Viracocha, also called Ticci (Tiqsi) Viracocha or Con Tici Viracocha, was the creator deity of the Andes, honored by the Inca and by earlier peoples of Peru and Bolivia. Myths tell how he emerged from Lake Titicaca, made the sun, moon and people at Tiwanaku, and then walked across the land teaching before vanishing over the Pacific.
Ticci Viracocha at a glance
| Also known as | Ticci (Tiqsi) Viracocha, Con Tici Viracocha, Wiraqucha |
|---|---|
| Culture | Andean; Inca and pre-Inca Peru and Bolivia |
| Role | Creator of the world, the sun, moon and humanity |
| Sacred places | Lake Titicaca, Tiwanaku, Raqchi (Cacha) |
| Main sources | Spanish colonial chronicles, 16th-17th centuries |
| Namesake | Inca ruler Viracocha Inca (died c. 1438) |
Name and identity
The name Viracocha, in modern Quechua spelling Wiraqucha, is usually given with epithets. Tiqsi, written "Ticci" or "Ticsi" by the Spanish, is often translated as "foundation" or "origin," marking him as the source of all things. Other forms include Con Tici Viracocha and Illa Tiqsi Viracocha. The meaning of the name itself is uncertain; a common folk explanation as "sea foam" is disputed by linguists.
He was regarded as the supreme creator, older and more remote than the sun god Inti, and Inca prayers addressed him as the maker of the world. Some scholars argue that the Inca treated him as a distant high god who left the day-to-day running of the world to other deities, while others stress his importance in state religion.
Creation myths
Spanish chroniclers recorded several versions of the creation story. In a widely reported account, Viracocha first made a world in darkness and a race of giants or first people, who displeased him. He destroyed them with a great flood, called unu pachakuti, and turned some to stone.
He then rose from Lake Titicaca, or in some versions from a cave, and at Tiwanaku created the sun, moon and stars, bringing light to the world. He shaped new people, painted them with their distinctive clothing, gave them their languages and songs, and sent them underground to emerge at their proper homelands from springs, caves and hills. These places of origin, called paqarinas, became sacred to the communities that traced their ancestry to them, a link to Andean ancestor worship.
The wandering teacher
After the creation, the myths say, Viracocha traveled northwest through the highlands, sometimes accompanied by helpers, teaching people how to live and performing wonders. At Cacha, south of Cusco, people who failed to recognize him attacked him, and he called down fire from heaven that scorched the hills until they begged forgiveness. The site later held a great temple in his honor, whose ruins at Raqchi survive today.
Finally he reached the coast near Manta in present-day Ecuador and walked away across the sea. Chroniclers described him as a tall man in a long robe carrying a staff. Some colonial writers added details such as a beard or light skin; modern historians regard these as likely influenced by Spanish expectations and debate how far they reflect pre-conquest belief.
Worship under the Inca
The Inca placed an image of Viracocha in the main temple complex of Cusco, the Coricancha, alongside images of the Sun, Moon, Thunder and other powers, and maintained other shrines to him. Prayers recorded in colonial sources address him as creator and ask for health, protection and abundance. He seems to have been especially honored by the Inca nobility, particularly in times of crisis.
An eighth Inca ruler took the name Viracocha Inca, and some scholars think the god's cult was elevated during his reign or that of his son Pachacuti in the fifteenth century. Earlier traditions probably lie behind the figure: the "staff god" carved on the Gateway of the Sun at Tiwanaku is often, though not certainly, identified as a precursor.
Sources and interpretation
Almost everything written about Viracocha comes from Spanish and mestizo authors of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including Juan de Betanzos, Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, Cristobal de Molina and the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. These writers relied on Andean informants but interpreted what they heard through Christian ideas, sometimes presenting Viracocha as a vague memory of the true God or of a Christian apostle.
Chroniclers also reported that Andean people called the Spaniards "viracochas" soon after the conquest. The reasons are debated, and later writers exaggerated the idea that the Inca took the conquistadors for returning gods. Scholars read all these texts critically, comparing them with archaeology and with surviving Quechua traditions.
Legacy
Viracocha remains a significant figure in Andean cultural identity and appears in art, festivals and literature in Peru and Bolivia. The Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl named his 1947 balsa raft Kon-Tiki after a form of the god's name, inspired by his theory of ancient Pacific voyages, a theory most scholars do not accept for South American origins of Polynesians.
Early twentieth-century popular writers, such as Lewis Spence in The Myths of Mexico and Peru, helped introduce Viracocha to English readers. Comparative mythologists often place him among world creator gods, such as the Vedic Prajapati, who bring order out of darkness and then withdraw from the world they made.
Related entries
Frequently asked questions
Who is Viracocha?
Viracocha is the creator god of Andean mythology, honored by the Inca and earlier peoples of Peru and Bolivia. Myths say he rose from Lake Titicaca, created the sun, moon and humanity at Tiwanaku, taught people how to live, and then departed across the Pacific. He is also called Ticci or Con Tici Viracocha.
What does Ticci Viracocha mean?
Ticci, or Tiqsi in modern Quechua spelling, is usually translated as foundation or origin, so Ticci Viracocha presents the god as the source of all things. The meaning of Viracocha itself is uncertain. A popular interpretation as sea foam is often repeated, but linguists debate it and no single translation is universally accepted.
Did the Inca think the Spanish were Viracocha?
Some colonial chroniclers wrote that Andean people called the Spaniards viracochas and suggested they were taken for returning gods. Modern historians treat this cautiously. The term may have been a respectful title rather than a belief in divinity, and the story was likely exaggerated by later writers who drew on European ideas.
Sources and further reading
This entry replaces an article from the original Mystica encyclopedia (online since 2001). It was rewritten from the sources above by The Mystica Editorial Team under our editorial standards. Last reviewed: September 30, 2026.