The secret of the Incas
Subtitle: myth, astronomy, and the war against time
By: William Sullivan.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Crown Publishers
Published: 1996
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 413
Subjects: Inca mythology.; Inca astronomy.; Inca philosophy.
Description: "'This book is the story of an experiment,' to quote the author (p. 12). Focuses on myth as the key to understanding the Incas' past. Many conclusions differ from those of standard scholarly literature. Some examples that run counter to orthodox views on Andean peoples are the notion that Andean myth recounts significant precessional events; the view that the three worlds of Andean cosmology were understood, on one level, as locations on the celestial sphere, united by the Milky Way; and the idea that Andean peoples not only had names for all the planets visible to the unassisted eye, but also associated them with important deities. Uses ethnoastronomical studies of Gary Urton and R. Tom Zuidema"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [369]-402) and index.