On the eve of the Olympic Flame-lighting ceremony at Ancient Olympia for next year’s Winter Games in Beijing, dignitaries gathered to sign a declaration that has its roots in ancient Greece.

The sacred Olympic Truce, which sought to break the incessant cycle of conflict in ancient Greece, was revived by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in the early 1990s to bring an end to conflict around the world.

The signing ceremony took place at the Museum of Ancient Olympia on Sunday, October 17, and was attended by the President of the Hellenic Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou, and representatives of the IOC, the Beijing Winter Olympics Committee, and representatives of the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports.

During the ceremony, the Mayors of Ancient Olympia, George Georgiopoulos, Ilida, Giannis Lymperis, and Sparta, Petros Doukas, gathered to sign the declaration, which was then co-signed by President Sakellaropoulou and the IOC President Thomas Bach.

“It is a strong signal when Olympia, Ilida and Sparta, the original parties to the Ekecheiria [truce], are renewing their pledge,” Thomas Bach said. “I want to congratulate and thank you for keeping the ancient heritage alive and for setting this example.”

The Olympic Truce, or “Ekecheiria,” meaning “laying down of arms,” is a tradition that stretches back to the first Olympic Games of 776 BC. Highlighting the role of the Games as a symbol of peace and unity, the sacred truce gave athletes, their families and ordinary pilgrims safe passage through Greece to attend the Games.

As the Games approached every four years, the sacred truce was proclaimed throughout the land by the citizens of Elis, the region around Olympia, who traveled across Greece to pass on the message of peace.

In the context of the Modern Olympic Movement, which started in 1896, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has made steps to revive the ancient concept of the sacred truce. The first initiatives were launched in 1991 for the XXIII Olympiad in Barcelona to facilitate athletes from the former Republic of Yugoslavia, then at war, to participate in the Games under the Olympic Flag. It was further revived by the United Nations the following year.

Since then, the UN General Assembly has repeatedly supported the IOC by adopting every two years, one year before each edition of the Olympic Games, the resolution “Building a peaceful and better world through sport and the Olympic ideal.” Through the resolution, the United Nations calls upon all member states to observe the truce and seek peaceful resolutions to ongoing conflicts.

The symbolic concept of the Olympic Truce, with its roots in ancient Greece, inspires the Modern Olympic Movement to promote sport as a means to establish contacts between communities in conflict, provide humanitarian support, and create opportunities for dialogue and reconciliation.