Helots

Helots were the lowest of the four classes into which the population of ancient Sparta was divided. They are generally supposed to have been the aboriginal population of the country, and to have been reduced to bondage by their Dorian conquerors, their numbers being swelled from time to time by the addition of peoples conquered in war. They belonged to the state, which alone had the power to set them at liberty; but they toiled for individual proprietors, and were bound to the soil—i.e. they could not be sold away from the place of their labour. They were the tillers of the land, for which they paid a rent to their masters; they served at the public meals, and were occupied on the public works. In war they fought as light troops, each freeborn Spartan (who bore heavy armour) being accompanied to battle by a number of them, sometimes as many as seven. On rare occasions they were equipped as heavy-armed soldiers. It is a matter of doubt whether after emancipation they could ever enjoy all the privileges of Spartan citizenship. They were treated with much severity by their masters, especially in the later ages of Sparta, and were subjected to degradation and indignities. They were whipped every year, to keep them in mind of their servile state; they were obliged to wear a distinctive dress (clothes of sheepskin and a cap of dog's-skin), and to intoxicate themselves as a warning to the Spartan youth; and when they multiplied to an alarming extent, they were often massacred with the most barbarous cruelty. On one occasion 2000 of them, who had behaved bravely in war, were encouraged to come forward for emancipation, and were then treacherously put to death. The Spartans organised, as often as necessity required, secret service companies (Gr. crypteia) of young men, who went abroad over the country armed with daggers, and both by night and day assassinated the Helots, selecting as their special victims the strongest and most vigorous of the race.