HELOTS. The population of ancient Sparta was divided into four classes, the lowest of which was formed of serfs or slaves, called Helots (probably meaning captives, from Gr. heletn, to capture). These Helots are generally supposed to have formed the origi nal population of the country, and to have been reduced to bondage by their Dorian conquerors, the numbers, however, being swelled from time to time by the conquest of enemies. They belonged to the state, which 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 labor. 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 served as light troops, each freeborn Spartan who bore heavy armor being accompanied to battle by a number of them, sometimes as many as seven. On rare occasions they were used as heavy armed soldiers. It is a matter of doubt whether after emancipation they could ever enjoy all the privileges of Spartan citizens. They were treated with much severity by their masters, 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 multiplied to an alarming extent, they were often massacred with the most barbarous cruelty. On one occasion, 2,000 of them, who bad behaved bravely in war, were encouraged to come forward for emancipation, and were then most treacherously put to death. The Spartans organized, 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 unfortunate Helots, selecting as their special victims the strongest and most vigorous of the oppressed race.