The story of the first encounter between Europeans and Andeans, which ended with the capture of the Inca emperor, Atahualpa, in 1532, provides us with a wealth of material with which to think about the interaction between people, objects and religion. At their first meeting, a Spanish friar presented Atahualpa with a religious book, an object that did not capture the Inca's attention. For Atahualpa the book had no significance, since the Inca civilization had no alphabetic writing and therefore had no familiarity with this type of object. Associating sacredness with text was an operation entirely alien to the Andeans. Atahualpa, several accounts of this first meeting assert, was handed the book and, after a brief inspection, seemed to conclude that it was an inert and speechless and therefore meaningless, object, so he dismissed it and threw it on the ground. The Spanish, who knew as much about the Inca as the Inca knew about them, took offence at Atahualpa's failure to perceive the inherent value of the book, and responded with a brutal, unexpected attack against Atahualpa and his retinue. As a result, dozens of soldiers were slain, and Inca Atahualpa was made captive. Some months later, having paid the Spanish a huge ransom and after accepting baptism, the Inca was garrotted.