Topa Inca Yupanqui Ruler of Allied Incalculable Peoples
Huayna Capac Young King Titu Cusi Hualpa
Huascar Inca King of the Golden Chain Topa Cusi Hualpa
Atahualpa CockTied to the status and reputation of El Cuzco, as well as the hierarchy of
imperial officials beneath him, was Andean society’s definition of rich and poor.
The rich leader had numerous followers whereas the poor man or person was an
orphan, without kin or following. Such a conceptualization had wide-ranging
ramifications—even to the desirability of a woman for marriage. The best match
in the estimation of a leader was not the prettiest lady, or the strongest, or the one
with the most material possessions, but the female who had the largest kin
network, because after their union, the groom had the right to request help from
the bride’s kin—to open an irrigation ditch, plow and plant fields, or offer a feast
for the ancestors.
The one exception was the Inca who, ideally (at least in late Inca times), took
his biological sister as a principal wife to concentrate an essence that coursed
through their veins, called capac. This substance made the Incas “very much
more than kings” (Julien 2000), probably referring to their divinity.
Theoretically, this incestuous pair became the progenitors of a new royal lineage
or panaca, which evolved into an institution charged with caring for the
sovereign’s mummy and maintaining his memory by singing and recounting his
accomplishments (see Mummies, Royal; Worship, Ancestor).
The Sapa Inca, like his ancestors, claimed descent from a lineage that
descended from the union of the Sun, their father, and the Moon, their mother.
Therefore, the Inca ruler’s proud claim to be the son of the Sun, their principal
deity and ancestor, legitimized (in part) his rule. He served as the Sun’s chief
steward, offering the solar deity maize beer (chicha) from golden beakers
(aquillas; see Keros). Simultaneously, he was the center of a large kinship
network that, through his many secondary wives, tied his person and interests to
those of subordinate ethnic groups throughout the empire.
The Spanish observers collected information on this lineage and admitted that
the names and numbers and status of rulers that they heard recounted—
especially in the city of Cuzco—were confused and confusing (see King List).
The first to systematize the information in the mid-1550s was the chronicler
Juan de Betanzos who was married to an Inca princess and became an official