From 900 BC up to 1532, the year of the Spanish invasion, the entire history of pre-Hispanic Peru unwinds through phases of cultural unification, the "Horizons", alternating with phases of regionalisation, the "Intermediate Periods", marked by the flourishing of diverse cultures and independent States, which nevertheless retain the same fundamental cultural features. In pre-Hispanic Peru the ruler, as guarantor of the equilibrium of the cosmos, was not so much the apex of the social pyramid as its very foundation. The symbols of power not only displayed his magnificence, but also his role as intermediary of the gods, if not his own divine nature.