Peace – contemporary signs of Old Europe's most lucid value
When considering Antiquity's greatest gifts to Western civilization, countless achievements come to mind. One achievement may easily remain disregarded however, as it is not included as such in school education: the concept and ideal of peace.
The idea and practice of peaceful communal life prevailed in Old Europe. But didn't Old European culture and cosmology wane as the steppe nomads wandered into Southeastern Europe during the Bronze Age, causing much social upheaval? The nomads did indeed transform the social structure into a patriarchy, but even so many traditions and concepts survived and were preserved. Among these concepts was peace.
A significant site for perpetuating the ideal of peace was Olympia. Women who worshipped the goddess Hera organized sports competitions there every four years, which were also celebrations of peace. This tradition had already begun in the Old European era. Subsequently, men became interested in the ritualization of peace and took over the competitions, displacing the women. In 776 BCE the first predominantly male competitions were held, and they were named the Olympics. Peace was celebrated nearly 300 times at the Olympics, until the competition was forbidden in 393 BCE because it was associated with ”paganism”. Revival attempts of the Olympics took place a number of times during the 1600s to the 1800s in England, France and Greece, but these undertakings were short-lived. The first modern Olympic games were finally organized in Athens in the year 1896. They were based on the model from Antiquity in which women did not participate. Women have been allowed to compete again only since the Paris Olympics in 1900.
The Olympic flame burns during the Olympics. It is ignited with the sun's rays and a mirror, and is lit at a sacred site in Olympia, at the ruins of an open air altar in front of Hera's temple. The site is in ruins, as the temple fell out of use after Antiquity. Today, when the Olympic flame is lit, the altar of Hera is once more a site of living spirituality. This is very fitting, as Hera was the first protectress of the Olympics in Old Europe. Thus the Old European ideal of peace has been preserved to this day in the tradition of the Olympics. Another contemporary symbol of the Old European ideal of peace is found in the details of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.
On top of the world-famous Brandenburg Gate is Quadriga, a sculpture of a chariot drawn by four horses. The monument was originally built at the end of the 1700s to commemorate the alliance between Prussia, the Dutch Republic and Great Britain. The Greek goddess Eirene was initially chosen as Quadriga's charioteer. Her cult was based on the Old European goddess cult, and her name is an Old European loanword meaning peace. Eirene represents peace, but without its opposite of war.
Later, when Prussia was victorious in the Napoleonic wars in 1815, the goddess Victoria was chosen as Quadriga's driver. The sculpture was altered so that its figure now held a standard, i.e. a staff with a war flag. For over 170 years the Brandenburg Gate was a symbol of Prussian militarism. During the DDR era it stood isolated between the border zone of East and West Germany. When Germany was reunited in 1990, the gate became a symbol of peace once again. The reunification of Germany showed the world that political borders can be transformed in a peaceful way, without armed conflict.
Quadriga in its current form. The goddess Victoria holds a standard. In the relief below, Eirene holds a wreath of peace.
Although Victoria now adorns the top of the gate, Eirene remains in two reliefs that decorate it. In them, Eirene drives the chariot without Victoria's standard. One of the reliefs is situated at the top of the monument right underneath the statue. In other words, a reminder of the peaceful Old European worldview remains a part of perhaps the most important symbol of peace in Europe.
Harald Haarmann, Virpi Lehtinen and Auli Kurvinen
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