Encyclopedia of the Incas

(Bozica Vekic) #1

The plaza witnessed daily, monthly, and yearly rituals and functioned as the
axis of the empire’s territorial four-part suyu division and, by extension, the
roads to the four suyus: Chinchaysuyu to the northwest, Antisuyu to the
northeast, Collasuyu to the southeast, and Cuntisuyu to the southwest. Non-
Incas residing in Cuzco lived in the directions of their respective suyus. In turn,
the dual divisions of hanan, upper, and hurin, lower, divided the city into two
parts. Hanan Cuzco included Chinchaysuyu and Antisuyu while hurin Cuzco
incorporated Collasuyu and Cuntisuyu. Scholars disagree over whether the
southeast side of the plaza, or the confluence of the city’s two rivers, the Saphi
and Tullumayu just below the Coricancha, marked the division.

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