Introducing the Ancient Greeks: From Bronze Age Seafarers to Navigators of the Western Mind

by Edith Hall

The life of the helot was wretched. Each Spartiate warrior was responsible for disciplining the helots who worked the land belonging to him, and this arrangement resulted in humiliating and intimidating practices. Helots had to wear a rough uniform of a dogskin cap and leather tunic, and it was laid down that they “should be beaten a fixed number of strokes annually, besides any offence they committed, so that they would never forget that they were slaves.” Moreover, if they started to look too physically strong, they were executed and a fine imposed on their master. The Spartiates even had a ritual whereby the ephors annually reenacted the conquest of Laconia by declaring war on the helots, in order to remove any impiety or illegality from the act of murdering them. According to Plutarch, the Spartan “secret service” (krupteia) often killed helots, especially those who were physically strong.