicaca during a primordial darkness and created the Sun, Moon, and stars to illuminate the world​. Thereafter, he was associated with the skies and storm. The Incas held this deity to be the most primordial of all and one that permeates everything at all times.

THE FLOOD

He fashioned the first race of humans by breathing life into stone, but these initial beings of brainless giants displeased him.

Viracocha sent a great flood (Unu Pachakuti) to wipe them out, sparing only a chosen couple or a few survivors from whom a better humanity would descend​. After the deluge, he created new humans from smaller stones and clay, then dispersed them to populate the corners of the earth. In some versions, he commands them to emerge from caves, lakes, and other sacred origin sites to found the various nations.

In so doing, Viracocha’s creative act explains the diverse peoples of the Andes, each with their own ancestral pacarinas (mythic emergence points). This mythology has similarities to that of Deukalion and Ziusudra alongside many other stories of the deluge stolen copiously for the drivel of the Bible.

WANDERING GOD

Following creation, Viracocha did not remain in one place. In myth he assumes the earthly aspect of a traveling elder described as an unassuming, bearded man in white robes and journeyed across the Andean realms teaching civilization and moral precepts.

Many have noted that this story is highly unusual, considering the Aboriginal American tendency not to grow facial hair as such.

He brought knowledge of arts, agriculture, language, and laws, instructing people how to live harmoniously. Many legends recount his miracles: he could call forth water from rock, transform hills into valleys (and vice versa), and heal the sick with a word​.

Those who heeded Viracocha’s benevolent teachings received “marvellous great benefits,” but some communities rejected him, behaving cruelly or violently. In one tale, Viracocha punished the hostile by incinerating a village (often identified as Cacha) with fire from the sky but relented when the survivors repented. The spot where this occurred later became a major temple in his honor​.

Inca wise men taught that Viracocha was the ultimate source – he either begot the sun God Inti (Apollo-Helios, who then fathered the Incas) or directly sent forth founders from Titicaca or Paqariq Tampu (a cave shrine)​.

LORD OF THE OCEAN

Having completed his civilizing mission, Viracocha eventually departed the Andes. In most versions, he traveled to the Pacific coast and walked across the ocean, heading westward into the sunset while promising one day to return​. He thus earned epithets like “Lord of the Waters” and is strongly associated with the sea and distant horizons.

Viracocha was considered, like Amon, to be a hidden God. In comparison to Inti, his worship was impersonal and not designed around public displays of rites. It was held that he would only reappear in times of extreme distress or degeneration of humanity. Rituals to Viracocha were often conducted during times of imperial crisis or great need, reflecting his role as a Deus Otiosus who intervenes at critical moments.

For example, on the eve of major military campaigns or during natural disasters (droughts, earthquakes), the Inca emperor would order sacrifices to Viracocha in addition to other Gods. Large bonfires or pyres seem to have been associated with him, showing his connection to the Persian and Celtic equivalents.

Devotees undertook pilgrimages to sites associated with Viracocha’s mythical journey. Foremost was the Temple of Viracocha at Raqchi which became a pan-Inca pilgrimage center. Historical accounts describe a June solstice pilgrimage that started in Cuzco, crossed the high mountain pass of La Raya and then descended to Raqchi. The pilgrims paid homage to Viracocha’s image and the very ground where he was said to have caused a miraculous fire.

THE SYMBOLISM OF VIRACOCHA

He was the Supreme Creator in the Pantheon. Inca cosmology placed Viracocha at the apex of divine hierarchy as an invisible, all-creating force. He was believed to be the father of all other Gods, hence even the Sun (Inti) was considered his offspring or creation in some traditions.

Due to this, he bore many lofty titles in Inca and pre-Inca lore – Spanish sources translate some as “Lord Instructor of the World,” “Ancient One,” or “Old Man of the Sky”. These titles show Viracocha’s role as a celestial Deity.

The ancient Sun Gate of Tiwanaku, predating the Inca by many years, is held to a represent a Viracocha-like figure, which is ubiquitous across the Andrean civilizations. The two staffs it wields represent the Ida and Pingala channels.

Likewise, the Sun Gate deity is flanked by smaller winged attendants, and his facial features (deep-set eyes, puma-like mouth, streaming tears) link him to both sky and rain. The widespread presence of this Staff God image across ancient Andean sites (from highland temples to coastal textiles) shows that the concept of a God like this preceded the Incas by centuries​.

Other motifs of Andeans such as a representation from a vase of the Chanchay people shows Viracocha as a man wielding dual serpents, which may show a relation to the Inca standard of dual serpents ascending upwards with a rainbow between their maws.

Viracocha was not a regional figure, being heralded throughout the Empire unlike many other Gods, but his worship was tied to class. His cult was somewhat esoteric, being reserved for the nobility and priesthood, who could appreciate this conceptual Supreme Being. The Incas and earlier cultures tended to represent him symbolically rather than as a concrete idol, either radiant or carved.

One major triad formation in Inca belief is between Viracocha, the Sun (Inti) and Thunder (typically Iliapa), which persistently occurs throughout the folk literature and all surviving testimonies of the religion.

Despite the general ambiguity of Viracocha in representation, being as it was that he was symbolized by a sun disk at the Coricancha (Golden Enclosure) or primary Temple of the Incas, it is known one Inca ruler named Hatun Tupaq renamed himself Viracocha after experiencing a vision of the God. The ruler Pachacuti constructed a grand temple in Cuzco to Viracocha after having a similar vision during a battle which brought him victory. A commentator who witnessed it claimed the temple contained a golden statue of a ten-year-old child representing the Great God.

It is known the cult was expanding among the aristocracy of the Incans to the point they debated whether Pachacuti or Inti should take pride of place in Cuzco. The General History of Peru claims that Viracocha was worshipped by sacrificing a white llama.

ILLAPA

Illapa was more centrally known as an active thunder God. The cult of lightning was obsessively followed in the Andes and all groups associated lightning with creation. Illapa was originally known as the most important deity in some areas but fell to a third rank as the Incas prioritized the worship of Inti.

Despite this, the Sapa Inca named Illapa as his ‘divine brother.’ The God is represented as an imposing man in brilliant garments of gold and precious stones who lived in the upper world. Likewise, Illapa carried a warak'a with which he produced storms and a golden makana, which symbolizes his power and the trinity of lightning bolt, thunder and lightning. He was also divided into a trinity of beings Yayan Illapa, Chaupi Churin Illapa and Sullca Churin Illapa, as such trinities were common among all Andean lightning Gods:

This led to an Inca theological view that high Gods like Viracocha, Inti, and Illapa could be aspects of a single underlying sky deity: for example, one study notes that the facets of a supreme sky-storm god seem distributed among Viracocha (creator Sky God), Punchau (day/sun), Inti, and Illapa in Inca worship.

The Spaniards integrated the worship of Viracocha and Illapa into the ‘saint’ named James of Zebedee from the Bible, after which the cult survived in a strange syncretic form.

CAPAC HUCHA AND PERVERSION

The Temple of Zeus does not condone any form of human sacrifice. This is fundamentally worthless and dangerous to the soul. Our divine sages such as Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato and Iamblichus categorically designate this as evil. High priests such as Herodotus and Plutarch condemn it. Many sages of Egypt and India also condemn this practice.

Sacrifice of children in their name is a complete abomination unto the Gods. For many years, this has privately been the preserve of a certain group in line with the Talmud and Bible.

During the First Millennia BCE, many groups across the planet were moved towards a sort of monotheism, contact with malignant astral spirits and a trend towards human sacrifice, things we believe were prompted by enemy interference.

Unfortunately, as with many Mesoamerican pantheons, certain aberrant practices involving humans appear to have become prevalent in line with enemy instructions and contact. The Incas at least by existing evidence did not sacrifice to the extreme level of the Aztecs or Maya, which is shown by the evidence of corpses associated with this practice being limited in comparison, primarily tied to the mountain shrines. All methods show an aversion to causing pain in the victim.

The Incas appeared to believe the victims underwent apotheosis in doing this procdure. The female individuals sacrificed served four years as high priestesses of some kind. The sacrificed were apparently seen as chosen ones and Capac Hucha children were considered to be immortalized as divine intercessors, ensuring the well-being of the empire.

On the other hand, some authors allege large levels of sacrifice that are difficult to ascertain. As many as 4,000 servants, court officials, favorites and concubines were supposedly killed upon the death of the Inca Huayna Capac in 1527. This necropompa or retainer sacrifice was a custom by this point, although this event occurred as the Inca Empire was in downfall. Bernabé Cobo and others claimed to witness this. These deaths were supposedly more violent, yet the archeological evidence for this is ambiguous, in part due to the stated execution methods being difficult to ascertain from bone analysis and the fact Incans buried such individuals in with anyone else.

Some later authors such as Inca Garcilaso de la Vega who provided very detailed explanations of Incan life claimed the Inca actually strongly limited and confined this practice compared to their neighbors. We treat this with ambivalence, although it is possible. In any case, the Gods deem that such practices are aberrant and absolutely unacceptable in any society.