Lamda

Off-Topic Off Topic - Militaria
#1

The lamda, an inverted ‘V’ is the ancient Greek letter representing ‘L’. it is quite often seen sported on pieces of artwork representing Spartan warrriors, as ‘Lacedaemon’ was the ancient Greek name for Sparta.

I noticed that during Operation Desert Storm and its accompanying operations, that the coalition forces used the lamda as a Tac-sign. Curious, as the war was against what would have been a part of ancient Persia, just as the Greeks fought the Persians (not certain, now, if the Tac-sign was used in the second Gulf War?). Was wondering if anyone had any insight as to this choice of Tac-sign by allied forces and/or is it merely coincidense?

#2

32Bravo i am impressed by the way you represented lamda(Λ) letter . Just wanted to say i read in a page about this , something i was also curius , but this page no longer exists !! I will search again . But your explanation was very accurate , and i guess the closest to the correct

#3

Thanks.

#4

But also i searched some photos and it is also shown as V(Victory[?]) and is also shown as the tip of an arrow . Does this means something else ?

#5

Is not the latest movie “300” more or less about this?
Spartans - European bearers of culture.
Persians - The wild and perverted hordes from the East.

#6

Remember that classical literature was written by the Greeks :wink:

#7

Remember? :slight_smile:
I grew up with a volume of Herodotus’ History in my cradle.

#8

Well then, in that case is it any wonder that the Greeks ended up as the heroes and the Persians as villains?

#9

Apologies, I guess my memory of those images of twenty or so years ago are a little confused.

Interesting that someone mentions the 300. I have read that the Spartans introduced the Lamda to the shield after the Persian Wars. before that they used individual motifs. One of the reasons being to identify their shields when stacked.

#10

I think it caused not a little confusion amongst both the Arabs and Mesopotamians that all the coalition vehicles carried the id number of eight.