What was the difference between Helotes and other Greek slaves?

Demography. Helots lived in family units and could, at least de facto, contract unions among themselves. Since helots were much less susceptible than other slaves in Greek antiquity to having their family units dispersed, they could reproduce themselves, or at least maintain their number.

What is the difference between Athens and Sparta slaves?

In Sparta, there were state-owned slaves called helots. In Athens, the lives of slaves were somewhat better. Slaves were privately owned in Athens, and each new slave was welcomed into the family with a ceremony. Slaves in Athens often worked with free citizens, although they were not paid.

What name did the Spartans give to the people they turned into slaves?

Spartan men devoted their lives to military service, and lived communally well into adulthood. The Helots, whose name means “captives,” were fellow Greeks, originally from Laconia and Messenia, who had been conquered by the Spartans and turned into slaves.

How did the Spartans treat their slaves?

The Spartans ruled over a group of people called the Helots. The Helots were treated like slaves by the Spartans. They farmed the land and performed other manual labor for the Spartans. In order to keep control, the Spartans had secret police who kept track of the Helots and killed anyone who they thought might rebel.

Who were Athenian slaves?

Athenian slaves were the property of their master (or of the state), who could dispose of them as he saw fit. He could give, sell, rent, or bequeath them. A slave could have a spouse and child, but the slave family was not recognized by the state, and the master could scatter the family members at any time.

Did ancient Sparta have slaves?

Sparta had the highest number of slaves compared to the number of owners. Some scholars estimate that there were seven times as many slaves as citizens. Q: What did slaves do in Sparta? Slaves in Sparta worked on their lands and produced agricultural products for their masters.

Did Athens have slaves?

Slaves were the lowest class in Athenian society, but according to many contemporary accounts they were far less harshly treated than in most other Greek cities. Lowest of all slaves were those who worked in the nearby Laurium silver mines – where most quickly perished.

What was slavery like in Athens?

Athens had the largest slave population, with as many as 80,000 in the 5th and 6th centuries BC, with an average of three or four slaves per household, except in poor families. Slaves were legally prohibited from participating in politics, which was reserved for citizens.

How did Athenians treat their slaves?

Q: How were slaves in Athens treated? Slaves in ancient Greece were treated like pieces of property. For Aristotle they were ‘a piece of property that breathes’. They enjoyed different degrees of freedom and were treated kindly or cruelly depending on the personality of the owner.

Did the Athens have slaves?

Why did Athens have slaves?

Probably the most common source of slaves for Athens was trade with foreign countries, through which people that other countries had enslaved through war and piracy would be sold. Slaves in Athens took on a wide variety of roles, including menial labor, domestic jobs, technical crafts, and more.

What is the difference between an Athenian slave and a helot?

Athenian slaves were owned by Athenian citizens or residents, while helots belonged to the Spartan state and were assigned to Spartan farms. The helots did not identify with Athenian slaves because the helots knew little of Athens, the Athenians or anything outside their immediate community.

What happened to the helots of Sparta?

When the Spartans dominance eroded and Greece fell to Rome, helots still did not get their freedom. Instead of being slaves in Sparta, they became slaves in Rome. Their history interwove with those of the Romans slaves and soon enough their fate was forgotten and their existence faded into obscurity.

Were the first helots slaves of the Lacedaemonians?

Pausanias thus states, “Its inhabitants became the first slaves of the Lacedaemonian state, and were the first to be called helots”. This explanation is, however, not very plausible in etymological terms.

What was the role of the helots in ancient Greece?

For example, Critias described helots as ” slaves to the utmost”, whereas according to Pollux, they occupied a status “between free men and slaves”. Tied to the land, they primarily worked in agriculture as a majority and economically supported the Spartan citizens.