ABSTRACT
When a new academic endeavour, approach or a field emerges it is likely that there will not be a specific moment at which it came into existence. Instead there is a process which contains some benchmarks such as particular events. In the chapters that follow we shall identify such benchmarks as part of a process that goes back to the Ancient worlds not just of Europe but the antecedents in Asia, the Manchu world and elsewhere. Gradually the focus comes to Europe as far as International Relations (IR) is concerned, which reveals well-known milestones such as the symbolic but largely mythological Peace of Westphalia of 1648. 1 Thus, the disparate factors and experiences come together to form what we hope is a coherent chronology as IR emerges, takes shape and makes its mark. So let us, briefly, turn first to the antecedents from ancient worlds.
