The helots (/ˈhɛləts, ˈhiːləts/; Greek: εἵλωτες, heílotes) were a subjugated population that constituted a majority of the population of Laconia and Messenia – the territories ruled by Sparta. There has been controversy since antiquity as to their exact characteristics, such as whether they constituted an Ancient Greek tribe, a social class, or both. For example, Critias described helots as "slaves to the utmost",[1] whereas according to Pollux, they occupied a status "between free men and slaves".[2] Tied to the land, they primarily worked in agriculture as a majority and economically supported the Spartan citizens.
The proportion of helots in relation to Spartan citizens varied throughout the history of the Spartan state; according to Herodotus, there were seven helots for each of the 5,000 Spartan soldiers at the time of the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC.[3] Thus the need to keep the helot population in check and to prevent rebellion were major concerns of the Spartans. Helots were ritually mistreated and humiliated. Every autumn the Spartan polis declared war on the helots, allowing them to be killed and abused by members of the Crypteia without fear of religious repercussion.[4][5][6] Uprisings and attempts to improve the lot of the helots did occur, such as the conspiracy of Cinadon of 399 BC. Plato on the other hand does not mention the killings by the Crypteia at all in Laws.[7][8]
Several theories exist regarding the origin of the name "helot". According to Hellanicus, the word relates to the village of Helos, in the south of Sparta.[9] Pausanias thus states, "Its inhabitants became the first slaves of the Lacedaemonian state, and were the first to be called helots".[10] This explanation is, however, not very plausible in etymological terms.[11]
Linguists have associated the word with the root ϝελ-, wel-, as in ἁλίσκομαι, halískomai, "to be captured, to be made prisoner". In fact, some ancient authors did not consider the term ethnic, but rather an indication of servitude: Antiochus of Syracuse writes: "those of the Lacedaemonians who did not take part in the expedition were adjudged slaves and were named helots",[12] while Theopompus (fragment 122), cited by Athenaeus (VI, 416c), states, "...and the one nation called their slaves helots and the others called them penestae..."[13] "In all of these texts, the naming of the group as helots is the central and symbolic moment of their reduction to serfhood. They are thus institutionally distinguished from the anonymous douloi (slaves)."[14]
Certainly conquest comprised one aspect of helotism; thus Messenians, who were conquered in the Messenian Wars of the 8th century BC, become synonymous in Herodotus with helots.
The situation seems less clear in the case of the earliest helots, who, according to Theopompus, were descended from the initial Achaeans, whom the Dorians had conquered. But not all Achaeans were reduced to helotism: the city of Amyclae, home of the Hyacinthia festival, enjoyed special status, as did others.
Contemporary authors propose alternative theories: according to Antiochus of Syracuse, helots were the Lacedaemonians who did not participate in the Messenian Wars; for Ephorus of Cyme, they were the perioeci ("dwellers in surrounding communities") from Helos, reduced to slavery after a failed revolt.
From at least the classical period, the number of Spartans was very small in comparison to that of the helots. In a celebrated passage, Thucydides stresses that "most Spartan institutions have always been designed with a view to security against the Helots".[15] Aristotle compares them to "an enemy constantly sitting in wait of the disaster of the Spartans".[16] Consequently, fear seems to be an important factor governing relations between Spartans and Helots. According to tradition, the Spartiates always carried their spears, undid the straps of their bucklers only when at home lest the Helots seize them, and locked themselves in their homes.[17] They also took active measures, subjecting them to what Theopompus describes as "an altogether cruel and bitter condition".[18]
According to Myron of Priene, an anti-Spartan historian[19] of the middle 3rd century BC:
They assign to the Helots every shameful task leading to disgrace. For they ordained that each one of them must wear a dogskin cap (κυνῆ / kunễ) and wrap himself in skins (διφθέρα / diphthéra) and receive a stipulated number of beatings every year regardless of any wrongdoing, so that they would never forget they were slaves. Moreover, if any exceeded the vigour proper to a slave's condition, they made death the penalty; and they allotted a punishment to those controlling them if they failed.[20]
Plutarch also states that Spartans treated the Helots "harshly and cruelly": they compelled them to drink pure wine (which was considered dangerous—wine usually being diluted with water) "... and to lead them in that condition into their public halls, that the children might see what a sight a drunken man is; they made them to dance low dances, and sing ridiculous songs..." during syssitia (obligatory banquets).[21] However, he notes that this rough treatment was inflicted only relatively late, after the 464 BC earthquake.
Some modern scholars advocate a reevaluation of ancient evidence about helots. It has been argued that the kunē was not actually made of dogskin,[22] and that the diphthera (literally, "leather") was the general attire of the poor peasant class.[23] The obligation of masters to prevent fatness amongst their helots is actually deemed implausible: as the Spartiates lived separately, dietary intake could not be rigorously controlled;[24] as manual labour was an important function of the Helots (for example, being used to carry their master's arms and armour on campaign), it would make sense to keep them well fed.[24] Besides, the rations mentioned by Thucydides[25] for the Helots on Sphacteria are close to normal.[26] Myron's evidence is interpreted as an extrapolation from actions performed on symbolic representatives.[27] In short, Grote writes that "the various anecdotes which are told respecting [Helot] treatment at Sparta betoken less of cruelty than of ostentatious scorn".[28] He has been followed recently by J. Ducat (1974 and 1990),[29] who describes Spartan treatment of the Helots as a kind of ideological warfare, designed to condition the Helots to think of themselves as inferiors. This strategy seems to have been successful at least for Laconian Helots:[30] when the Thebans ordered a group of Laconian helot prisoners to recite the verses of Alcman and Terpander (national poets of Thebes), they refused on the grounds that it would displease their masters.[31]
Other modern scholars consider then, "although the details may be fanciful, [Myron's evidence] does reflect accurately the general Spartiate attitude towards helots".[19] It has also been proposed that contempt alone could hardly explain the organized murder of Helots mentioned by several ancient sources.[32] According to Aristotle, the ephors annually declared war on the Helots, thereby allowing Spartans to kill them without fear of religious pollution.[33] This task was apparently given to the kryptes, graduates of the difficult agoge who took part in the crypteia.[34] This lack of judicial protection is confirmed by Myron of Priene, who mentions killing as a standard mode of regulation of the Helot population. According to a passage in Thucydides, 2,000 helots were massacred in a carefully staged event in 425 BC or earlier:
"The helots were invited by a proclamation to pick out those of their number who claimed to have most distinguished themselves against the enemy, in order that they might receive their freedom; the object being to test them, as it was thought that the first to claim their freedom would be the most high spirited and the most apt to rebel. As many as two thousand were selected accordingly, who crowned themselves and went round the temples, rejoicing in their new freedom. The Spartans, however, soon afterwards did away with them, and no one ever knew how each of them perished."[35]
Thus Paul Cartledge claims that "the history of Sparta (...) is fundamentally the history of the class struggle between the Spartans and the Helots".[36]
Helots were assigned to citizens to carry out domestic work or to work on their klēroi, or portions. The klēroi were the original divisions of Messenia after its conquest by Sparta.[37] Various sources mention such servants accompanying this or that Spartan. Plutarch has Timaia, the wife of King Agis II, "being herself forward enough to whisper among her helot maid-servants" that the child she was expecting had been fathered by Alcibiades, and not her husband, indicating a certain level of trust.[38] According to some authors, in the 4th century BC, citizens also used chattel-slaves for domestic purposes. However, this is disputed by others. Some helots were also servants to young Spartans during their agoge, the Spartan education; these were the μόθωνες / móthōnes (see below). Finally, helots, like slaves, could be artisans or tradesmen.[39]