Spartiates and Lakedaimonians: the language of identity in Archaic and Classical Sparta

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.