Running Through History: Inca Email

Has it been a month already? Wow, times flies! Welcome to another edition of Running Through History! Last time we found ourselves in Egypt and we discussed how running was used as a means to show the strength and power of the king. Now, we are going to fly halfway around the world and 2,000 years into the future to South America and learn how running was used in an entirely different fashion!



Machu Picchu, Peru

The Inca civilization lasted from sometime in the 12th century up until the Spanish Conquest in the 16th century. While the civilization originated in modern day Cusco, in the 15th century their boundaries quickly spread into other parts of South America including Equador, Chile, Bolivia, Columbia, and Argentina, eventually making them the largest pre-Columbian empire in the Americas! The ruler of the empire was known as the Sapa Inca, or "Great Inca." Power was hereditary and was passed from father to son over successive dynasties. 



Incan Expansion

With such a massive area of land to control, it was necessary to make all parts of it accessible. The Inca, therefore, developed an extremely complex and advanced road system to connect all parts of the empire. This system spanned more than 14,000 miles and cut through jungles and over mountains (ie. the Andes). It consisted of two main north-south roads that extended throughout the empire and numerous smaller branches extending to the east and west. They even constructed rope bridges to span ravines!

Inca rope suspension bridge near Cusco

Today, parts of these roads can still be hiked (less than 25% of the original roads exist), now known as the Inca Trail. Only a certain number of people are allowed on it each season, however, as overuse has led to some erosion.  

Part of the Inca Trail - a trail runner's dream!

Having an elaborate road system was good for several things, such as trading and moving goods. Another major benefit, however, was the ability to send information. Today, it is hard for us to imagine life without email. Even now, so-called "snail mail" seems out of the question, though only twenty years ago it was the norm. More than fifteen hundred years ago however, before email and even before letters, the Inca used their roads to send information verbally via the Chasquis, or Inca messengers.

Chasqui - Inca messenger and runner

As the Inca had not discovered the wheel and did not have horses, going on foot was the only means of getting anywhere. The Chasquis worked in a relay system. When a message needed to be sent across the empire it was conveyed to the nearest Chasqui. Once he memorized the message he would run in the direction of the next Chasqui, who would be waiting a few short kilometers away. The message would be passed from Chasqui to Chasqui, sometimes going as far as 250 km in a single day!

When they weren't relaying messages the Chasquis lived in huts, called Tambos, that were strategically placed along the roads. Each tambo was made up of a small shelter with storage for food and water. A messenger would only need to run as far as the next Tambo before he could pass his message on to the next Chasqui.

Tambo

To avoid delaying delivery of the message, it was important to alert the next Chasqui that you were on your way! Therefore, each Chasqui carried with him an instrument called a Pututu, a trumpet made from a shell, that they would sound as they approached the next Tambo. In addition to the Pututu, Chasqui runners would also carry one or more quipus (knotted cords that recorded numeric values) and a qipi bag on their backs to carry valubles.

In the event of an emergency, such as an invasion, a bonfire could be lit near each Tambo. When a nearby Chasqui saw this he would light his own fire and it would relay on and on until it reached the capital and alerted the Sapa Inca.  

Only the strongest and fittest males were chosen to be Chasquis. You had to have both speed and endurance as you likely had to run many miles a day. Runners had to contend with the weather and the altitude of the Andes mountains, usually wearing attire made from wool and cotton (no tech shirts back then!). The Inca roads were not paved like Roman roads. Even though there was an attempt to clear them of debris, Chasquis still had to run over tough terrain, and in sandals no less! As far as fuel goes, their diets probably consisted of fish, quinoa, llama, and potatoes.

Unfortunately, with the arrival of the Francisco Pizzaro and the Spanish in 1526, less than a hundred years after the Inca empire had been firmly established, the downfall of their civilization began. Through battle and the introduction of disease, the Spanish eventually overtook the Inca. The Inca roads, which had once been so beneficial to their society, unfortunately probably aided in the rapid spread of smallpox, Typhus, influenza, and other diseases. Not long after the conquest was finalized, many of the roads were destroyed and, no doubt, the relay message system was dismantled.

Despite their brief existence in history, the Chasquis are still a popular topic of discussion in Peru today! Many companies that host hikes of the Inca Trail have their own "Chasqui Adventures." Peru even designed a caraciture of a Chasqui to be their mascot when the country hosted the Copa Americana in 2004!

This has been another edition of Running Through History! Stay tuned for the next post on October 1st!

Running Through History: The King and the Heb-Sed

Welcome to my new monthly installment of Running Through History! I hope to post a new entry on the 1st of each month. These posts will discuss the history of running including its anthropological origins, its ancient history, and even some more modern stuff. I’m both a running dork and a history/archaeology dork so I thought why not combine the two and see what happens!

It would only be fitting that the inaugural post of this series was centered in Egypt, as that’s my primary area of interest. The Egyptians have a long history of running. In fact its about as long as their entire dynastic history, that is, many thousands of years. Way back in what we call Pre-Dynastic Egypt (ca. 3100 BCE), civilization was forming and concepts like kingship and funerary practices were taking shape. It appears that even this early on the Egyptians had notions and beliefs of life after death. Eventually this would lead to a standardized process of mummification, which is quite certainly one of the reasons people find ancient Egypt so fascinating today (who doesn’t love a good Egyptian mummy?). At the same time as these funerary beliefs were coming into play, however, Egyptians were also playing around with another ritual, a running ritual, called the Heb-Sed or ‘Royal Jubilee.’

It doesn’t take an ancient history novice to know that the king, or pharaoh, was an important player in ancient Egypt. Think about it: what are the top 3 things you probably think about when you think of ancient Egypt? Pyramids, the Great Sphinx, and King Tut or another famous mummy. All of these things were built for or relate to the pharaoh. The dude (or dudette in some cases) in charge certainly made sure to leave behind enough crap to let us know he or she existed, and so that later generations would know what’s up. This is of course lucky for archaeologists, who take great interest and joy in digging up this stuff and piecing it back together, trying to figure out just what went on 5,000 years ago.

The so-called first king of the first dynasty of Egypt, Narmer, was thought to have been the man to finally unite Upper and Lower Egypt (the southern and northern parts) to form Egyptian civilization as we think of it today. While he is probably most well known for this piece, the Narmer Palette,

Narmer Palette

some other cool stuff with his name on it was dug up too, like this one.

Narmer Macehead

The is Narmer’s ceremonial macehead. While it doesn’t look like much on its own, if we take a look at what is actually written on it by tracing the shapes we get this.

Some of the images on this macehead illustrate the Heb-Sed festival, which the king would celebrate after ruling for 30 years. The king would run a course around two ceremonial boundary markers, symbolizing him running around the borders of his dominion and staking territorial claim. The king used running as a sign of power and entitlement, as if to say I’m strong enough to run, I’m strong enough to rule (or something to that effect). The completion of the run would renew and revive his kingship. It would have been completed again every 3 years following the 30 year mark, each time celebrating his continued success. We can see the festival being illustrated on the macehead here, Narmer sitting in his throne while 3 runners are jogging between two sets of boundary markers.

One of the nice things about studying ancient Egypt is that there is great consistency. If you’ve ever looked at any Egyptian art you might notice that there are certain characteristics which do not change, such as the way the figures are drawn in that strange frontal-profile stance or how the king is always wearing a crown and false beard. This is especially impressive when you consider that these traditions remained essentially unchanged for over a period of 3,000 years. They certainly knew what they liked! The same can be said about their rituals. After Narmer celebrated his Heb-Sed later pharaohs followed in his foot steps (quite literally!). Here is an ebony label of a later first dynasty king, Den, found in his tomb at Abydos. This time we see the king in full regalia running between the boundary markers.



Step Pyramid at Saqqara

Where we can best see this running ritual being played out, however, is in Djoser’s third dynasty Step Pyramid at Saqqara. When Djoser came to power he decided he was going to do things a little bit differently. Previously to him kings had been buried in low, one-story, mud-brick structures called mastabas. Djoser wanted something much grander. His brilliant architect Imhotep came up with a radical design, in which six stone mastabas would be stacked on top of one another, kind of like a wedding cake. And voila! First monumental stone structure built in the entire world, circa 2650 BCE, and the predecessor to the later Great Pyramid at Giza!

But that’s not all. Imhotep also built an entire complex around the pyramid, including a Heb-Sed Court for the afterlife, allowing Djoser to renew his reign forever and into eternity. How great for us that we get to see an actual Heb-Sed course in 3-D! And just in case we forgot how the ritual goes, Djoser also lovingly included an image of himself running the course inside the pyramid. What a guy!



Hatshepshut running the Heb-Sed, markers in blue


No doubt later pharaohs continued to perform the festival, but there have never been any evidence as nicely presented as Djoser’s discovered. In a wonderful relief of Queen Hatshepsut of the 18th Dynasty, found in the red chapel at Karnak,  she is shown running the same boundary markers over 1,000 years later! You’ll notice she doesn’t look very um, womanly. Intentional I assure you. To legitimize her position as ‘king’ of Egypt she had to look the part and, of course, take part in the same rituals as a man would, including the Heb-Sed.

While the ritual continued to be performed into the Late Period, with evidence coming from the twenty-second dynasty king Osorkon II at Bubastis in the 9th century BCE, it eventually fell by the wayside when the Romans took over and further evidence of it is lost.

Interesting that even our ancient friends used running to prove themselves, as we might today when we run a race. Heck, even when we're not running a race we prove something to ourselves everytime we get there for a run. And, just like the king, we use running to keep ourselves young and in our prime. Maybe we're not so unlike the ancient Egyptians after all.