Expert: Maria - 7/12/2004

Question
Dear Maria,

I just noticed that you may have forgotten a letter in spelling “Lakedaimonia” – am I right in presuming there's supposed to be a “nu” in between the omicron and the last iota? Also, the acute and circumflex accents, do they disappear when the names are written in all capitol letters (as is customary in stone inscriptions), or do they appear still or maybe in some other form? Finally, the “ge” for ‘region' after Lakedaimonia, is that supposed to make one or two words – “Lakedaimoniage” or “Lakedaimonia ge”?

Good thing I know all these letters from physics, makes things a lot easier - but for the first time I've seen them make up a word, what a strange feeling! ;D

Thank you very much, again!

Sincerely, Rune :)

-------------------------
Followup To
Question -
Dear Maria,

(Are you perchance the same Maria I've been asking about translations of mottoes for our physics department?)

Do you read/write ancient greek aswell - if so, what would the correct names and spelling thereof of the following two names be IN THE GREEK ALPHABET:

Sparta
Lakedaimonia

Would you also by chance happen to know who's or which are considered the leading authorities on ancient Greek armour and weapons?

I hope you can help me - thank you very much for your time! :)

Sincerely
Rune, Denmark
Answer -
Dear Rune,

Yes, I am the same Maria you asked about translations into Latin some time ago.

As for the correct names and spelling of ‘Sparta' and ‘Lakedaimonia' in the Greek alphabet, I must tell you that unfortunately the  system does not allow the use of the Greek characters and diacritic marks.

Therefore the only thing I can do is to write these names into corresponding letters of Latin alphabet and give you in brackets the name of each Greek letter you can see at:

http://www.ibiblio.org/koine/greek/lessons/alphabet.html
http://www.dur.ac.uk/stat.web/greek.htm
http://religion.cumberlandcollege.edu/biblang/bibgreek/greek/letters.htm#alpha (with pronunciation)

This way you can copy the Greek characters.

So, here are the Greek names you need:

-'Sparte'(Sigma-pi-alpha-rho-tau-eta).
*This name has an acute accent on the alpha(a).
Sparte was  of course the name of the most important city of Laconia in the Peloponnesus.

-Lakedaimonia (Lambda-alpha-kappa-epsilon-delta-alpha-iota-mu-omicron-iota-alpha).
*An acute accent stands on the last iota(i).
This term is really a feminine  adjective which implies the feminine noun “ge” (gamma-eta, with the circumflex accent on the eta) meaning literally “earth” or also “region”.  
So, “Lakedaimonia ge” means "Laconian region", i.e. Laconia, the land of the Lacedaemons or Spartans.

Finally, with regard to the leading authorities on ancient Greek armour and weapons, I'm afraid  I cannot suggest any person, as armour and weapons are not my field of expertise.
The only thing I can tell you is that there is no ancient Greek author who wrote military treatises, except Xenophon (431- c. 360 BC) who  wrote for instance 'The Cavalry General', an essay  on the ideal cavalry office (Greek ‘hipparchos').

On the contrary in the Roman world that was of course much more warlike there is for example an author, named Vegetius,  fluorished  4th century AD,  who  wrote what was perhaps the most influent  military treatise in the Western world.
In fact his work, "Rei militaris instituta"(“Summary of military matter”), also called "Epitoma rei militaris", is the fullest ancient manual of Roman warfare and exercised  great influence on European tactics after the Middle Ages.

Hope this can be helpful to you.
Anyway, should you have other queries do not hesitate to ask me again.

Best regards
Maria, Italy.
_____________________________________________________
It seems that was exactly Vegetius who said :"Si vis pacem, para bellum"(If you want peace, prepare for war.) and “Divide et impera”( "Divide and rule".).


Answer
Dear Rune,

You are right! Sorry, I have forgotten  the “nu” between the omicron and the last iota.
(Lakedaimonia:Lambda-alpha-kappa-epsilon-delta-alpha-iota-mu-omicron-nu-iota-alpha).

As for the names written in capital letters (see stone inscriptions), they have no accent in ancient Greek.

Finally, the region is  “Lakedaimonia  ge” (two words) with the feminine article [‘Hè', i.e. ‘eta' with the “rough breathing”, i.e. aspiration]  or without it.
-“Lakedaimonia  ge”    or  “Hè  Lakedaimonia  ge”  .

Please note that in ancient Greek  there were two symbols to indicate aspiration (rough breathing) or its absence (smooth breathing).
For their form see BREATHINGS at:
http://www.ibiblio.org/koine/greek/lessons/alphabet.html

All I have told you has to do of course  with Ancient Greek, not Modern, as my field of expertise is not Modern Greek.

Hope this is helpful to you.
All the best
Maria