History Of The Ceque System

“New World Romans” is what Aveni called these ancient astronomers. Settled in what now is Peru in 1400 to 1532 C.E, the Inca Empire was a large and sophisticated society that was later conquered by the Spanish. Many mysteries were left untold in their 132-year reign. Along with their mysteries, their beautiful land housed a complex system called the Ceque System. Understanding the Ceque system gives us a painting of the civilization and how they operated. The Ceque being a centralized system brought everything together, from religion, calendar to even their hydrology (Aveni, 138). As the “New World Romans” emerged early 15th century, it is with no doubt this civilization paid attention to the heavens above and has us pondering how they did

The Ceque System, as Aveni states it, was a giant cosmogram, a mnemonic map built into Cuzco’s natural and man-mad topography that unifies the Incas idea about religion, social organization, calendar, astronomy, and hydrology. The Ceque system was composed of 328 huacas (shrines) and 42 Ceque (lines) as described from Bernabé Cobo in his 1653 chronicle article “Historia del Nuevo Mundo.” With this complex system comes with detailed structures and implications. Also mentioned by Aveni in the description about the Inca Quipu, the whole Ceque System represents a quipu

Alpha and Beta Centauri were the Llama’s “eyes” and were first to rise in November (Website, 1). The actual constellation had two Llama’s, the mother and baby. This was significant to the Inca because they served as food and sacrifices to the gods. These sacrifices took place at certain times with astronomical significance like the equinoxes and solstices (Website, 1). After the Llama was the rising of the Atoq, known better as the Fox. The sun passes through the constellation in December around the time when foxes are born (Website, 1). Through all these constellations, the Inca show their perspective on the sky and what they followed close