The principal aim of this paper is to re-examine Sparta’s monumental commemoration of the Greco-Persian Wars, focusing on two monuments in the city of Sparta: The Persian Stoa and a memorial for the dead of Thermopylai. Although both are first explicitly described by Roman-period authors, I argue that they may plausibly have originated in the fifth century BCE, in the immediate aftermath of the Greco-Persian wars. Although Sparta’s military leadership at Thermopylai, Plataia, Mykale, Artemision, and even Salamis was central to the Hellenic League’s eventual victory over Persia, the nature and dating of Spartan memorials have been heavily debated. Pausanias, writing in the second century CE, records both the Persian Stoa and memorial for the Thermopylai dead in Sparta, but the origins of these monuments are uncertain, and they are often assumed to be products of the Hellenistic or Roman periods. By reassessing and integrating the literary testimonies alongside archaeological evidence and wider trends in Archaic and Classical commemoration, this study argues that these monuments may plausibly have been constructed in the fifth century, funded by Persian war booty. Their existence suggests that Sparta sought to actively shape collective memory through monumental display, and that the Spartans were aware of and engaging with developments in Greek commemorative traditions. In this way, Spartan commemoration of victory over the Persians emerges not as belated or passive but as integral to the enduring narratives that elevated Leonidas, Pausanias, and the city itself within the memory of the Greco-Persian Wars.
Matt THOMPSON (Tue,) studied this question.