Listed 2 sub titles with search on: The inhabitants for wider area of: "ELOS Ancient city LACONIA" .
ELOS (Ancient city) LACONIA
Originally inhabitants of Helos, afterwards general name for slaves of Lacedaemonians:
<b>Helotae</b> (Heilotai), and Helotes (Heilotes). The Helots or bondsmen
of the Spartans. The common account of the origin of this class is, that the inhabitants
of the maritime town of <b>Helos</b> were reduced by Sparta to this
state of degradation, after an insurrection against the Dorians already established
in power. This explanation, however, rests merely on an etymology, and that by
no means probable. The word Heilos is probably a derivative from helein in a passive
sense, and consequently means "a prisoner"--a derivation known in ancient
times. It seems likely that they were an aboriginal race, which was subdued at
a very early period, and which immediately passed over as slaves to the Doric
conquerors. In speaking of the condition of the Helots, their political rights
and their personal treatment will be considered under different heads, though
in fact the two subjects are very nearly connected.
The first were doubtless exactly defined by law and custom, though the expressions
made use of by ancient authors are frequently vague and ambiguous. "They
were", says Ephorus, "in a certain point of view public slaves. Their
possessor could neither liberate them nor sell them beyond the borders".
From this it is evident that they were considered as belonging properly to the
State, which to a certain degree permitted them to be possessed by individuals,
reserving to itself the power of enfranchising them. But to sell them out of the
country was not in the power even of the State; and such an event seems never
to have occurred. It is, upon the whole, most probable that individuals had no
power to sell them at all, as they belonged chiefly to the landed property, and
this was inalienable. On these lands they had certain fixed dwellings of their
own, and particular services and payments were prescribed to them. They paid as
rent a fixed measure of corn; not, however, like the Perioeci, to the State, but
to their masters. As this quantity had been definitely settled at a very early
period, the Helots were the persons who profited by a good, and lost by a bad,
harvest, which must have been to them an encouragement to industry and good husbandry,
as would not have been the case if the profit and loss had merely affected the
landlords. In fact, by this means, as is proved by the accounts respecting the
Spartan agriculture, a careful cultivation of the soil was kept up. By means of
the rich produce of the lands, and in part by plunder obtained in war, they collected
a considerable property, to the attainment of which almost every access was closed
to the Spartans. The cultivation of the land, however, was not the only duty of
the Helots; they also, at the public meals, attended upon their masters, who,
according to the Lacedaemonian principle of a community of property, mutually
lent them to one another. A large number of them was also employed by the State
in public works. In the field the Helots never served as hoplites, except in extraordinary
cases; and then it was the general practice afterwards to give them their liberty.
This seems first to have occurred under Brasidas in B.C. 424. (Cf. Thuc. iv. 80,
vii. 19.) On other occasions they attended the regular army as light-armed troops
(psiloi); and that their numbers were very considerable may be seen from the battle
of Plataea, in which 5000 Spartans were attended by 35,000 Helots. Although they
did not share the honour of the heavy-armed soldiers, they were in turn exposed
to a less degree of danger; for, while the former, in close rank, received the
onset of the enemy with spear and shield, the Helots, armed only with their slings
and javelins, were in a moment either before or behind the ranks, as Tyrtaeus
accurately describes the relative duties of the light-armed soldier (gumnes) and
the hoplite. Sparta, in her better days, is never recorded to have unnecessarily
sacrificed the lives of her Helots. A certain number of them were allotted to
each Spartan ( Herod.ix. 28; Thuc.iii. 8). At the battle of Plataea this number
was seven. Those who were assigned to a single master were probably called ampittares.
Of these, however, one in particular was the servant (therapon) of his master,
as in the story of the blind Spartan, who was conducted by his Helot into the
thickest of the battle of Thermopylae, and, while the latter fled, fell with the
other heroes ( Herod.vii. 229). It appears that the other Helots were in the field
placed more immediately under the command of the king than the rest of the army
( Herod.vi. 80Herod., 81). In the fleet they composed the large mass of the sailors
( Hist. Gr. vii. 1, 12), in which service at Athens the inferior citizens and
slaves were employed. It is a matter of much greater difficulty to form a clear
notion of the treatment of the Helots, and of their manner of life; for the rhetorical
spirit with which later historians have embellished their views has been productive
of much confusion and misconception. Myron of Priene, in his account of the Messenian
War, drew a very dark picture of Sparta, and endeavoured at the end to rouse the
feelings of his readers by a description of the fate which the conquered underwent.
"The Helots", says he, "perform for the Spartans every ignominious
service. They are compelled to wear a cap of dog's skin (kune), to have a covering
of sheep's skin (diphthera), and are severely beaten every year without having
committed any fault, in order that they may never forget they are slaves. In addition
to this, those among them who, either by their stature or their beauty, raise
themselves above the condition of a slave, are condemned to death, and the masters
who do not destroy the most manly of them are liable to punishment". Myron's
statements, however, are to be received with considerable caution.
Plutarch relates (Lycurg. 28) that the Helots were compelled to intoxicate
themselves, and to perform indecent dances, as a warning to the Spartan youth.
Yet Helot women discharged the office of nurse in the royal palaces, and doubtless
obtained the affection with which the attendants of early youth were honoured
in ancient times. It is, however, certain that the Doric laws did not bind servants
to strict temperance; and hence examples of drunkenness among them might well
have served as a means of recommending sobriety. It was also an established regulation
that the national songs and dances of Sparta were forbidden to the Helots, who,
on the other hand, had some extravagant and lascivious dances peculiar to themselves,
which may have given rise to the above report.
It was the curse of this bondage, which Plato terms the hardest in
Greece, that the slaves abandoned their masters when they stood in greatest need
of their assistance; and hence the Spartans were even compelled to stipulate in
treaties for aid against their own subjects (Thuc.i. 118Thuc., v. 14; cf. Aristot.
Pol.ii. 6 Pol., 2). A more favourable side of the Spartan system of bondage is
seen in the fact that a legal way to liberty and citizenship stood open to the
Helots. The many intermediate steps seem to prove the existence of a regular mode
of transition from the one rank to the other. The Helots who were esteemed worthy
of an especial confidence were called argeioi; the aphetai were probably released
from all service. The desposionautai, who served in the fleets, resembled probably
the freedmen of Attica, who were called "the out-dwellers" (hoi choris
oikountes). When they received their liberty, they also obtained permission to
dwell where they wished (Thuc.iv. 80Thuc., v. 34), and probably, at the same time,
a portion of land was granted them without the lot of their former masters. After
they had been in possession of liberty for some time, they appear to have been
called neodamodeis (Thuc.vii. 58), the number of whom soon came near to that of
the citizens (Plut. Ages.6). The mothones or mothakes were Helots, who, being
brought up together with the young Spartans, obtained freedom without the rights
of citizenship.
The number of the Helots has been estimated as having been some 225,000
at the time of the battle of Plataea, as against an estimated total population
of 380,000 or 400,000.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Apr 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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