A sometimes murky, frequently meandering excursion into the meaning
of ancient Andean beliefs, arguing that in a series of
sophisticated myths Incan soothsayers foretold their own
civilization's doom at the hands of Pizarro and his conquistadors
in 1532. Sullivan, a scholar of Native American 0cultures, begins
with a question that has perplexed historians of the Spanish
conquest: How could the vast Inca Empire, with its millions of
subjects, have been conquered overnight by a band of 170 Spanish
adventurers? Sullivan digs into the history and mythology of Andean
civilization to find what he feels is the answer: For hundreds of
years the sages of the Andes had believed that astronomical
transitions presaged earthly cataclysms; reading changes in the
night skies in the 1400s, Incan priest-astronomers foretold the
imminent destruction of their own recently founded empire. Sullivan
argues, in a sometimes hyperbolic first-person account ("In that
moment I had, I believed, touched for an instant the terrible
burden and tragic urgency of the Inca vision"), that the Incas
followed the planets, recorded precessional events in their myths,
and equated social and celestial changes. He further asserts that
elements in Incan culture preceding Pizarro's arrival - constant
warfare and the Incan ritual of human sacrifice - represented an
attempt to halt the march of time and prevent the apocalyptic
events foreshadowed by changes in the night sky. The Incas assumed
that the arrival of Pizarro represented the culmination of the
prophecy and the failure of their own efforts to prevent its
occurrence. The thread of the author's argument can be hard to
follow. Still, Sullivan's deep feeling for Andean folk materials,
and the originality of his observations about Andean astronomy,
make his text worthwhile for those interested in the history of
South American civilization and for those who, in the wake of
Joseph Campbell's works, seek enduring meaning in ancient
mythology. (Kirkus Reviews)
At its peak, the Inca empire was the largest on Earth. Yet in the
year 1532, it was conquered by fewer than 200 Spanish adventurers.
How could this happen? Approaching the answer clue by clue, scholar
William Sullivan decodes the myths of the Incas to reveal an
astoundingly precise record of astronomical events. The Incas
accepted their fate as written in the stars. Illus.
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