How were helots different from slaves?
Unlike the slaves in Athens, helots had families and communities of their own, and they were no private property. Therefore, Pausanias calls them “slaves of the commonwealth”. Strabo of Amasia says they were “some sort of public slaves”, and other authors say they were a category between slaves and free people.
How long did helot last?
For Sparta, fighting the Helots took a long 10 years, until one day, finally, the Helots surrendered. With the surrender, the Helots requested that they would be able to leave the Peloponnese (The place that Sparta settled down at.) The Spartans had a requestthat they never return.
Who are the helots in the Spartan system?
helot, a state-owned serf of the ancient Spartans. The ethnic origin of helots is uncertain, but they were probably the original inhabitants of Laconia (the area around the Spartan capital) who were reduced to servility after the conquest of their land by the numerically fewer Dorians.
What did the Spartans do to the helots?
Spartans, who were outnumbered by the Helots, often treated them brutally and oppressively in an effort to prevent uprisings. Spartans would humiliate the Helots by doing such things as forcing them to get debilitatingly drunk on wine and then make fools of themselves in public.
What race are helots?
The helots were serfs, slaves owned by the city state of Sparta rather than an individual person. They were mostly descendants of Messenians, who the Spartans had conquered. If you have never heard of Messenia, you may have heard of its modern capital, Kalamata, and its famous olives.
What are Spartan helots?
A Spartan helot was a slave owned by the city-state of Sparta in ancient Greece. The Spartan helots came from the groups of people that the Spartans, a warrior culture, subjugated.
What did the Spartans call slaves?
The Helots, whose name means “captives,” were fellow Greeks, originally from Laconia and Messenia, who had been conquered by the Spartans and turned into slaves.
Why did the Spartans fear the messenians?
The Spartans feared the Messenians because they feared they would have another revolt as helots.
What happened to the helots of Laconia?
The most popular in antiquity was that the helots of Laconia and Messenia constituted the aboriginal populations of these respective regions; they were reduced to servitude by Spartan conquest, the former at some very early period, the latter during the Messenian War (s).
Who were the helots?
Helots were the subjugated people of the territories of Laconia and Messenia, which comprised the state of Sparta. They were an Ancient Greek tribe defeated and conquered by the Spartans. Academics are divided over the origins of helots.
Why did the Laconian helots refuse to recite Alcman’s poems?
This strategy seems to have been successful at least for Laconian Helots: 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.
What did the Lacedaemonians offer to the helots?
“The fact was, that the Lacedaemonians had made advertisement for volunteers to carry into the island ground corn, wine, cheese, and any other food useful in a siege; high prices being offered, and freedom promised to any of the helots who should succeed in doing so”.