in Grecian Antiquity, the serfs or bondsmen of the Spartans. Etymologically the word signifies, beyond doubt, a captive or prisoner, and is derived from the root ἀλός found in ἀλός, ἀλούσιος, and other verbs. A fanciful etymology of the word is mentioned under the art. Helos. (See Helos.)

The inhabitants of Sparta were classified under four general heads,—the Spartan citizens themselves; the Perioeci, who enjoyed civil but not political privileges; the Helots, the serfs or bondsmen, adscripti glebae; and the Neodamodes, who were Helots liberated by the state in reward for service in war, and who probably received some civil rights which entitled them to rank above the Perioeci. Of these classes the Helots were the lowest. They were looked upon as the property of the state, which, though it made over their services to individuals, still retained the right of setting them free, as it might see fit. They were adscripti glebae—attached to the soil, and could not be sold away from it. In time of peace they tilled the land, which was allocated in the proportion of one lot to six or seven families. For each lot they paid their masters an annual rent in kind—82 medimni of barley, and a corresponding quantity of wine and oil. The domestic servants of the Spartans were all Helots. In times of war the Helots used to share in the campaign as light-armed troops, and a certain number of them, varying from two to seven, was allotted to each Spartan hoplite. They were only allowed to serve as hoplites in great emergencies; but if they fought well they were generally rewarded with their freedom.

Much has been said of the cruel treatment to which the Helots were subjected by their masters; but it only holds true of the later history of Lacedaemon, when the number of Spartan citizens had been so reduced by continual wars that the Helots became an appreciable power in the state. There can be no doubt that originally their position was an enviable one beside that of the slaves in all the other states of Greece. Every care was indeed taken to distinguish between them and their masters, even in the matter of dress; but, as Grote observes, they formed "a part of the state, having their social and domestic sympathies developed, a certain power of acquiring property, and the consciousness of Greek lineage and dialect—all points of marked superiority over the foreigners who formed the slave population of Athens and Chios." But after the Messenian wars, when their numbers had made them formidable in the reduced state of the country, there is only too much reason to believe that no cruelty was held too severe to be practised towards them. The evidence is strong that the Crypteia, instituted ostensibly for the purpose of inuring the Spartan youth to hardship, was in reality intended to reduce the number of the Helots by assassination. It is known from Thucydides that the Spartans did not scruple to employ this method of keeping their slaves down when they became too numerous. On one occasion, when the Helots had rendered the state some great service, their masters, to try their temper, offered liberty to such as thought they had deserved it. Two thousand of the Helots, tempted by the offer, came forward to claim the reward, and were immediately put to death.

Helots, when emancipated, were known under the name of Neodamodes, or newly-enfranchised, and took rank next to the citizens proper. These Neodamodes were again subdivided into several classes, to which special functions were assigned.

Who the Helots were has been matter of much dispute; but it seems now agreed that they were the aborigines of Laconia, who at the time of the Dorian invasion were reduced to slavery by their conquerors. Their numbers were greatly increased at the close of the second Messenian War by the incorporation of the conquered Messenians, who were classed among the Helots, and subjected to all the hardships of slavery till their restoration by Epaminondas after the battle of Leuctra.