Slavery and Helots in Ancient Sparta

This Greek tablet from the seventh century BCE shows slaves in a mine, surely one of the worst expressions of forced labor in human history. For Ancient Greek history, the most well-known group of forced laborers were the helots of Sparta. Outnumbering the Spartan citizens by a ratio of at least 5:1, the helots were a major reason that the Spartans were so militarized — they had to be, because the way they treated the helots was so horrible that they constantly feared that the helots would revolt.

Spartans forced the helots to grow and supply their food, do manual labor, and even to fight alongside them. They deliberately humiliated them. For instance, they forced them to drink undiluted wine (a low-class habit) and appear drunk in front of other Spartans as examples of how stupid intoxication made people appear, and had the helots sing songs that were considered ridiculous as a way to shame them. Helots were to wear a special kind of “dog-skin” cap, further dehumanizing them.

But beyond humiliation, the Spartans inflicted massive violence on their helots. Each year, they ritually declared war on them, which released the Spartans from a taboo of unsanctioned murder. Indeed, helots were not only beaten regularly but killed for threats as unpreventable as “looking too healthy”. One infamous story by Thucydides relates that the Spartans, after promising freedom to helots who had best served their masters in war, clandestly slaughtered the 2,000 ablest helots who dared stand out in military prowess.

Understandably, the Spartans feared violent uprisings by the helots. They were said to have removed their shield straps when at home so that the helots couldn’t use their shields against them. Furthermore, Spartan military camps were set up in an unusual manner, in which they formed a circle guarding against the interior of the camp: this implies they worried about a violent insurrection by the helots.

Indeed, history records several helot revolts. We know that many of them were likely freed when the Thebans successfully invaded the Spartan-controlled lands of Messenians (lands traditionally where the helots came from) in 370 B.