Abstract
In this article, we establish the stability of FLRW solutions to the Einstein-scalar field equations for the potential parameter values s > sc and V₀ < 0. Such scalar field potentials are known in the literature as ekpyrotic. In particular, we prove that the FLRW solutions to the Einstein-scalar field equations are nonlinearly stable to the past and terminate at a quiescent, crushing AVTD big bang singularity. A distinguishing property of these perturbed spacetimes is that they isotropise towards the big bang.