Cuzco was founded by Manco Capac, and was the first king of Cuzco. He is also known as the First Incan. A temple to the sun was built where the golden staff sunk into the earth. This was dedicated to the god (whichever legend you follow, it is to that god) that started the great civilization of the Incas. Later Cuzco would be destroyed by Pizarro during the Spanish Conquest. The people rebuilt Cuzco, using the original bases that had been constructed at the beginning.
Sacrifices and Gods were a large part of Inca culture. Everyday at dawn priests would offer llamas, cocoa leaves and food to the god of creation, god of the sun, and the god of thunder. The other gods would receive different types of food and chicha beer. The sacrifices were to ensure good health and peace. During hard times such as drought, more and larger sacrifices were given to the gods. There were roughly 24 gods that the Incas believed in, they all represented something, generally weather, earth, father, mother, fertility, etc.
The governemnt of Cuzco was a monarchy, in which all the rulers were descendants from the first, Manco Capac. All emperors had power until they died, leaving the throne to their son. Cuzco also had social classes, not unlike other social hierarchies of the world. Above all were gods, then the emperor, royal family and court, priests, fighters, merchants, peasants, servants. Emperors that were deceased still had influence in the government, the people would mummify them and place them in tombs with personal and favorite objects, their spouse, servants, any other things that they wanted with them. People visited the mummies daily, and on special occasions the mummies would be taken around the city so they could "see" the city and "view" their peoples.
Many legends were said orally, yet the communication the Incas used was Quechua, not Spanish. When transcribing the legends, many details could have been lost due to the uniqueness of the language. Another form of keeping records for the Incas was a device called the Khipus. It was a set of colored strings with knots that kept tasks, and was mainly used for accounting purposes. FOTO
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