What is the meaning of this symbol?

[Matthew Amt]

It's not an "A", it's the Greek letter Lamda or "L", for (if I can approximate the spelling) Lakaidemon, or Lakaidemonia. Meaning Sparta, in short. There is a lot of debate as to just when the Spartans started putting this on their shields. Might not have been until after the Persian Wars. Not my area of expertise, though!<br>
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The Greek Alpha or "A" looked pretty much like an English "A". Athenians started using that during the Peloponnesian Wars, in response to the Spartan lamda, and other cities also started using letters. Doesn't seem to have been a universal thing, however.<br>
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Here's a site with the Greek alphabet, it's a good thing to be acquainted with:<br>
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www.ibiblio.org/koine/gre...habet.html<br>
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Not that you want or need to study Greek to be a reenactor or wargamer! Rough language to learn, and all looks like "Kaopectate"....<br>
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Khairete (which sort of means "aloha"!),<br>
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Matthew <p></p><i></i>