In Inca mythology, Viracocha (also known as Illa and Tici) was the god of the sun, storms and creation. He rose from Lake Titicaca at the dawn of the universe, and made the earth, sky, moon and stars. He peopled the earth with creatures, and then set about making mankind by breathing life into stones. The first people were brainless giants, and he swept them away in a flood and made a second race, this time from pebbles which he scattered all over the earth. Ever afterwards he roamed the earth disguised as a beggar to teach mankind goodness and learning, but because so many people refused to listen to him, preferring crime and war, he returned to heaven in tears. The story goes that should mankind become sufficiently wicked, those tears will turn into another flood and sweep mankind away again. Alternative versions of the myth have Viracocha as a son of Inti, and in another as another aspect of the sun to Imti. Research Viracocha
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Abbreviations
Research Pachacamac
