Apu Ollantay (A Drama of the 
Time of the Incas) 
 
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Title: Apu Ollantay A Drama of the Time of the Incas 
Author: Sir Clements R. Markham 
Release Date: October, 2005 [EBook #9068] [Yes, we are more than 
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on September 2, 
2003] 
Edition: 10
Language: English 
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK APU 
OLLANTAY *** 
 
Produced by John B. Hare 
 
APU OLLANTAY 
A DRAMA OF THE TIME OF THE INCAS 
SOVEREIGNS OF PERU 
ABOUT A.D. 1470 
 
FIRST REDUCED TO WRITING BY DR. VALDEZ, CUBA OF 
SICUANI A.D. 1770 
 
THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT COPIED BY DR. JUSTO PASTOR 
JUSTINIANI 
 
THIS JUSTINIANI TEXT COPIED AT LARIS, IN APRIL 1863, BY 
CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM 
 
A FREE TRANSLATION INTO ENGLISH BY SIR CLEMENTS 
MARKHAM, K.C.B. [1910] 
 
INTRODUCTION 
The drama was cultivated by the Incas, and dramatic performances 
were enacted before them. Garcilasso de la Vega, Molina, and 
Salcamayhua are the authorities who received and have recorded the 
information given by the Amautas respecting the Inca drama. Some of 
these dramas, and portions of others, were preserved in the memories of 
members of Inca and Amauta families. The Spanish priests, especially 
the Jesuits of Juli, soon discovered the dramatic aptitude of the people. 
Plays were composed and acted, under priestly auspices, which 
contained songs and other fragments of the ancient Inca drama. These
plays were called 'Autos Sacramentales.' 
But complete Inca dramas were also preserved in the memories of 
members of the Amauta caste and, until the rebellion of 1781, they 
were acted. The drama of Ollantay was first reduced to writing and 
arranged for acting by Dr. Don Antonio Valdez, the Cura of Tinto. It 
was acted before his friend Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui[FN#1] in about 
1775. Taking the name of his maternal ancestor, the Inca Tupac Amaru, 
the ill-fated Condorcanqui rose in rebellion, was defeated, taken, and 
put to death under torture, in the great square of Cuzco. In the 
monstrous sentence 'the representation of dramas as well as all other 
festivals which the Indians celebrate in memory of their Incas' was 
prohibited.[FN#2] This is a clear proof that before 1781 these Quichua 
dramas were acted. 
[FN#1] INCA-PACHACUTI | TUPAC YUPANQUI | INCA 
HUAYNA CCAPAC | MANCO INCA | TUPAC AMARU | JUANA 
NUSTA = DIEGO CONDORCANQUI | FELIPE CONDORCANQUI | 
PEDRO CONDORCANQUI | MIGUEL CONDORCANQUI | JOSE 
GABRIEL CONDORCANQUI (TUPAC AMARU) 
[FN#2] 'Sentencia pronunciada en el Cuzco por el Visitador Don Jose 
Antonio de Areche, contra Jose Gabriel Tupac Amaru.' In Coleccion de 
obras y documentos de Don Pedro de Angelis, vol. V. (Buenos Ayres, 
1836- 7). 
The original manuscript of Valdez was copied by his friend Don Justo 
Pastor Justiniani, and this copy was inherited by his son. There was 
another copy in the convent of San Domingo at Cuzco, but it is corrupt, 
and there are several omissions and mistakes of a copyist. Dr. Valdez 
died, at a very advanced age, in 1816. In 1853 the original manuscript 
was in the possession of his nephew and heir, Don Narciso Cuentas of 
Tinta. 
The Justiniani copy was, in 1853, in the possession of Dr. Don Pablo 
Justiniani, Cura of Laris, and son of Don Justo Pastor Justiniani. He is a 
descendant of the Incas.[FN#3] In April 1853 I went to Laris, a 
secluded valley of the Andes, and made a careful copy of the drama of 
Ollantay. From this Justiniani text my first very faulty line-for-line 
translation was made in 1871, as well as the present free translation. 
[FN#3] INCA PACHACUTI. | TUPAC YUPANQUI | HUAYNA 
CCAPAC | MANCO INCA | MARIA TUPAC USCA = PEDRO
ORTIZ DE ORUE | CATALINA ORTIZ =LUIS JUSTINIANI | LUIS 
JUSTINIANI | LUIS JUSTINIANI | NICOLO JUSTINIANI | JUSTO 
PASTOR JUSTINIANI | Dr. PABLO POLICARPO 
JUSTINIANI(Cura of Laris) 
The first printed notice of    
    
		
	
	
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