The Liberty Chronicles

06 May 2024

Slavery has been an institution of society since nearly the beginning of society itself.  The brutality of slavery across history is well documented and varies in degree from one society to another.  The enslavement of the Helots by the Spartans, however, developed an interesting relationship that was both mutually beneficial and mutually destructive.  The Spartans treated Helots poorly as slaves, and, for their part, the Spartans lived in constant fear of Helot uprisings.  This relationship between the two was built on and cemented by mutual distrust and loathing of the other ethnicity.  However, it is proven throughout the history of the Spartans and Helots that there was, indeed, an element of trust in the relationship, even a brotherhood, that allowed these slaves to serve within the famed Spartan Phalanx in battles.  The brutality, fear, mistrust, and hatred fell away when the two groups were required, due to external forces, to band together and fight.    

The system of Helotry was established by the Spartan kings after they invaded and subjugated the region, creating a state-owned slave system in Laconia.[1]  Thus, the Helots were not, at first, owned by individual Spartans, but by the Spartan government and the Spartan people together.  While the individual Spartan held some autonomy over slaves assigned to him, the state held final say over the Helots themselves, including the ability to put to death any Helot who was deemed to be a threat to Spartan society.[2]  The state ownership of the slave population does not appear to be any sort of preluding factor of the slave revolts that the Spartans dealt with from the Helot population, as across history, personally owned slaves are also well documented as periodically rising up against their oppressors.  The brutality with which the Helots were treated, however, would certainly have led to uprisings, then to more oppression, then to more uprisings.  By subduing and enslaving the Helots, the Spartans created for themselves a life of luxury, but also a life of consistent worry that their slaves would rise in rebellion, something that is well documented as occurring regularly.[3]  This fear, however, would not inhibit these two groups from fighting together in conflicts.

The enslavement of a people alone tilts the scales hard between cooperation and rebellion.  The Spartans, however, are not documented as having been kind masters, information which would lead toward the conclusion that a deep hatred between Helot and Spartan existed and should have been insurmountable.[4]  The Spartans went so far as to pick two thousand Helots during the Peloponnesian War who had distinguished themselves in battle to set them free for their service.  The Helots, selected and freed, rejoiced in their newfound freedom, but Thucydides, in his history, speculated that this act was simply a ruse by the Spartans, who later killed these Helots to remove the best warriors from the Helot population and stem further uprisings.[5]  This observation and speculation by Thucydides suggest that the Spartans had struck a balance between using the Helots in war and ensuring that revolts were less likely in times of peace.  The relationship between the Spartans and Helots hinged on whether Sparta was at war and needed Helot support.

The real fear in Sparta of Helot uprisings needs to be examined closely to ascertain the true relationship between the Spartans and their Helot slaves.  Arguments have been made that, contrary to the image that Spartans tried to portray, and how Spartans have been portrayed through most of history, they were a fearful people.[6]  As the Spartans enslaved the Helot population and it grew, the Spartans became outnumbered in their own city, raising the risk of an outright Helot revolt.  These uprisings did, of course, happen, and they were violent and brutal, then violently and brutally suppressed.[7]  The relationship between Helots and Spartans has proven to be one of justifiable fear on both sides: the Spartans of uprisings and the Helots of brutal treatment and murder.  These two sides, however, found a way to set that fear aside when called to fight together within the battle formations in the defense of their city. 

The class struggle between the Helots and the Spartans is also essential to understanding the relationship between the two groups that would allow such trust in fighting formations.  The relationship between slave and slave owner, in this case the Spartan state, was a brutal one.  As discussed above, the Spartans were substantially outnumbered by their Helot slaves, especially after the Persian Wars, when a significant drop in Spartan population reduced it from roughly 8,000 adult males to roughly 1,100 by B.C. 371.[8]  This sharp decline would have placed the Spartans at a disadvantage both in war against their enemies and in peace against the Helots if they revolted.  The correlation between a violent natural disaster and a violent Helot uprising sheds light on how the Helots exploited a Spartan moment of weakness to press their advantage.  The earthquake in the mid-460s B.C. was followed by a large-scale Helot revolt, heightening Spartan fears that they would not only have to deal with their slaves in revolt but also with the Athenians, should they choose to support the uprising.[9]  Immediately after the revolt, social tensions in Laconia between the two groups eased somewhat, indicating that the Spartans could regain and maintain control.[10]  While this event was certainly not the only uprising of the Helots, it supports the notion that there was a struggle between the two groups that would, at times, come to a violent head. 

Given the fear of revolt and actual revolts, it is difficult to understand how the Spartans could have trusted the Helots not only to serve in their military but also to serve in their own tight-knit formations, the Phalanx.  But they did; it is described as commonplace for only a few Spartans to take an army of Helots and ex-Helots into battle with them, as without them, it would have been hard for the Spartans to field an army.[11]  The Phalanx was not the only place that Helots served, however.  There is evidence that Helots served as attendants and as light-armed forces.[12]  If Helots were rewarded for their actions in combat and freed, they formed another unit in the Spartan army called the neodamodeis.  This shows that it did not matter whether a Helot was a slave or a freed person; they still showed loyalty to the Spartans, allowing them to risk their lives serving in the Spartan army.  For the non-free Helots, there may not have been a choice to serve, but there was a choice to drive their spear through the Spartan in front of them during a battle, something that there is no evidence of having occurred.  It is suggested that, even though the Helots were slaves, they shared a Lacedaemonian identity with the Spartans, which could have led them to participate in the defense of Sparta and Laconia as a whole.[13]  This commonality and shared identity establish a relationship between the Helots and Spartans that goes beyond that of slave and master and could explain why the Helots were trusted to fight in the Spartan Phalanx.  The commonalities, however, and the trust, only ran so deep.  If Helots became too skilled in battle, Spartans would, at times, thin those fighters out, as like what occurred in 424, when Helots who had accomplished great deeds in battle were sent out on an expedition, only to be slaughtered by the Spartans in a move that truly showed the depth of the Spartans’ fear of Helot uprisings.[14]

When Helots revolted, it was not typically the entire population that did so.  It is possible that the original helots who inhabited Laconia before the Spartans arrived and conquered it were more loyal to the Spartans than the Messenian helots.  In one large-scale revolt, only the Messenian Helots rose up, separating themselves from the original Helots in their bid to destroy Sparta.[15]  The difference between the two groups of Helots lies in the time and manner in which they were conquered by the Spartans.  The Laconian Helots were conquered first and thus had a longer history and relationship with their Spartan masters, whereas the Messenian Helots were conquered later and had a shorter relationship and less time to build trusting bonds.[16]  The relationship that would lead to trust in battle had far more history between the Spartans and the Laconian Helots than with those from Messenia, showing that the general fear throughout Sparta of Helot uprisings may have been due only to one of the two groups of Helots.  This also makes it possible that the Spartans took only those Helots from Laconia whom they trusted and shared a certain Lacedaemonian identity with. 

The Battle of Thermopylae is perhaps one of the most famous in ancient history.  With 300 Spartans, Leonidas, one of the Kings of Sparta, took a force of 4,000 Greeks to meet the vast Persian army, 20,000 strong, in the narrow pass and slow them down.[17]  While we have no evidence of how many, Helots were certainly part of that excursion.[18]  Although the battle was lost, it lasted for some time before Persian forces discovered a trail, turning the tables on Leonidas and his Greek force.[19]  This is one of the most famous instances of a smaller force battling a far larger one: the Helots fought side by side with their Spartan enslavers, despite certainly multiple opportunities to betray them and gain their freedom or some other advantage.  Though not all accounts of the battle contain Helot bravery in battle, or even their active participation in the ranks of the phalanx.  One account states that a helot was ordered to retrieve his Spartan master’s weapons and armor, then follow him into the fray, after it was learned that the Persians had discovered a goat path that could be used to surround the Greeks.  Instead of following, the Helot tried to flee, but ran directly into Persian forces and was killed.[20]  Two different accounts tell two different stories of Helot bravery and participation, though the accounts of Helot action in the battle are more prevalent.  Possibly their shared identity as Lacedaemonians and Greeks is what stayed their hands and fed their courage to fight in a battle against overwhelming odds alongside those they are purported to have hated.

Plataea is another famous battle in ancient Greek history and, again, one in which the Helots joined their masters in combat.  While no sure number exists for the number of Helots who fought at Thermopylae, there were upwards of thirty-five thousand Helots who accompanied the Spartans to the Battle of Plataea.[21]  Not only did the Helots make up a large portion of the Spartan fighting force, but they also served in the Phalanx with their masters, forming the rows behind the Spartans in the first rank.[22]  Though it is shown that Helots did in fact participate in the battle, their being left out of much of the history could have been because of their status as slaves.  Graves full of Helots suggest that they did indeed fight, as the Greeks held victory, there would not have been the massacre of slaves that is typically present when the day is lost, and the forces are routed.[23]  The Spartan Phalanx, with the Helots in the rear and flanks, shows the Spartans’ undeniable trust in their Helot slaves in combat.  It is inconceivable that a force would place a group at the rear of its formation, where it could inflict great slaughter if it wanted to, without trusting them entirely in combat. 

A dramatic shift would occur among the Helots during the reign of the Spartan ruler Nabis.  To create a more civil society, and as Helotry was already beginning to resemble traditional slavery, Nabis changed the system of slavery in Sparta by removing Helot ownership from the city’s central authority and giving it to individual Spartans.[24]  In one act, Nabis changed the entire social construct of Spartan society.  No longer did Helots have to look to the central Spartan government for freedom; they could now gain it by appealing to their individual owner.  Not only did Nabis change this construct, but he also provided for the liberation of large portions of the Helot social class.[25]  By doing so, he repopulated Sparta with free Helots after Spartan citizens had been significantly depleted in recent wars.  Not only were the Helots granted their freedom, but allowing them to marry Spartan citizens also provided them with a path to full Spartan citizenship.[26]  This move by Nabis fundamentally changed Spartan society.  While it is unclear whether this freedom was granted to all helots or only to those from Laconia, it would have completely changed the role of the helot in warfare.  As Spartan citizens, the Helots would now not only make up the bulk of the phalanx but also not have any Spartan masters leading them.  They were now the Spartan masters themselves. 

The relationship between Spartans and Helots was one of fear: Spartan Fear of Helots and Helot fear of Spartans.  This fear was, however, overcome in times of war, allowing both sides to fight for their mutual benefit.  Psychology plays a large role in slavery.  Across history, some slave populations have risen in revolt more than others, and few have served alongside their masters in combat.  The Helots did both.   The Spartans, for their part, utilized the Helots when it suited them, in war to bolster their numbers, but also decimated them when that suited them as well.  The fear of Helot revolt occupied the Spartan mind during times of peace, while the sharp spear of their Helot slave helped to protect them in times of war. 

Notes:

[1] George Tridimas, “Choice of Slavery Institutions in Ancient Greece: Athenian Chattels and Spartan Helots,” Journal of Institutional Economics 19, no. 6 (2023): 826.

[2] L. J. Piper, “Spartan Helots in the Hellenistic Age,” Ancient Society 15/17, (1984): 77

[3] Tridimas, “Choice of Slavery Institutions,” 827.

[4] Tridimas, “Choice of Slavery Institutions,” 827-828.

[5] Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, Volume IV. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014, 350-351.

[6] Daniel Pellerin, “The Spartan Crucible,” Greece and Rome 71, no. 1 (2024): 41-42.

[7] Pellerin, “The Spartan Crucible,” 44-45.

[8] Richard J. A. Talbert, “The Role of the Helots in the Class Struggle at Sparta,” Historia ; Zeitschrift Fur Alte Geschichte 38, no 1 (1989): 23.

[9] Talbert, “The Role of the Helots,” 27-28.

[10] IBID.

[11] Humble, Noreen and Xenophon,  Xenophon of Athens: A Socratic on Sparta, 1^st ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021 12.

[12] Nicolette Pavlides, “Non-Spartans in the Lakedaimonian Army: The Evidence from Laconia,” Historia; Zeitschrift Fur Alte Geschichte 69, no. 2 (2020): 157.

[13] Pavlides, “Non-Spartans,” 158.

[14] A. Paradiso, “Spartan Suspicions and the Massacre, Again,” Araucaria (Triana) 19, no. 37 (2017): 258.

[15] Pausanias, active approximately 150-175, Pausanias’ Description of Greece, Volume I Project Gutenberg 191.

[16] James T. Chambers, “On Messenian and Laconian Helots in the Fifth Century B.C.,” The Historian (Kingston) 40, no. 2 (1978): 273.

[17] Nicholas G. L. Hammond, “Sparta at Thermopylae,” Historia: Zeitschrift Fur alte Geschichte 45, no. 1 (1996): 2. 

[18] Herodotus,  The Complete Works of Herodotus,  Place of publication not identified: Delphi Classics, 2013, 9. 10. 1.

[19] Hammond, Sparta at Thermopylae,” 17.

[20] Herodotus,  The Complete Works of Herodotus, 9. 10. 4.

[21] Peter Hunt, “Helots at the Battle of Plataea,” Historia ; Zeitschrift Fur Alte Geschichte 46, no. 2 (1997): 129.

[22] IBID.

[23] Hunt, “Helots,” 130.

[24] Larisa G. Pechatnova, “Nabis and the Helots,” Studia Antiqua Et Archaeologica 24, no. 2 (2018): 242.

[25] Pechatonova, “Nabis and the Helots,” 244.

[26] IBID.

Bibliograhpy:

Chambers, James T. “On Messenian and Laconian Helots in the Fifth Century B.C.” The Historian (Kingston) 40, no. 2 (1978): 271-285.

Hammond, Nicholas G. L. “Sparta at Thermopylae.” Historia: Zeitschrift Fur alte Geschichte 45, no. 1 (1996): 1-20

Herodotus.  The Complete Works of Herodotus.  Place of publication not identified: Delphi Classics, 2013.

Humble, Noreen and Xenophon.  Xenophon of Athens: A Socratic on Sparta. 1^st ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021.

Hunt, Peter. “Helots at the Battle of Plataea.” Historia ; Zeitschrift Fur Alte Geschichte 46, no. 2 (1997): 129-144.

Paradiso, A. “Spartan Suspicions and the Massacre, Again.” Araucaria (Triana) 19, no. 37 (2017): 257-269.

Pausanias, active approximately 150-175. Pausanias’ Description of Greece, Volume I Project Gutenberg.

Pavlides, Nicolette. “Non-Spartans in the Lakedaimonian Army: The Evidence from Laconia.” Historia; Zeitschrift Fur Alte Geschichte 69, no. 2 (2020): 154-184.

Pechatnova, Larisa G. “Nabis and the Helots.” Studia Antiqua Et Archaeologica 24, no. 2 (2018): 241-251.

Pellerin, Daniel. “The Spartan Crucible.” Greece and Rome 71, no. 1 (2024): 41-60.

Piper, L. J. “Spartan Helots in the Hellenistic Age.” Ancient Society 15/17, (1984): 75-88.

Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War. Volume IV. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014.

Talbert, Richard J. A. “The Role of the Helots in the Class Struggle at Sparta.” Historia ; Zeitschrift Fur Alte Geschichte 38, no 1 (1989): 22-40

Tridimas, George. “Choice of Slavery Institutions in Ancient Greece: Athenian Chattels and Spartan Helots.” Journal of Institutional Economics 19, no. 6 (2023): 820-836

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