The identity of the Staff God, the god who was venerated in the ceremonial center of the Chavin de Huantar, Peru and also was depicted on the Gate of Sun in Tiwanaku, Bolivia ceremonial center, as well he was portrayed in the Raimondi´s Stella as the holder of two scepters (images 1 & 2), presented real mystery to archeologists and anthropologists for over 100 year until now.
Based on oral local stories, Viracocha appears first in the chronic of Juan de Betanzos, Suma y narración de los incas (1550) as the teacher of agriculture and civilization to the tribes living around the Lake Titicaca. Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa in his chronicle of 1572 affirms that according to the natives Viracocha, at the time of his departure towards the western direction from the Puertoviejo, Peru announced that they should not follow false prophets since he would soon send his messengers back. When Spaniards returned to the coast of Peru, they thought that he was returning to them after a long wait.
He has been identified as the Greek mortal Triptolemus (also Triptolemos) by the Institute Varsovienne, after painstaking study and trips to Bolivia, Peru, Greece and important museum collections in the world.
According to one version of the Greek mythology, his parents were Oceanus and Gaia, the most important chthonic gods residing in the Mount Olympus (also identified with the Mount Meru, in the IV´s study); however other later accounts often diminish his noble heritage, and he often was linked with other parentage.
He was taught the art of agriculture by Demeter, the Greek goddess of agriculture, grain and bread, whose residence was the Mount Olympus (in Greek version, but it is the Mount Meru in the original version of the myth and that is why he originated from the coastal area of the Peruvian Pacific Ocean ) according to mythology ´Triptolemus she supplied with seed—corn, a wooden plough, and a chariot drawn by serpents; and sent him all over the world to teach mankind the art of agriculture´(R. Graves) . For his work in spreading the art of agriculture he gained a status of the Demi-god in Greece, the title of Viracocha in Peru, and the God of in Bolivia according to many studies undertaken during the last century.
In South America he is also known as the Staff God (or Viracocha by Incas) and has been portrayed in the Gate of Sun in Tiwanaku, Bolivia (image 3):
He left South America for Africa, traveled to Elefsina, Greece, where he participated in the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Triptolemus was portrayed as a beautiful youth with a diadem on his brow. He rode a winged snake-drawn carriage and in his hands were a plate of grain, ears of barley & wheat, and a scepter. He reached lands of Scythians, where the king Lyncos (Lynkus) slew one of his birds/dragons and drove the hero away. Demeter has changed the king into a lynx and has denied the gift of agriculture to Scythians.
One of many stories about Triptolemus is told by Pausanias, Description of Greece 7. 18. 2 :
"When Triptolemos came from Attika, he [Eumelos of Patrai (Patrae) in Akhaia (Achaea)] received from him cultivated corn, and, learning how to found a city, named it Aroe from the tilling of the soil. It is said that Triptolemos once fell asleep, and that then Antheias, the son of Eumelos, yoked the Drakones (Dragons) to the car of Triptolemos and tried to sow the seed himself. But Antheias fell off the car and was killed, and so Triptolemos and Eumelos together founded a city, and called it Antheia after the son of Eumelos."
Bibliography: R. Graves Greek Mythology, ferrebeekeeper.wordpress.com, wikipedia.org, theoi.com, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
photos: wikipedia.org, ferrebeekeeper blog, British Museum
