In the ninth century BCE, the Peloponnese was ravaged by plague and endless warfare. City fought city, tribe fought tribe, and the people of Greece seemed bent on destroying themselves. King Iphitos of Elis, desperate for divine guidance, journeyed to the Oracle at Delphi to ask the Pythia how the suffering might be ended. The Oracle's answer was unexpected: Iphitos must restore the athletic games at Olympia and establish a sacred truce during which all warfare would cease.
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Prophets & Pilgrims·4/5·1′
The place
Olympia - Sanctuary of Zeus & Birthplace of the Olympics
The Sacred Truce — When Greeks Stopped Fighting
The peace that held for 1,169 years
776 BCE - 393 CEOlympia - Sanctuary of Zeus & Birthplace of the Olympics
Moral of the Story
“Even the most warlike peoples can find reasons to make peace. The Sacred Truce proved that shared religious values could transcend political conflict.”
Characters
I
Iphitos of ElisC
Cleosthenes of PisaL
Lycurgus of SpartaT
The Oracle at DelphiSource
Pausanias's Description of Greece, Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War, Plutarch's Lives