Fame of Thrones: Seats, Sights, and Sanctity among the Inka
The Inka of Andean South America regarded as sacred those seats reserved for the divine head of state. The most famous of such seats was known to the Inka as the Sapaqurinka; today it is more commonly known as the Throne of the Inka. It was hewn from a rock outcrop located atop a promontory overlook...
| Published in: | Material religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Taylor & Francis
[2015]
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| In: |
Material religion
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| Further subjects: | B
Inka visual culture
B sacred landscape B Saqsawaman B scopic practices B complementarity B rock carving B Throne |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | The Inka of Andean South America regarded as sacred those seats reserved for the divine head of state. The most famous of such seats was known to the Inka as the Sapaqurinka; today it is more commonly known as the Throne of the Inka. It was hewn from a rock outcrop located atop a promontory overlooking the Inka's capital city of Cuzco. Attending closely to its specific parts, as well as to its overall aspect, location, and medium, this paper elucidates the principles evoked when the Inka ruler sat on stone, saw what was there to be seen, and assumed the role of divine overseer. The petrous materiality of the Throne, its fixed location, and the ways in which it was carved, combined to enable the deific leader of the Inka state to become simultaneously a living ruler and an extension of the sacred landscape. By sitting, the Inka ruler not only inhabited a sacred topography, but merged with it, his body composed of vital but impermanent flesh and also - in deliberate complementarity - petrous fixity and permanence. |
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| ISSN: | 1751-8342 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Material religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/17432200.2015.1083728 |