The Helots and Spartans Source Work

 Plutarch, Lycurgus, 28

• "Krypteia, assuming this really was one of Lycurgus' innovations...killed any helot whom they caught"
• "Killing the helots who stood out for their physique and strength"
• "By day they would disperse to obscure spots in order to hide and rest. At nigh they made their way to the roads and killed any helots who they came across"
• Plutarch doubts that they were a Lycurgan invention, suggesting they may have been introduced later when Spartan and helot tensions were at an all time high. Their main purpose was to instil fear into the helots, acting as a deterrent
• "Thucydides tells us how those helots who had been singled out by the Spartiates for their bravery were first crowned as if they had been granted freedom, and made a round of the sanctuaries of the gods; but then a little late they all vanished - over 2000 of them"
• This took place after the Spartans' loss at Pylos and Sphacteria in 425 BC (Plutarch is referring to Thucydides 4.80) - suggesting the helots could be particularly rebellious in times of crisis in Sparta, and that the Spartans could pre-emptively murder helots to deter revolts
• "Aristotle makes the further notable point that immediately upon taking up office the ephors would declare war on the helots, so that they could be killed without pollution"
• By declaring war, they turn the helots into enemy combatants rather than murder victims, the Spartans considered themselves in perpetual war with the helots
• "Spartiates' treatment of the helots was callous and brutal"
• "They would force them, for instance, to drink quantities of unmixed wine and then they would bring them into messes to show the young men what drunkenness was like"
• "They would also order them to perform songs and dances which were vulgar and ludicrous, while excluding the, from ones fit for free men"
• "There is nothing to match even the freedom of the free-men at Sparta or the slavery of the slave"
• The constant mistreatment and degrading of the helots dehumanised them in the eyes of the Spartans, helping them justify their harsh treatment

Aristotle, The Helots

• Helots offered Spartan freedoms from essential tasks
• Helots were "on the lookout for any mischance that might befall their masters"
• Sparta's hostile neighbours often invited helots to revolt (think Athens in the Peloponnesian War)
• The Spartans mistrusted them and deliberately subjected them to harsh treatment to keep them subdued
• Aristotle believes if the Spartans had been less brutal in their treatment then the helots would not be so rebellious
• They had a relationship which can ultimately be defined as uneasy

Thucydides, 1.128

• The Spartans suffered from the "Curse of Tenarus"
• "Spartans had in the past raised up some helot suppliants from the Altar of Poseidon, and had taken them away and killed them"
• The Spartans believed the earthquake in 464 BC was because of their mistreatment and killing of these helots at the altar of Poseidon
• Shows even the Spartans had moral questions about their mistreatment of the helots

Aelian, D31

• "Kallikratidas and Gylippos and Lysander were called mothakes at Lakedaimon"
• Some of the slaves of the wealthy were, by the fathers, "sent along with their sons to train alongside them in the gymnasia" and "to mingle in the boys' agoge". These were termed the mothakes, and those boys would eventually be given Lakonian citizenship
• Aelian is likely misunderstanding that mothakes could also be boys whose fathers could not pay their mess dues, and were likely the ones given citizenship, not the helots. Lysander and Gyllipus were not former helots!

Phylarcos, D30

• "The mothakes are foster-brothers of the Lakedaimonians. For each of the boy-citizens, as their individual circumstances allow, have one, or two, or in some cases more foster-brothers. So the mothakes are free, though not actually Lakedaimonians, but still share exactly the same education. They say that Lysander who fought the Athenians as sea was one of these, though he became a citizen through his courage
• Similar to Aelian, Phylarcos is misunderstanding that mothakes could also be Spartan boys who's fathers could not pay their mess dues and so were sponsored by another family. Lysander is an example of this type of mothakes, not the helots who were adopted as "foster-brothers"

Strabo, D35

• "For the Lakedaimonians held them as state-slaves in a particular way, assigning certain settlements for them and particular duties"
• State owned slaves, as opposed to privately owned as elsewhere in the ancient world

Kritias, D40

• "Right of killing first" - seem to be treated almost as animals
• "Most enslaved and most free are in Lakedaimon" - Contrast of Spartiates with helots to emphasise their mistreatment
• "because of mistrust towards these helots a Spartiate at home takes out the handle of his shield. Not being able to do this on campaign because of the frequent need for rapid action, he goes about always carrying his spear since this would make him superior to his helot who might revolt but with only a shield"
• "They have also devised locks which they think would be too strong for any helot attempt"
• Whole relationship is based on a mutual mistrust and living in constant fear of each other

Myron of Priene, D41

• "Lakedaimonians treated the helots with the upmost arrogance: they imposed on the helots every demeaning task leading to their complete humiliation"
• "the helots received a set number of beatings irrespective of any wrongdoing"
• "if any of them should overstep how they thought a slave should appear, they set death as the penalty"

Plato, D42

• "In addition there is the so-called krypteia, which is amazingly physically demanding as regards endurance: in winter they go without shoes or blankets; they look after themselves without servants, and spend night and day wandering about the countryside"
• Plato doesn't actually specify the Krypteia was a killing exercise like Herakleides Lembos or Plutarch does, and he is contemporary, unlike the other two, which makes this very confusing. Is he telling us of a Krypteia before they introduced the helot killing? Was it more secretive in the 5th century BC?

Herakleides Lembos, "School of Aristotle", D43

• "It is said that Lykourgos also introduced the krypteia. In accordance with this institution even now they out by day and conceal themselves, but by night they use weapons to kill as many of the helots as is expedient"