(American mythology)
Or Ayar Manco. The semi-legendary founder of the Inca dynasty. There are three versions of the myth. In the first, four brothers and four sisters proceeded in the general direction of Cuzco, looking for somewhere to settle. During the journey Ayar Cachi, who possessed magical strength, was walled into a cave by his brothers who feared his destructive tendencies. Then Ayar Oco turned himself into a sacred stone and Ayar Ayca became the protector of the fields, leaving the last brother, Ayar Manco, to seize Cuzco with his sisters, one of whom he married. She was Mama Ocllo.
In a second version the sun god Inti, seeing how wretched men were, felt pity for them and sent to earth on an island in Lake Titicaca his two children Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo, brother and sister, to establish civilization. They travelled northwards carrying with them a wedge of gold. Wherever this sank into the ground, they were instructed to settle. In the soil of the plain on which Cuzco stands this occurred. From this city, the dynasty they founded conquered all the Andean peoples. A variant has three brothers and a sister.
According to the third version, eagerly recorded by Spanish historians, the Inca crown acquired divine status because of Manco Capac, an astute ruler with a love of display. His splendid clothes and the elaborate customs of his court impressed a gullible people. Manco Capac, however, was supposed to be the first Inca emperor.
