Greek Mythology >> Greek Gods >> Daemones (Spirits) >> Ececheira (Ekekheira)

EKEKHEIRA

Greek Name

Εκεχειρια

Transliteration

Ekekheiria

Latin Spelling

Ececheiria

Translation

Truce, Armistice

EKEKHEIRIA (Ececheiria) was the personified spirit (daimona) of truce, armistice, and the cessation of hostilities. She was honoured at Olympia during the Olympic Games when a general armistice was declared amongst the states of Greece.

Ekekheiria was related to the goddess Eirene (Peace).

PARENTS

Nowhere stated

ENCYCLOPEDIA

ECECHEI′RIA (Ekecheiria), that is, the armistice or truce, which was personified and represented as a divine being at the entrance of the tempie of Zeus at Olympia; there was a statue of Iphitus, which Ececheiria was in the act of crowning. (Paus. v. 10. § 3, 26. § 2.)

Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES

Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. 10. 10 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"[Among the statues dedicated at the temple of Zeus in Olympia :] As you enter the bronze doors you see on your right, before the pillar, Iphitos being crowned by a woman Ekekheiria (Ececheira, Truce), as the elegiac couplet on the statue says."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. 26. 2 :
"The offerings of Mikythos (Micythus) I found [at Olympia] were numerous and not together. Next after Iphitos (Iphitus) of Elis, and Ekhekheiria (Truce) crowning Iphitos."