647. The Fall of the Incas: The King in the North (Part 4)

Their capital is completely round. They call it the navel of the earth, and that's what it looks like. In the middle was a huge temple, the centre of their faith. The walls were plated with gold enough to blind us. Inside, set out on tables, golden platters for the sun to dine off.

Outside the garden, acres of gold soil planted with gold maize, entire apple trees in gold, gold birds on the branches, gold geese and ducks, gold butterflies in the air on silver strings. And imagine this away in a field life sized twenty golden llamas grazing with their kids. The Garden of the Sun at Cusco, a wonder of the earth. Look at it now. So that was Poshboy Hernando de Soto in Peter Shaffer's play, The Royal Hunt of the Sun.

Came out in 1964. We've been hearing a lot from it. And DeSoto in that passage is describing one of the great wonders of the world in the early 16th century, which was Coricancha, The Temple of the Sun in Cusco. And Dominic, that is from a play, but Peter Schaffer, I mean, he loves his research, doesn't he?

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