FOUNDERS OF

CIVILIZATION
FROM WORLD
MYTHOLOGY

I T I R A I

THIRD YEAR(2015-2020)

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, DELHI TECHNICAL CAMPUS

1) MANCO CAPAC
The Inca of South America were a civilization of 12 million people,
prominent on the continent prior to the arrival of European settlers.
They have no written records, but stories passed on through
generations tell of a legendary founder named Manco Capac. The
Inca creation myth says that the world was created by a god
named Viracocha. After he created the Earth, he formed people
and animals from clay, then sent the people deep underground. He
ordered them to emerge from caves and lakes across the planet,
and to begin a civilization wherever they found themselves. Manco
Capac emerged from Lake Titicaca, which sits on the border
between Peru and Bolivia. He was accompanied by his brothers
and sisters, but as they ventured out to find a good place to call
home, many of his brothers turned to stone. Eventually, they found
a place that Manco liked the look of. He drove his golden staff into
the ground and found it to be fertile. He then had a family with one
of his sisters—the descendants of which became the Inca—before
he also turned into stone.
2) CHINA’S ANCIENT EMPERORS
There are a lot of variations in China’s legends, crafted at different
points in its history. There are a number of common elements,
though, and the usual narrative says that in the very distant past all
of the land was swept away in a great flood. The only survivors
were two demigods, Fu Xi and his sister Nuwa, who took refuge on
a mountain. With the blessing of the Emperor of Heaven, the
siblings set about repopulating the world. To speed up the process
they created humans from clay, as well as through the traditional
method.
There are many different myths about how the world was created.
Yet, for humans, the story doesn’t stop there. The world has been
home to a huge number of ancient civilizations, and many of them
have legendary tales to suggest how they came into being. The
following myths come from two different continents, but the themes
seem to be common to both.
It’s curious to note similarities with other foundation myths. The
great flood is an obvious parallel to the biblical account of noah.
More striking is the idea of a sibling pair populating the planet and
humans being crafted from clay—two elements that are prominent
in the inca story of manco capac. Given that the people that settled
south america got there via east asia, some of the common
elements may have been passed down for tens of thousands of
years. Or it could simply be that people are generally into stories
about siblings getting it on.