Ai Apaec: ¿una divinidad suprema prehispánica o una manipulación en la traducción intercultural?

Abstract

Ai Apaec: Pre‑Hispanic Supreme Deity or a Manipulation of Intercultural Translation?

The Moche culture (A.D. 200‑800) has left one of the richest iconographies in the history of ancient Andean civilizations. Due to the lack of written sources for the pre‑Hispanic period of Andean South America, the first information about the religious beliefs and rituals of the people from the north coast came from early colonial time. These written sources provide revealing information about the concept of the principal god and even a supreme creator in the Moche pantheon, named Ai Apaec in muchic or yunga language. Actually, the understanding of Moche religion is based not only on the historical perspectives but also on information produced during the extensive study of its iconography. Despite the numerous studies about the Moche pantheon of gods and goddesses, the problem of number and identity of the deities still poses innumerable questions and obstacles. This article offers a reassessment of the character of symbolic organizationof Moche religion, based on iconographic analysis of the famous portrait vessels (huacos retrato) from the collection of the Larco Museum in Lima, Peru.