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Secondary sourceArtifact1782 (inscription); photograph 2016

Ransom Room Step Inscription by Bishop Martínez de Compagnon, 1782

Baltazar Martínez de Compagnon · 1782 (inscription); photograph 2016

An 1782 inscribed plaque in the Ransom Room, a later commentary by a Spanish bishop on the site of Atahualpa's captivity.

A later Spanish bishop's commentary on the room associated with Atahualpa's captivity.

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A rectangular metal plaque set into a stone step of a stone room, engraved with Spanish text reading 'Sala principal de la casa del cacique de las siete guarangas de Caxamarca...' signed Baltazar Martinez de Compagnon, 1782. Rough stone walls surround it.
Inscription by Baltazar Martínez de Compagnon, 1782, Ransom Room, Cajamarca. Photograph, 2016.

About this source

What it is

This photograph shows a metal plaque set into a step in the Ransom Room in Cajamarca, engraved with a Spanish-language inscription describing the room as the main hall of the house of the chief of Caxamarca. It is signed by Baltazar Martínez de Compagnon, Bishop of Trujillo, dated 1782.

Why it matters

This inscription was added centuries after Atahualpa's captivity by a Spanish bishop, showing how later generations interpreted and commemorated the site associated with the Inca emperor. It is a secondary commentary, not a record made at the time of Atahualpa.

Look closer

  • Why would a bishop in 1782 add an inscription about this room, more than two centuries after Atahualpa's death?
  • What does the wording of the inscription tell you about how the room was understood at that time?
  • How reliable do you think this kind of later inscription is as evidence about Atahualpa himself?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Atahualpa on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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