Book contents
- Frontmatter
- INTRODUCTION
- Dedication
- PREFACE TO THE READER
- NOTES TOUCHING THE GENERAL LANGUAGE OF THE INDIANS OF PERU
- THE FIRST BOOK OF THE ROYAL COMMENTARIES OF THE YNCAS
- SECOND BOOK OF THE ROYAL COMMENTARIES OF THE YNCAS
- CHAPTER I OF THE IDOLATRY OF THE SECOND AGE, AND OF ITS ORIGIN
- CHAPTER II THE YNCAS SOUGHT THE TRUE GOD OUR LORD
- CHAPTER III THE YNCAS KEPT A IN A SACRED PLACE
- CHAPTER IV OF MANY GODS IMPROPERLY ATTRIBUTED TO THE INDIANS BY THE SPANISH HISTORIANS
- CHAPTER V OF MANY OTHER MEANINGS OF THE WORD HUACA
- CHAPTER VI WHAT AN AUTHOR SAYS CONCERNING THEIR GODS
- CHAPTER VII THEY KNEW OF THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, AND OF THE GENERAL RESURRECTION
- CHAPTER VIII OF THE THINGS THAT THEY SACRIFICED TO THE SUN
- CHAPTER IX OF THE PRIESTS, RITES, AND CEREMONIES, AND OF THE LAWS ATTRIBUTED TO THE FIRST YNCA
- CHAPTER X THE AUTHOR COLLATES HIS OWN STATEMENTS WITH THOSE OF THE SPANISH HISTORIANS
- CHAPTER XI THEY DIVIDED THE EMPIRE INTO FOUR DISTRICTS, AND REGISTERED THEIR VASSALS
- CHAPTER XII TWO DUTIES WHICH THE DECURIONS PERFORMED
- CHAPTER XIII CONCERNING CERTAIN LAWS THAT THE YNCAS INSTITUTED IN THEIR GOVERNMENT
- CHAPTER XIV THE DECURIONS GAVE AN ACCOUNT OF THE BIRTHS AND DEATHS
- CHAPTER XV THE INDIANS DENY THAT AN YNCA OF THE BLOOD ROYAL HAS EVER COMMITTED ANY CRIME WHATEVER
- CHAPTER XVI THE LIFE AND ACTS OF SINCHI ROCA THE SECOND KING OF THE YNCA DYNASTY
- CHAPTER XVII LLOQUE YUPANQUI, THIRD KING, AND THE MEANING OF HIS NAME
- CHAPTER XVIII TWO CONQUESTS MADE BY THE YNCA LLOQUE YUPANQUI
- CHAPTER XIX THE CONQUESTS OF HATUN-COLLA, AND THE ORIGIN OF THE COLLAS
- CHAPTER XX THE GREAT PROVINCE OF CHUCUITU IS REDUCED, AS WELL AS MANY OTHER PROVINCES
- CHAPTER XXI THE SCIENCES WHICH THE YNCAS HAD ACQUIRED: AND FIRST OF THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF ASTRONOMY
- CHAPTER XXII THEY UNDERSTOOD THE MEASUREMENT OF THE YEAR, AND THE SOLSTICES AND EQUINOXES
- CHAPTER XXIII THEY OBSERVED THE ECLIPSES OF THE SUN, AND WHAT THEY DID WHEN THOSE OF THE MOON OCCURRED
- CHAPTER XXIV THE MEDICINES THEY USED, AND THEIR MANNER OF EFFECTING CURES
- CHAPTER XXV OF THE MEDICINAL HERBS THEY USED
- CHAPTER XXVI OF THEIR KNOWLEDGE TOUCHING GEOMETRY, ARITHMETIC, AND MUSIC
- CHAPTER XXVII THE POETRY OF THE YNCAS AMAUTAS, WHO ARE PHILOSOPHERS, AND HARAVICUS OR POETS
- CHAPTER XXVIII OF THE FEW INSTRUMENTS WHICH THE INDIANS USED FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES
- THIRD BOOK OF THE ROYAL COMMENTARIES OF THE YNCAS
- FOURTH BOOK OF THE ROYAL COMMENTARIES OF THE YNCAS
- INDEX
CHAPTER XXII - THEY UNDERSTOOD THE MEASUREMENT OF THE YEAR, AND THE SOLSTICES AND EQUINOXES
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 November 2010
- Frontmatter
- INTRODUCTION
- Dedication
- PREFACE TO THE READER
- NOTES TOUCHING THE GENERAL LANGUAGE OF THE INDIANS OF PERU
- THE FIRST BOOK OF THE ROYAL COMMENTARIES OF THE YNCAS
- SECOND BOOK OF THE ROYAL COMMENTARIES OF THE YNCAS
- CHAPTER I OF THE IDOLATRY OF THE SECOND AGE, AND OF ITS ORIGIN
- CHAPTER II THE YNCAS SOUGHT THE TRUE GOD OUR LORD
- CHAPTER III THE YNCAS KEPT A IN A SACRED PLACE
- CHAPTER IV OF MANY GODS IMPROPERLY ATTRIBUTED TO THE INDIANS BY THE SPANISH HISTORIANS
- CHAPTER V OF MANY OTHER MEANINGS OF THE WORD HUACA
- CHAPTER VI WHAT AN AUTHOR SAYS CONCERNING THEIR GODS
- CHAPTER VII THEY KNEW OF THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, AND OF THE GENERAL RESURRECTION
- CHAPTER VIII OF THE THINGS THAT THEY SACRIFICED TO THE SUN
- CHAPTER IX OF THE PRIESTS, RITES, AND CEREMONIES, AND OF THE LAWS ATTRIBUTED TO THE FIRST YNCA
- CHAPTER X THE AUTHOR COLLATES HIS OWN STATEMENTS WITH THOSE OF THE SPANISH HISTORIANS
- CHAPTER XI THEY DIVIDED THE EMPIRE INTO FOUR DISTRICTS, AND REGISTERED THEIR VASSALS
- CHAPTER XII TWO DUTIES WHICH THE DECURIONS PERFORMED
- CHAPTER XIII CONCERNING CERTAIN LAWS THAT THE YNCAS INSTITUTED IN THEIR GOVERNMENT
- CHAPTER XIV THE DECURIONS GAVE AN ACCOUNT OF THE BIRTHS AND DEATHS
- CHAPTER XV THE INDIANS DENY THAT AN YNCA OF THE BLOOD ROYAL HAS EVER COMMITTED ANY CRIME WHATEVER
- CHAPTER XVI THE LIFE AND ACTS OF SINCHI ROCA THE SECOND KING OF THE YNCA DYNASTY
- CHAPTER XVII LLOQUE YUPANQUI, THIRD KING, AND THE MEANING OF HIS NAME
- CHAPTER XVIII TWO CONQUESTS MADE BY THE YNCA LLOQUE YUPANQUI
- CHAPTER XIX THE CONQUESTS OF HATUN-COLLA, AND THE ORIGIN OF THE COLLAS
- CHAPTER XX THE GREAT PROVINCE OF CHUCUITU IS REDUCED, AS WELL AS MANY OTHER PROVINCES
- CHAPTER XXI THE SCIENCES WHICH THE YNCAS HAD ACQUIRED: AND FIRST OF THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF ASTRONOMY
- CHAPTER XXII THEY UNDERSTOOD THE MEASUREMENT OF THE YEAR, AND THE SOLSTICES AND EQUINOXES
- CHAPTER XXIII THEY OBSERVED THE ECLIPSES OF THE SUN, AND WHAT THEY DID WHEN THOSE OF THE MOON OCCURRED
- CHAPTER XXIV THE MEDICINES THEY USED, AND THEIR MANNER OF EFFECTING CURES
- CHAPTER XXV OF THE MEDICINAL HERBS THEY USED
- CHAPTER XXVI OF THEIR KNOWLEDGE TOUCHING GEOMETRY, ARITHMETIC, AND MUSIC
- CHAPTER XXVII THE POETRY OF THE YNCAS AMAUTAS, WHO ARE PHILOSOPHERS, AND HARAVICUS OR POETS
- CHAPTER XXVIII OF THE FEW INSTRUMENTS WHICH THE INDIANS USED FOR VARIOUS PURPOSES
- THIRD BOOK OF THE ROYAL COMMENTARIES OF THE YNCAS
- FOURTH BOOK OF THE ROYAL COMMENTARIES OF THE YNCAS
- INDEX
Summary
With all their rusticity, the Yncas understood that the course of the sun's movement was completed in a year, which they called huata. This word means a year; and the same word, without any change in the pronunciation or accent, is a verb meaning to seize. The common people counted the year by the harvests. The Yncas also had a knowledge of the summer and winter solstices, which were marked by large and conspicuous signs, consisting of eight towers on the east, and other eight on the west side of the city of Cuzco, placed in double rows, four and four, two small ones of three estados, a little more or less, in height, between two other high ones. The small towers were eighteen or twenty feet apart, and the larger ones were at an equal distance on the sides. The latter were much higher than those which in Spain serve as watch towers. The high towers were used as observatories, whence the smaller ones could be more conveniently watched; and the space between the small towers, by which the sun passed in rising and setting, was the point of the solstices. The towers in the east corresponded with those of the west, according as it was the summer or winter solstice.
To ascertain the time of the solstice, an Ynca was stationed at a certain point, when the sun rose and set, who watched whether it threw its shadow between the two small towers, which were on the east and west sides of Cuzco.
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- First Part of the Royal Commentaries of the Yncas , pp. 177 - 181Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010