# Writing the famous quote "ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ" of Leonidas I?



## Db6FNRCr

I have read that somewhere around the lifetime of Leonidas, lower-case Greek letters were just coming into use.  What I would like to know is: exactly how would he have written the subject quote?  Using upper-case, lower-case, or both?  Thanks for any reply.


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## Acestor

Hi! The phrase would have been written in majuscules, as in the marble inscription found in Wikipedia. Minuscules came into the Greek language well after that: Greek minuscule - Wikipedia


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## Db6FNRCr

Thanks.  The majuscule characters shown in your second reference don't look much like the characters on the stone in the first.

In the Wikipedia "Archaic Greek alphabets" article is: "Many local variants of the Greek alphabet were employed in ancient Greece during the archaic and early classical periods, until they were replaced by the classical 24-letter alphabet that is the standard today, around 400 BC".

This being 80 years after Leonidas, the use of the majuscules listed in your second reference would be unclear.  So you think the slanty more crude-looking ones cut in the stone would be more nearly authentic.


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## Acestor

The majuscules in the second reference are Byzantine uncials. Try Google images for _ancient Greek inscriptions_ that look like this:
Ancient greek inscription carved in marble


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## Db6FNRCr

Got it, thanks.  I see that in the article I referenced, the southern or green character set, closest to the Phoenician, closely matches what is cut in the stone.


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## Acestor

Sorry, I hadn't noticed your addition. That is still a reference to the majuscules. "The classical 24-letter alphabet that is the standard today" does not take minuscules into account.


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## Scholiast

χαίρετε ὦριστοι



Db6FNRCr said:


> how would [Leonidas] have written the subject quote?



He wouldn't have—nor been able to. Spartan education did not include literacy on the curriculum. Few ancient cultures in fact did, except for specific castes such as the Hebrew Levites, and it is one of the remarkable hallmarks of classical Athenian society that its (primitive) democracy went hand-in-hand with the development of widespread (albeit partial) literacy.

Σ


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## Christo Tamarin

Just a note. I think that the letter Omega did not exist at the time of Leonidas yet.


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