Editing Sparta (section)

==Names==
[[File:Eurotas.JPG|thumb|left|Eurotas River]]
The [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greeks]] used one of three words to refer to the Spartan city-state and its location. First, "Sparta" refers primarily to the main cluster of settlements in the valley of the [[Eurotas River]].<ref>{{harvnb|Liddell|Scott|1940}}. {{LSJ|*spa/rth|Σπάρτη}}.</ref> The second word, "Lacedaemon" ({{lang|grc|Λακεδαίμων}}),<ref>{{harvnb|Liddell|Scott|1940}}. {{LSJ|*lakedai/mwn|Λακεδαίμων}}.</ref> was often used as an adjective and is the name referenced in the works of [[Homer]] and the historians [[Herodotus]] and [[Thucydides]]. The third term, "Laconice" ({{lang|grc|Λακωνική}}), referred to the immediate area around the town of Sparta, the plateau east of the Taygetos mountains,{{sfn|Cartledge|2002|p=4}} and sometimes to all the regions under direct Spartan control, including [[Messenia (ancient region)|Messenia]].

The earliest attested term referring to Lacedaemon is the [[Mycenaean Greek]] {{lang|gmy|{{script|Linb|𐀨𐀐𐀅𐀖𐀛𐀍}}}}, ''ra-ke-da-mi-ni-jo'', "Lakedaimonian", written in [[Linear B]] syllabic script,<ref name=Palaeolexicon-rakedaminijo>{{cite web|website=Palaeolexicon. Word study tool of Ancient languages|url=http://www.palaeolexicon.com/ShowWord.aspx?Id=16881|title=The Linear B word ra-ke-da-mi-ni-jo}}</ref>{{refn|group=n|Found on the following [[Clay tablet|tablets]]: [[Thebes, Greece|TH]] Fq 229, TH Fq 258, TH Fq 275, TH Fq 253, TH Fq 284, TH Fq 325, TH Fq 339, TH Fq 382.<ref name=DamosDb/> There are also words like {{lang|gmy|{{script|Linb|𐀨𐀐𐀅𐀖𐀛𐀍𐀄𐀍}}}}, ''ra-ke-da-mo-ni-jo-u-jo'' – found on the TH Gp 227 tablet<ref name=DamosDb/> – that could perhaps mean "son of the Spartan".<ref name=ACttAGrL>{{cite book|pages=223|title=A Companion to the Ancient Greek Language|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oa42E3DP3icC&pg=PA195|editor-first=Egbert J.|editor-last=Bakker|year=2010|publisher= Wiley-Blackwell|isbn= 978-1-4051-5326-3|series=Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World|chapter=Mycenaean Greek|first=Rupert|last=Thompson}}</ref><ref name=Beekes>{{cite book|first=R.S.P.|last=Beekes|others=With the assistance of Lucien van Beek|title=Etymological Dictionary of Greek|volume=2|publisher=Brill|year=2010|place=Leiden, Boston|pages=1528|chapter=s.v. υἱός|isbn=9789004174184}}</ref> Moreover, the attested words {{lang|gmy|{{script|Linb|𐀨𐀐𐀅𐀜}}}} , ''ra-ke-da-no'' and {{lang|gmy|{{script|Linb|𐀐𐀅𐀜𐀩}}}}, ''ra-ke-da-no-re'' could possibly be Linear B forms of ''Lacedaemon'' itself; the latter, found on the [[Mycenae|MY]] Ge 604 tablet, is considered to be the [[dative case]] form of the former which is found on the MY Ge 603 tablet. It is considered much more probable though that ''ra-ke-da-no'' and ''ra-ke-da-no-re'' correspond to the [[anthroponym]] {{lang|grc|Λακεδάνωρ}}, ''Lakedanor'', though the latter is thought to be related etymologically to ''Lacedaemon''.<ref name=DamosDb>{{cite web|url=https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5239|title=TH 229 Fq (305)}}
{{cite web|url=https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5254|title=TH Fq 258 (305)}}
{{cite web|url=https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5260|title=TH 275 Fq (305)}}
{{cite web|url=https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5251|title=TH 253 Fq (305)}}
{{cite web|url=https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5265|title=TH 284 Fq (305)}}
{{cite web|url=https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5282|title=TH 325 Fq (305)}}
{{cite web|url=https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5285|title=TH 339 Fq (305)}}
{{cite web|url=https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5314|title=TH 382 Fq (305)}}
{{cite web|url=https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5410|title=TH 227 Gp (306)}}
{{cite web|url=https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5573|title=MY 603 Ge + frr. (58a)}}
{{cite web|url=https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5574|website=DĀMOS Database of Mycenaean at Oslo|publisher=[[University of Oslo]]|title=MY 604 Ge (58a)}}
</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Raymoure|first=K.A.|title=ra-ke-da-no|work=Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B |publisher=Deaditerranean|url=http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/ra/ra-ke-da-no/ |access-date=23 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012022558/http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/ra/ra-ke-da-no/|archive-date=12 October 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=BARev-lakedanor>{{cite book|title=Black Athena Revisited|year=1996|page=193|editor1-first=Mary R.|editor1-last=Lefkowitz|author-link=Mary Lefkowitz |editor2-first=Guy|editor2-last=Rogers Maclean|first1=Jay H.|last1=Jasanoff|first2=Alan|last2=Nussbaum |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AClFWV6PE8wC&pg=PA193 |publisher=The University of North Carolina Press|isbn=0807845558}}</ref>}} the equivalent of the later [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] {{lang|grc|Λακεδαιμόνιος}}, ''Lakedaimonios'' ([[Latin]]: ''Lacedaemonius'').<ref>{{harvnb|Liddell|Scott|1940}}. {{LSJ|*lakedai/mwn|Λακεδαιμόνιος, s.v. Λακεδαίμων}}.</ref><ref name=L&S-Lacedaemon>{{L&S|Lacedaemon|Lacedaemonius, s.v. Lacedaemon|ref}}</ref>

Herodotus seems to use "Lacedaemon" for the [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean Greek]] citadel at [[Therapne]], in contrast to the lower town of Sparta. This term could be used synonymously with Sparta, but typically it denoted the terrain in which the city was located.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | title=Lacedaemon | encyclopedia=A Dictionary of Ancient Geography [etc.] | first1=Alexander | last1=MacBean | author-link =  Alexander Macbean | first2=Samuel | last2=Johnson | location=London | publisher=G. Robinson [etc.] | year=1773 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EqwBAAAAYAAJ}}.</ref> In Homer it is typically combined with epithets of the countryside: wide, lovely, shining and most often hollow and broken (full of ravines),<ref>{{harvnb|Autenrieth|1891|loc=[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0073%3Aalphabetic+letter%3Dl%3Aentry+group%3D1%3Aentry%3D*lakedai%2Fmwn Λακεδαίμων]}}.</ref> suggesting the [[Eurotas (river)|Eurotas Valley]]. "Sparta" on the other hand is described as "the country of lovely women", an epithet for people.

The residents of Sparta were often called Lacedaemonians. This epithet utilized the plural of the adjective Lacedaemonius (Greek: {{lang|grc|Λακεδαιμόνιοι}}; Latin: ''Lacedaemonii'', but also ''Lacedaemones''). The ancients sometimes used a [[back-formation]], referring to the land of Lacedaemon as ''Lacedaemonian country''. As most words for "country" were feminine, the adjective was in the feminine: ''Lacedaemonia'' ({{lang|grc|Λακεδαιμονία}}, ''Lakedaimonia''). Eventually, the adjective came to be used alone.

"Lacedaemonia" was not in general use during the classical period and before. It does occur in Greek as an equivalent of Laconia and Messenia during the Roman and early Byzantine periods, mostly in [[Ethnography|ethnographers]] and [[Lexicon|lexica]] of place names. For example, [[Hesychius of Alexandria]]'s ''Lexicon'' (5th century AD) defines Agiadae as a "place in Lacedaemonia" named after Agis.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | title=s.v. Ἀγιάδαι | encyclopedia=Hesychii Alexandrini Lexicon | editor-first=Maurice | editor-last=Schmidt | location=Jena | publisher=Frederick Mauk | year=1863|url= https://archive.org/stream/hesychiialexand00schmgoog#page/n24/mode/1up|language=el}}. At the [[Internet Archive]]</ref> The actual transition may be captured by [[Isidore of Seville]]'s ''Etymologiae'' (7th century AD), an [[etymological dictionary]]. Isidore relied heavily on [[Orosius]]' ''Historiarum Adversum Paganos'' (5th century AD) and [[Eusebius of Caesarea]]'s ''[[Chronicon (Eusebius)|Chronicon]]'' (early 5th century AD), as did Orosius. The latter defines Sparta to be ''Lacedaemonia Civitas'',<ref>[http://attalus.org/translate/orosius1B.html#21 Orosius, 1.21.12].</ref> but Isidore defines Lacedaemonia as founded by Lacedaemon, son of Semele, which is consistent with Eusebius' explanation.<ref>{{cite book |first=Leo |last=Wiener |title=Contributions toward a History of Arabico-Gothic Culture |series=Volume III: Tacitus' Germania & Other Forgeries |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Innes & Sones |year=1920 |page=20}}</ref> There is a rare use, perhaps the earliest of "Lacedaemonia", in [[Diodorus Siculus]]' The Library of History,<ref>Diodorus Siculus, ''Library'', [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/19D*.html#note24 19.70.2].</ref> but probably with {{lang|grc|Χώρα}} (''chōra'', "country") suppressed.

Lakedaimona was until 2006 the name of a [[Provinces of Greece|province]] in the modern Greek [[Prefectures of Greece|prefecture]] of [[Laconia]].