“Ancient” is here understood in a broad sense, including some societies that are
structurally “early” but transcend the commonly accepted chronological boundaries
of antiquity (wherever one chooses to place those). “Peace” is an equally imprecise,
or perhaps rather a polyvalent notion. It is here understood primarily in contrast to
war (hence the volume’s title), but it is clear that this contrast covers only part of
the term’s range of meanings. In some ancient cultures, indeed, other meanings were
more important. Several contributors (Salomon, Konstan, and Barton, among others)
discuss these issues as well as relevant terminology. To give just two examples, the
ancient Egyptians were primarily interested in peace as a domestic issue, visible in
the integrity of the country and the absence of internal strife; compared with this
ideal, peace with the outside world was less significant. Accordingly, the condition of
perpetual peace offered to pharaohs by the gods referred to the domestic sphere, and
even in the treaty with the Hittites (Bell, this vol.), the result of peace was expressed
in the statement that the two countries had become one (Helck 1977). By contrast,
the concept of peace that became pervasive in ancient Indian culture was internal and
referred to peace of mind and spirit (Salomon, this vol.).