Editing Helots (section)

=== Relationship to Spartans ===
From at least the classical period, the number of Spartans was very small in comparison to that of the helots. In a celebrated passage, Thucydides stresses that "most Spartan institutions have always been designed with a view to security against the Helots".<ref>Trans. by Cartledge, Annex 4, p. 299; The sentence can also be translated quite differently: "as far as the Helots are concerned, most Spartan institutions have always been designed with a view to security" (''ibid.''). Thycydides 4, 80, 3.</ref> Aristotle compares them to "an enemy constantly sitting in wait of the disaster of the Spartans".<ref>''Politics'' 1269 a 37–39.</ref> Consequently, fear seems to be an important factor governing relations between Spartans and Helots. According to tradition, the [[Spartiates]] always carried their spears, undid the straps of their bucklers only when at home lest the Helots seize them, and locked themselves in their homes.<ref>Critias, Frag. B 37; see also Xenophon, ''Rep. Lac.'' 12, 4.</ref> They also took active measures, subjecting them to what [[Theopompus]] describes as "an altogether cruel and bitter condition".<ref>''FGH'' 115 F 13.</ref>

According to Myron of Priene, an anti-Spartan historian<ref name="Talbert, p. 26">Talbert, p. 26.</ref> of the middle 3rd century BC:

{{quote|
They assign to the Helots every shameful task leading to disgrace. For they ordained that each one of them must wear a dogskin cap ({{lang|grc|κυνῆ}} / ''kunễ'') and wrap himself in skins ({{lang|grc|διφθέρα}} / ''diphthéra'') and receive a stipulated number of beatings every year regardless of any wrongdoing, so that they would never forget they were slaves. Moreover, if any exceeded the vigour proper to a slave's condition, they made death the penalty; and they allotted a punishment to those controlling them if they failed.<ref>Apud Athenaeus, 14, 647d = ''FGH'' 106 F 2. Trans. by Cartledge, p. 305.</ref>
}}

Plutarch also states that Spartans treated the Helots "harshly and cruelly": they compelled them to drink pure wine (which was considered dangerous—[[Diet of Ancient Greece#Wine|wine]] usually being diluted with water) "... and to lead them in that condition into their public halls, that the children might see what a sight a drunken man is; they made them to dance low dances, and sing ridiculous songs..." during [[syssitia]] (obligatory banquets).<ref>''Life of Lycurgus'' 28, 8–10. See also, ''Life of Demetrios'', 1, 5; ''Constitution of the Lacedemonians'' 30; ''De Cohibenda Ira'' 6; ''De Commmunibus Notitiis'' 19.</ref> However, he notes that this rough treatment was inflicted only relatively late, after the [[464 BC Sparta earthquake|464 BC earthquake]].

Some modern scholars advocate a reevaluation of ancient evidence about helots. It has been argued that the ''kunē'' was not actually made of dogskin,<ref>The word {{lang|grc|κυνῆ}} / ''kunễ'' is used in Greek literature, especially by [[Homer]] in the ''[[Iliad]]'', to mean a helmet; in Athens, and in the ''[[Odyssey]]'' (XXIV, 231), it also means a leather or skin hat.</ref> and that the ''diphthera'' (literally, "leather") was the general attire of the poor peasant class.<ref>Pollux (7, 70) defines it as a "thick ''chiton'' with a hood". Ducat (1990), p. 114; Lévy, p. 122.</ref> The obligation of masters to prevent fatness amongst their helots is actually deemed implausible: as the [[Spartiate]]s lived separately, dietary intake could not be rigorously controlled;<ref name="D120">Ducat (1990), p. 120.</ref> as manual labour was an important function of the Helots (for example, being used to carry their master's arms and armour on campaign), it would make sense to keep them well fed.<ref name="D120" /> Besides, the rations mentioned by Thucydides<ref>Thucydides. ''History of the Peloponnesian War'', 4, 6, 1.</ref> for the Helots on Sphacteria are close to normal.<ref>Ducat (1990), p. 120. The besieged Spartan hoplites on [[Sphacteria]] received two ''khoinikes'' of [[barley]] flour, two ''kotyloi'' of wine and an unquantified portion of meat. The helots were on half-rations. An Attic ''koinix'' is 698 gr. which, according to calculations (L. Foxhall and H.&nbsp; A. Forbes, "''Sitometria'': The Role of Grain as a Staple Food in Classical Antiquity" in ''Chiron'' Number 12 (1982), pp. 41–90), was far from miserable: it corresponds to 81% of daily nutritional needs for a moderately active man, according to [[Food and Agriculture Organization|FAO]] standards. Complemented with the wine and meat, it can be considered as close to normal, given that the fighting had subsided and that the said helots were only attending to their domestic duties.</ref> Myron's evidence is interpreted as an extrapolation from actions performed on symbolic representatives.<ref>Ducat, pp. 119–121.</ref> In short, [[George Grote|Grote]] writes that "the various anecdotes which are told respecting [Helot] treatment at Sparta betoken less of cruelty than of ostentatious scorn".<ref>Quoted by Cartledge, p. 151.</ref> He has been followed recently by J. Ducat (1974 and 1990),<ref>Partially followed by Lévy, pp. 124–126.</ref> who describes Spartan treatment of the Helots as a kind of ideological warfare, designed to condition the Helots to think of themselves as inferiors. This strategy seems to have been successful at least for Laconian Helots:<ref>Lévy, p. 12, with a warning that this evidence should not be worked too hard.</ref> 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.<ref>Plutarch. ''Life of Lycurgus'', 28, 5.</ref>

Other modern scholars consider then, "although the details may be fanciful, [Myron's evidence] does reflect accurately the general Spartiate attitude towards helots".<ref name="Talbert, p. 26"/> It has also been proposed that contempt alone could hardly explain the organized murder of Helots mentioned by several ancient sources.<ref>P. Cartledge, review of Ducat (1990), ''Classical Philology'', Vol. 87, No. 3 (July 1992), pp. 260–263.</ref> According to Aristotle, the [[ephor]]s annually declared war on the Helots, thereby allowing Spartans to kill them without fear of religious pollution.<ref>Aristotle, frag. 538 Rose = Plutarch, ''Life of Lycurgus'' 28, 7 = frag. 538 R.</ref> This task was apparently given to the ''kryptes'', graduates of the difficult ''agoge'' who took part in the [[crypteia]].<ref>Herakleides Lembos, Frag. 370,10 Dilts = Frag. 538 Rose.</ref> This lack of judicial protection is confirmed by Myron of Priene, who mentions killing as a standard mode of regulation of the Helot population. According to a passage in Thucydides, {{formatnum:2000}} helots were massacred in a carefully staged event in 425 BC or earlier:
{{quote|
"The helots were invited by a proclamation to pick out those of their number who claimed to have most distinguished themselves against the enemy, in order that they might receive their freedom; the object being to test them, as it was thought that the first to claim their freedom would be the most high spirited and the most apt to rebel. As many as two thousand were selected accordingly, who crowned themselves and went round the temples, rejoicing in their new freedom. The Spartans, however, soon afterwards did away with them, and no one ever knew how each of them perished."<ref name="Thucyd" />}}

Thus [[Paul Cartledge]] claims that "the history of Sparta (...) is fundamentally the history of the [[Class conflict|class struggle]] between the Spartans and the Helots".<ref>Cartledge. ''Agesilaos and the Crisis of Sparta'', p. 13.</ref>