Thucydides reports that when Spartan men went to war, their wives (or another women of some significance) would customarily present them with their shield and say: "With this, or upon this", meaning that true Spartans could only return to Sparta either victorious (with their shield in hand) or dead (carried upon it). The inverted "V" symbol is the Greek letter "L" [Lambda (uppercase Λ, lowercase λ; Greek: Λάμβδα or Λάμδα)]. The Spartans used the red Greek capital letter lambda (Λ) displayed on their shields as an identification as the people of Lacedaemonia (Λακεδαιμωνία), which in historical times, was the proper name of the Spartan state as used by Thucydides in his histories.300 Papercraft: Spartan Shield
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