The Material Construction of Identity in Sparta and Lakonia (750–480 BCE)

Abstract

This dissertation explores the construction of Spartan and Lakonian identity through material culture from 750–480 BCE. To resolve the lingering shadow of the mirage Spartiate, an image of Sparta constructed through a retrojection of later sources onto the Archaic period, I turn my attention in this thesis to the evidence that can be gleaned from the material world, with all its agency and affordances. As the modern city of Sparta is built on the ancient, our archaeological knowledge of political and domestic spaces, as well as burial practices, remains extremely limited. Spartan sanctuaries, by contrast, have been extensively excavated and enable us to explore how the ancient Spartans developed and maintained individual and group identity through objects made, worn, and dedicated at each site. Through an examination of key assemblages from major Spartan sanctuary sites, ranging from the exquisite ivories worn by young girls partaking in choral performance at the sanctuary of Artemis Ortheia, to the thousands of miniature aryballoi dedicated by boys at the sanctuary of Apollo at Amyklai during the Hyakinthia, to the iron spits re-enacting memories of heroic feasting offered at the shrine of Helen and Menelaos at Therapne, the material construction of Spartan identity comes to life in the context of community-wide religious celebrations that performed what it meant to be Spartan during the Archaic period. In addition to examining sanctuaries at Sparta, I move also beyond the bounds of Sparta, into the broader territory under its control: Lakonia. There, my dissertation takes as case-studies three perioikic sanctuary sites (the sanctuary of Apollo Hyperteleatas, the sanctuary at Aigies, and the sanctuary of Artemis Limnatis in Dentheliatis), bringing to light how their respective assemblages highlight the material differences that shape the construction of identity in these subaltern communities. Through a focus on materiality and object affordances, what emerges in the place of the mirage Spartiate is an Archaic Sparta and Lakonia where diverse identities, shaped through factors such as gender, status, and location, are negotiated through objects. Ultimately, the arguments advanced in this dissertation provide a more nuanced, dynamic picture of the myriad coexisting social groups that constituted Lakedaimonia from the eighth to the fifth centuries BCE.