The Journal of Hellenic Studies· 2026Q2
Spartiates and Lakedaimonians: the language of identity in Archaic and Classical Sparta
- 0citations
- Q2SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Ancient Greek texts from the 5th century BCE onwards, and modern translations, often conflate 'Spartiates' and 'Lakedaimonians' into a single 'Spartan' identity.
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Key points
- The terms 'Spartiates' and 'Lakedaimonians' are frequently treated as interchangeable in modern translations and in ancient Greek texts from the 5th century BCE onwards.
- This paper analyzes epigraphic evidence from the mid-6th to late 4th centuries BCE, a period of Spartan dominance and decline.
- The study investigates the fluctuating usage of these terms to understand the evolution of Spartan self-presentation.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Abstract In most modern translations of ancient Greek texts, the ‘Spartiates’ and the ‘Lakedaimonians’ have become inseparable and interchangeable. The term ‘Spartan’ is now routinely used as a generic, all-encompassing label, often for the sake of simplicity and accessibility. This interchangeability of the two terms is certainly not a modern phenomenon, with considerable conflation of the two occurring in Greek texts from the fifth century onwards. This begs the question, how would the ‘Spartans’ themselves wish to be identified? The purpose of the present paper is firstly to present the epigraphic evidence for use of the terms ‘Spartiate’ and ‘Lakedaimonian’ from the mid-sixth to the late fourth centuries BCE, the period of Spartan dominance and eventual decline. The fluctuating and developing usage of these two terms over time is then considered with regard to the evolution of Spartan self-presentation.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Anthropology
AnthropologySocial Sciences