visited the sanctuary. Such an unfavorable prediction would have led them to
side with Huascar, changing the outcome of the war of succession.
Other famous Inca oracles included Apurimac, Vilcanota, and Coropuna. The
sanctuary of Apurimac (the lord who speaks) was located near the eponymous
river, to the southwest of Cuzco, and was under the care of a priestess of noble
Cuzco blood. The oracular idol was represented by a thick wooden staff in the
shape of a human figure, and placed in a small chamber decorated on the outside
with polychrome paintings and inside immersed, like Pachacamac, in complete
darkness. The oracle of Vilcanota (Aymara, house of the Sun) was located south
of Cuzco at the La Raya pass, which separates Cuzco from the altiplano region
where Lake Titicaca is located. People took this oracle’s predictions as absolute
truth. The Incas used to offer Vilcanota large quantities of camelids and, on
occasion, human beings.
According to Cieza de León, the sanctuary of Coropuna, located near a large
snow-capped volcano in the Inca province of Cuntisuyu, was always crowded
with pilgrims from across Tahuantinsuyu. The empire’s leading lords visited this
oracle with considerable frequency, since it answered their questions year round,
and not only during particular festivals, as was the case with many of the other
oracles. Thanks to the high attendance of pilgrims, who left precious offerings,
and to the benefits and endowments granted by the Incas, Coropuna became a
primary religious center, with a number of priests, mamacunas and yanacunas,
an enormous treasury, and considerable resources consisting of large flocks of
camelids and rich agricultural fields. Likely, the sanctuary of Coropuna
corresponds to the sprawling, 45-hectare (111-acre) settlement, located at 3,600
meters (11,811 feet) above sea level on the southern side of the mountain of
Coropuna and known today as Maucallacta (Old Town), with more than two
hundred monumental stone buildings, plazas and large ceremonial structures.
Further Reading
Bauer, Brian S., and Charles Stanish. Ritual and Pilgrimage in the Ancient Andes: The Island of the Sun and
the Moon. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001.
Cieza de León, Pedro de. The Incas of Pedro de Cieza de León. Translated by Harriet de Onís. Edited by
Victor Wolfgang von Hagen. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1959 [1553–1554].
Curatola Petrocchi, Marco. “¿Fueron Pachacamac y los otros grandes santuarios del mundo andino antiguo
verdaderos oráculos?” Diálogo Andino 38:5–19, 2011.
Curatola Petrocchi, Marco, and Mariusz Ziólkowski, eds. Adivinación y oráculos en el mundo andino
antiguo. Lima: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú/Instituto Francés de Estudios Andinos, 2008.
Gose, Peter. “Oracles, Divine Kingship, and Political Representation in the Inka State.” Ethnohistory 43,
no.1: 1–32, 1996.