La identidad de las diez panacas en el Cuzco incaico

Abstract

The Identity of the Ten Panacas in Incaic Cuzco

One notion well-known in the modern literature on the Incas, which was first introduced by Sarmiento de Gamboa, in 1572, is that the ten panacas of Cuzco were formed in a historical process, with each king founding his own panaca. However, earlier chroniclers, such as Betanzos, Santo Tomás and Las Casas, described the formation of the ten panacas very differently. For the latter authors, the totality of the ten panacas always constituted the central part of Cuzco’s organization. Beyond their significance as lineage groupings, the panacas represented a hierarchical organization in which other social functions, like age grades and age classes, the calendar and religion, also played indispensable roles.