What metal did the Incas call 'tears of the moon'?

The metal the Incas called “tears of the moon” was silver.

The phrase reflects the Inca association between silver and Mama Quilla, the moon goddess. In Inca religious symbolism, gold was linked with the Sun god Inti, while silver belonged to the Moon. Silver’s pale, reflective appearance made the comparison especially fitting, and colonial-era accounts and later scholarship commonly describe it as the Moon’s tears.

Silver was not merely decorative. The Incas shaped it into ritual vessels, ornaments, figurines, and temple objects, especially for elite and religious settings. Its symbolic value was tied to the heavens, just as gold represented solar power and royal radiance.

A common mix-up is reversing the two famous metaphors: gold is often called the “sweat of the sun,” while silver is the “tears of the moon.” The association concerns cultural symbolism, not a literal Inca chemical or mineral classification.