Spartan Shield Design

[tozgood]

After watching 300, I was curious as to what the upside down "V" stood for on the Spartan shield. I looked up the design on google image and it showed a similar design, an upside down "V". Any significance to this logo?

 

[Mott1]

^ Lambda (uppercase Λ, lowercase &#955 is the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet.

Generally, each hoplite chose his own shield design. This was true even of the Spartans, at least initially. There is an anecdote which talks of a Spartan who had a life-sized fly for his emblem. Accused of cowardice (his enemies wouldn't be able to recognise him) he responds that the fly would be the size of a lion when he bore down on his enemy in battle. However, they changed this personal-preference policy into one of state control, whereby each man carried the same badge - in this case the letter lambda (for Lakedaimon, another name for Sparta).
http://www.ne.jp/asahi/luke/ueda-sarson/Greek_shield_patterns_1.html

 

[shortguy]

It's a Greek letter, Lambda, short for "Lacadaemon" (IIRC the name of the territory that Sparta is in, kinda like "Attica" for Athens; it may just be another name for the city itself though).

 

[Leifmk]

It's a Greek letter, Lambda, short for "Lacadaemon" (IIRC the name of the territory that Sparta is in, kinda like "Attica" for Athens; it may just be another name for the city itself though).

Yes, it's a name for the region and was in fact used as the proper name of the state of which Sparta was the capital city. It survives as a regional name in modern Greece.

 

[Idlenessss]

Yes, it's a name for the region and was in fact used as the proper name of the state of which Sparta was the capital city. It survives as a regional name in modern Greece.

Lacedaemonia actally was the entire region, which included cities like Tegea. Sparta was a single city and it woudl never be correct to call Sparta 'Lacedaemonia', althought the spartans were referred to as 'Lacedaemonian' quite often, because those things which set the spartans apart (stoicism, loyalty, minimalism) were also qualities of other people in the region, such as the Tegeans. SParta technically had no authority over other cities however, and in fact, Tegea was a common bitter rival, except those times they came together out of necessity, to fight greater powers, such as Athens.

The design of the phalanx sheild was attributed by Herodotus to Caria, which was a semi-greek semi-thracian city in the middle east.

 

[Virote_Considon]

Lacedaemonia actally was the entire region, which included cities like Tegea. Sparta was a single city and it woudl never be correct to call Sparta 'Lacedaemonia', althought the spartans were referred to as 'Lacedaemonian' quite often, because those things which set the spartans apart (stoicism, loyalty, minimalism) were also qualities of other people in the region, such as the Tegeans. SParta technically had no authority over other cities however, and in fact, Tegea was a common bitter rival, except those times they came together out of necessity, to fight greater powers, such as Athens.

The design of the phalanx sheild was attributed by Herodotus to Caria, which was a semi-greek semi-thracian city in the middle east.

Sparta was also called Lacedaemonia. Sort of how you have New York (City) inside New York (state), or Argos as the Argolid.