Helotry

Helotry was the system of subjugated, state-linked agricultural labor that underpinned ancient Spartan society, binding the helots, who made up the majority of the population of Laconia and Messenia, to work land on behalf of Spartan citizens. Ancient sources disagreed on the helots' exact status, with some describing them as slaves in the fullest sense and others placing them in a position between free persons and slaves; according to Herodotus, at the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC there were roughly seven helots for every Spartan soldier present, reflecting their overwhelming numerical majority. Helots were assigned to individual Spartan citizens or worked communal plots called kleroi, paying a predetermined agricultural tribute to their masters while being permitted to keep any surplus, which allowed some to accumulate modest wealth; in 223 BC, six thousand helots are recorded as having purchased their freedom for five hundred drachmas each. Unlike most Greek chattel slaves, helots retained family units and could reproduce, sustaining their population despite high mortality, but Spartan control rested heavily on organized fear, including an annual formal declaration of war against the helots that permitted killings without religious penalty through the Crypteia.