There had been previously no religious practice, mythology, or cult activity surrounding Eirene. She is briefly mentioned as a gentle figure in myths that date from the seventh century BCE, where the idea and image of her was communicated to the Athenian public through works of theater. Eirene appears in Euripides’s tragedy Cresphontes (produced circa 424 BCE), when the chorus sings a hymn to peace, beckoning her into their city. A few years later, Aristophanes rejiggered Euripides’s creation as a basis for his satirical Peace (421 BCE). Theater offers a prime example of how divine personifications were introduced in visual rather than written form, and in the case of Eirene, these plays laid cultural groundwork for later cult practices.
The cult around the personification of Eirene was established in roughly 375 BCE, a few decades after Aristophanes included her in his work. The citizens of Athens erected a large bronze statue of Eirene in the main public square, agora, around that same time. Sculpted by Kephisodotos the Elder, it was designed as a daily reminder of the centrality of peace in Athens. She is depicted holding a scepter—a symbol of authority—in her right hand. In her left arm, she holds the child Ploutos, who serves as an allegory of wealth. Posed together, the two figures representing peace and wealth communicate the notion that peace is not simply an absence of war, but a prerequisite for prosperity.
Religious devotion to a political ideal might be a foreign concept to contemporary readers, whose understanding of worship includes rituals, practices, and faith. The ancient Greeks, however, held no clear division between religion and politics; the two were intertwined. Honoring Eirene—or any Greek god—was a public affirmation of civic values and diplomatic goals.