What was the title of the Inca high priest?

The title of the Inca high priest was Willaq Umu. The office was associated especially with the worship of Inti, the Sun, the central deity of the Inca state religion.

The Willaq Umu stood immediately below the Sapa Inca in religious importance and may have been among the most powerful officials in the empire. Accounts commonly describe the officeholder as a close male relative of the emperor, often a brother, reflecting the close connection between royal ancestry, political authority, and divine legitimacy.

The high priest supervised major ceremonies, temples, and subordinate priests. Cusco’s Coricancha, or Temple of the Sun, was the most important sacred center, although the empire incorporated many regional cults and holy places into its religious system.

The alternatives are different kinds of titles: the Coya was the Sapa Inca’s principal wife, an Auqui was a royal prince or heir, and the Sapa Inca was the emperor himself. Spanish chroniclers sometimes wrote Willaq Umu as Villac Umu or Vila Oma, which can make the title look like a personal name.