THE INCA ALEXANDER

How Topa Inca Yupanqui built on the conquests of his forebears and expanded his empire

- Hareth Al Bustani

In the mid-15th century, at the height of his powers, the mighty emperor Pachacuti returned to Cusco to discover his wife-sister had bore him a new son. Although he had older legitimate sons, he sensed something special in this boy. As he raised him towards the almighty Sun, he proclaimed the boy Topa Inca Yupanqui. It was an auspicious occasion, one the emperor marked by offering vast quantities of gold and silver to the Sun god Inti, the oracles and the sacred stones known as the huacas. In the most extravagant festival the Inca had ever seen, he undertook an epic capac hucha ceremony, where a procession of children toured Cusco before being sacrificed.

Years later, as the elderly emperor felt his vigour fade, he decided it was time to step back from the action and appoint one of his sons to co-rule the empire he had worked so tirelessly to forge. When Pachacuti named his eldest legitimate son, Amaru, heir, although the priests were happy, the generals were not. They felt that Amaru was not up to the task of leading the greatest army beneath the Sun. After much consideration, Pachacuti summoned the nobles and elites, declaring that Amaru did not have "the qualifications to govern so great a lordship as that which I have acquired". Instead the emperor turned to his youngest son, Topa, elevating him to co-ruler.

It was a momentous occasion. Once again, children were sacrificed to the Sun in order that it may shine down upon Topa Inca Yupanqui - son of the Sun and father of his people. As Topa sat upon a golden throne, with a fringe of gold atop his head, he was handed the feathered pike and royal insignia. Afterwards, the priests hoisted him away on their shoulders to the House of the Sun - where he received the order of chivalry as well as his sister Mama Ocllo's hand in marriage.