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CHAP. LXXII - Of the valley of Pachacamac, and of the very ancient temple in it, and how it was reverenced by the Yncas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2011

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Summary

Four leagues from the City of the Kings, travelling down the coast, is the valley of Pachacamac, which is very famous among these Indians. This valley is fruitful and pleasant, and in it there was one of the grandest temples that is to be seen in these parts. They say of it that, although the Kings Yncas built many temples besides the temple of Cuzco, and enriched them greatly, yet none were equal to this temple of Pachacamac. It was built on the top of a small hill, entirely made of earth and adobes (bricks baked in the sun). The edifice had many doors, and the doors and walls were painted over with wild beasts. Within the temple, where they placed the idol, were the priests, who feigned no small amount of sanctity. When they performed sacrifices before the people, they went with their faces towards the doors and their backs to the idols, with their eyes to the ground, and they were filled with a mighty trembling. Indeed, their perturbation was so great, according to the accounts of those Indians who are still living, that it may almost be compared with that of which we read concerning the priests of Apollo when the gentiles sought for their vain replies.

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Travels of Pedro de Cieza de León, A.D. 1532–50
Contained in the First Part of his Chronicle of Peru
, pp. 251 - 254
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010
First published in: 1864

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