HELOTS

1. HELOTS “ like asses worn out by their mighty burdens; under painful necessity to bring their masters full half the fruit their ploughed land produced ” Tyrtaeus fragment 6

2. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 2 Who were they? They were the serfs bound to the kleros and obliged to render a fixed amount of product to their master They farmed in Laconia and Messenia The helots could not move from the land They could neither be manumitted nor moved from the land they occupied except by government action

3. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 3 Life of a helot Sources are scant on helots Pollux refers to them as “ half-slave, half-free.” So long as the helots paid their dues required for the upkeep of the Spartan, it is thought that they were free to make what profit he could out of the land and possibly amass some degree of wealth “ The helots tilled the soil for them, paying a return for them which was regularly settled in advance. There was a ban against letting for a higher price, so that the helots might make some profit and thus be glad to do the work for their masters, and so that their masters would not look for any larger return.” Plutarch’s Moralia

4. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 4 Origin Most agree that the helots of Laconia were the descendents of the original inhabitants of the land, non Dorians, who had been reduced to serfdom by their conqueror The word helot is thought to be derived from the Greek word meaning “ captive”

5. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 5 Helot women Pommeroy states that serfs unlike their Greek counterparts, lived in family groups in houses designated for them. More than one helot family was assigned to each kleros Helots also supplied domestic labour for Spartan houses, engaged in chores such as weaving and child rearing. Plutarch tells us that Spartan nurses were highly praised for their ability to raise children to be happy, not discontented or finicky about their food or afraid of the dark

6. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 6 Community involvement Sons of helots who were 'adopted' as playmates for Spartan boys were called mothaces. These boys went through the agoge but never achieved citizenship. On the second day of the Hyakinthia, citizens offered dinner to everyone including helots according to Polycrates. Dining together was a rite of inclusion expressing the solidarity of the entire population In the Spartan ceremonies of mourning for a king, helots and their wives were obliged to mourn and the women to wear black.

7. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 7 Rights Helots were state owned serfs and as such they were protected by the state. The state relied heavily on their Helot population for survival, therefore to kill or injure a Helot without reason was a serious crime. The Helots were not the property of their Spartan 'master,' and the state would allow no unauthorized injustices to be dealt them. Politically and legally Helots had no rights at all. The state was free to send them or dispose of them wherever they saw fit. The Helots could not vote and could not hold property.

8. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 8 A TENUOUS RELATIONSHIP Can the Spartiate/helot relationship be described as a volatile one? What were the instruments of control? To what extent did the helot problem affect Spartan society and foreign policy

9. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 9 MYRON 3RD CENTURY BC "The Helots are made to perform the most ignominious and degrading tasks. They are forced to wear a dogskin cap and to dress in animal hides; each year they receive a certain number of blows, without having committed any infraction, in order to remind them that they are slaves; worse yet, if there are any who exceed in strength the measure appropriate to slaves, they are punished by death, and their masters receive a fine for not having impeded their development.”

10. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 10 Helots at Mt Ithome “ Unknown to the Athenians, the Spartans promised to do so, but were prevented by the earthquake which occurred then, whereupon their helots and the Perioicoi of Thouria and Athaea revolted and occupied Ithome Plutarch states that the whole of Sparta with the exception of 5 houses was totally destroyed The Spartans defeated the helots in battle but failed to break the siege at Ithome. Cimon, leading Athenian general and a Spartan sympathizer came with four thousand hoplites but the Spartans rejected their help fearing” their adventurous and revolutionary spirit” The helot revolt was not resolved until 455BC

11. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 11 IMPACT “I am of opinion that these outrages and cruelties began to be exercised in Sparta at a later time, especially after the great earthquake, when the Helots made a general insurrection, and, joining with the Messenians, laid the country waste, and brought the greatest danger upon the city.” Plutarch “ Spartan foreign policy was always greatly affected either directly or indirectly by the helots. Since a helot revolt threatened the very existence of the Spartan state, its suppression dominated Spartan thinking almost to the virtual exclusion of all other issues.” Terry Buckley; Aspects of Greek History

12. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 12 A good vantage pointfrom the summit of Mt Ithome

13. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 13 Cinadon the conspirator A TALE TO REVEAL ALL READ THE HANDOUT AND SUGGEST THE DIFFERENT EVIDENCE IT GIVES US ABOUT SPARTAN SOCIETY

14. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 14 Thucydides 424 BC “Athens at the time posed an immanent threat to the Peloponnesus and especially to the very land of the Lacedemonians. The latter nevertheless had a hope: to deter the Athenians by sending an expeditionary force to one of their allies, which would trouble them [the Athenians] in turn. The allies were prepared to receive it and to defect as soon as it appeared. At the same time the Lacedemonians were looking for a pretext for expediting Helots to a foreign theatre lest they take advantage of the presence of the Athenians at Pylos to foment revolution. Fearing their youthful ardor and their number (for the Lacedemonians, the central issue in their relations with the Helots had always been to keep them under surveillance), they had, on a previous occasion, already resorted to the following measures. They had let it be known that all those [among the Helots] who felt that through their conduct in the face of the enemy they were so deserving should have their credentials for emancipation inspected. It was, from their perspective, a test: those who demonstrated sufficient pride to believe they should be first to be freed were thus the prime candidates for a future rebellion. About two thousand of them were selected: adorned with a crown, they ran the circuit of sanctuaries as free men. Shortly thereafter, they were made to disappear, and no one knew in what manner each of them had been eliminated”

15. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 15 History through the film lens

16. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 16 Cases of rebellion A general rebellion of the lower classes almost erupted in 397 B.C.. According to Xenophon, an informer working for the Spartan rulers was able to say at the time: "Each time the subject of the Spartans came up among these people [the lower classes] none of them could conceal that it would not displease him to devour them, and even raw.”

17. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 17 Instruments of Control The Army Syssition Krypteia

18. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 18 The Army When the Spartiates went to war they were accompanied by helots who probably acted as aides or servants. Units of helots, such as light armed slingers, took part in skirmishes. On rare occasions helots could be awarded citizenship for deeds performed during military service The 700 helots taken in Chalcidice by Brasidas and given their freedom for gallantry in the field were called Brasideioi.Thucydides later tells us that they were subsequently settled at Lepreon on the borders of Laconia and Elis

19. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 19 Battle of Plataea

20. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 20 Syssition Plutarch’s Moralia “They used to make the helots drunk and exhibit them to the young as a deterrent from excessive drinking.”

21. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 21

22. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 22 KRYPTEIA Plutarch says that as part of their training, specially chosen bands of young men were sent into the countryside to deal with the helots “The magistrates from time to time sent out into the countryside at large the most discreet of the young men, equipped only with daggers and necessary supplies. During the day they scattered into obscure and out of the way places, where they hid themselves and lay quiet. But in the night, they came down to the roads and killed every Helot whom they caught. Often, too, they actually made their way across fields where the Helots were working and killed the sturdiest and best of them.” Plato viewed it as part of their training Aristotle also makes mention that immediately on taking office the ephors would declare war on the helots, so that they could be killed without pollution.

23. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 23 Historians Views “ they were the most downtrodden people in the whole of Greece, nevertheless…., their existence was a constant menace to the states’ security and the fear of them hung like a mill-stone around their Spartan masters neck.” Cyril Robinson

24. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 24 Talbert The Role of Helots in the Class struggle at Sparta “ Far from viewing helots as organized, politically aware dissidents, we should recall that they lived for generations in a closed country…..we should expect helots to have been relatively ignorant, simple people…who knew their place…the widespread willingness to undertake loyal military service demonstrates that by the 5th century the overwhelming majority had accommodated themselves to the demands of their masters”

25. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 25 Cartledge “ It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the Spartans did…genuinely fear helot revolt-and with reason, in the light of the actual revolt of the mid 460’s. Nor is it easy to avoid the expectation that this fear would have expressed itself nearer to home and in other ways than by stipulating allied foreign aid in case of helot revolt.” In the treaty between Athens and Sparta after the Peace of Nikias in 421, there was a clause providing for Athenian help in the event of a helot revolt

26. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 26 Thebans invade Laconia After this Epameinondas entered Messenia, in order to liberate her from the Spartans. In the mean time defection among the Perioikoi and Helots had already started. Epameinondas re founded Messene and in the hills of mount Ithome built excellent fortifications stretched for four miles, which are still preserved today. All of these had a devastating effect in the economy of Sparta, which lost half of its territory for ever and had no more the people to provide for its military.

27. 2/24/2012 Free Template from www.brainybetty.com 27 Perpetuating the Mirage