Lacedaemon
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Lacedaemon, or Lakedaimon, Grk. Λακεδαιμων or Λακεδαιμωνία, in historical times, was the proper name of the Spartan state as used by Thucydides in his histories.
Homer and Herodotus use only the former, and in some passages seems to denote by it the Achaean citadel, the Therapnae of later times, in contrast to the lower town Sparta. Lacedaemon is now the name of a province in the prefecture of Laconia.
The Lacedaimonians were the only people in ancient Greece to employ a core army of full-time soldiers. Their state institutions and system of education were designed for the purpose of creating these superbly-trained soldiers. The whole army consisted of these heavy armed elite soldiers and several times their number of light armed helots and other conscripts. In later times these were augmented with mercenaries.
The Spartans used the red Greek capital letter lambda (Λ) (displayed on their shields) as an identification as the people of Lacedaemon, their home city-state or polis.[1]
In Greek mythology, Lacedaemon was a son of Zeus by Taygete, and was married to Sparta the daughter of Eurotas, by whom he became the father of Amyclas, Eurydice, and Asine. He was king of the country which he called after his own name, Lacedaemon, while he gave to his capital the name of his wife, Sparta. He was believed to have built the sanctuary of the Charites, which stood between Sparta and Amyclae, and to have given to those divinities the names of Cleta and Phaenna. An heroum was erected to him in the neighborhood of Therapne.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Photius records in his Lexicon of the 9th C. AD (s.v. Lambda) the remark of Eupolis (fl. last quarter 5th C. BC) that "'The Lakedaimonians painted a lambda onto their shields while the Messenians painted an M", though as the confusion at the battle of Delion described by Thucydides (iv.96) suggests standardised shield devices were uncommon in the 5th C. BC.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
