The Class Struggle between the Spartans and the Helots - Essay Example

SPARTANS AND HELOTS The class struggle between the Spartans and the Helots Name Course Instructor Date The Spartans and the Helots Introduction Paying tribute to the Spartan lawgiver’s assertion that no man was to desire to possess more than his fellow, the Helots went out on all fours to defend what was theirs, thus sparking off a class struggle. Spartan institutions have been a noticeable subject in the world from ancient times to date. Due to its fascinating features; martial advancement, gender and sexuality, system of education and religion, unique structure of servitude and the secret service; Sparta was well known. It rose as a military state whose stars were a true illustration of selflessness and public endeavour. Sparta as a city state was built through takeovers and suppressions of their neighbours. Any revolt was repulsed with overwhelming strength and the conquered states were ruled over with high iron-handedness. Their military accomplishments were based on strict military discipline, dedication to obligation and the readiness to sacrifice personal life for the greater good of the Spartan society. I agree with Paul Cartledge’s assertion that the history of Sparta is not much to say but is fundamentally the history of the class struggle between Sparta and the Helots1. The Helots were a competitive lot who always equalled themselves with their masters, the Spartans. Cartledge further notes that the Helots capitalized on anything that disadvantaged the Spartans. The class struggle between the Spartans and the Helots Paul Cartledge noted that the very existence of Sparta was constantly endangered by the Helots who were ever appropriately positioned to gain advantage of their adversities2. Due to this, they always eyed each other with suspicion; consequently Sparta exposed them to stricter procedures. To keep them under control, the Helots were victimized and chastened by the Spartans without any fear of repercussion. He also notes that there always existed tensions between the two groups. Spartan institutions for instance the well-armed and trained army were designed with a view of security against the Helots. They were treated brutally to the extent that sometimes they received whippings irrespective of transgression so that they could not overlook who they were, slaves. The Helots were a subjective lot to the Spartans. They were neither free men nor slaves; their fate was a status between slaves and free Greeks. They were naturally peasants, but on other occasions were called upon to serve as guards or household servants. The major difference between them and the other slaves was the fact that they could be freed to become free born Greeks. This fact usually threatened the existence of the Spartans and they loathed to believe that they could socialize equally with the emancipated Helots. According to Jona Lendering, the Helots were referred to as state owned slaves because they could neither be bought nor sold. He considered them as slaves who could own property and even marry3. Timothy Shutt states that the Helots were not contended with their lot4. There were always persistent threats of a Helot revolt which if it did happen could have been damaging to the Spartan survival. To be able to manage them Sparta armed herself further. Sparta feared the Helots because they were numerous. Helot took every opportunity of their numerical advantage to revolt against the Spartans hence continuing the class struggle between the two. Since they could marry and consequently raise families, their populations grew steadily thus generating fear in the Spartan authorities. Their population ratio compared to that of the Spartans was enormous. To be able to manage their growing numbers, the Spartan authorities came up with a group of specially trained secret service (krypteia) whose sole purpose was to cull the Helot population. The secret service was sent to the country side where the Helot population resided. They killed some and left other decapitated to the extent that they were unable to take arms and resist. The culling process ensured that the status quo remained constant. The fact that the Helots could own property threatened the Spartans who always loved their slaves being under them. Stutt further asserts that they had an unswerving tenure of land that they farmed. This meant that they could not leave the land and thus paid a set amount to the holder5. They kept the surplus pieces of land to themselves and thus made considerable profits from their produce. The money and produce that they gave their Spartan landholders was not adequate to develop their masters and thus they were on the same level. This made the Helots believe that the Spartans were no better than they were and hence the issue of them being better was non-existent. Moreover, the Helots gained considerable comfort from the fact that they were not the property of the Spartan landholders and thus they could not be bought or sold6. This developed a tense relationship between the two and any chance of attack was usually capitalized on. Due to their deteriorating numbers, the Spartans called on the Neodamodois or new citizens who were emancipated Helots to fight alongside them. They played significant roles in the Greek combats though the Spartans usually took credit for everything. Peter Hunt noted that the Spartans hated the idea of fighting beside slaves or freed men because they viewed it as a disgrace7. The Spartans admired their martial expertise and thus could not figure themselves on the same status with the Helots. Hunt further quotes that there was no position for the neodamodois alongside the victorious Spartans. Since they considered slaves deserters and incapable, Spartans could not fathom the idea of fighting beside the new citizens because they thought slavery irreconcilable with militarism. These humiliation coupled with other factors ensured the continuity of the class struggle between the two. Hunt noted that Sparta employed several slaves in the navy as rowers during the Peloponnesian wars, and on other occasions they were used as infantry soldiers8. Fighting alongside their masters, the Helots got the idea that the Spartans were no better than they were thus had to be recognized on the same status as their Spartan counterparts. Due to the exploitation of the Helots, Hunt notes that the Spartan army rose to great heights. The Helots played noteworthy roles in the lives of the Spartans since they were active in every aspect of their lives9. The Helots economically buttressed the Spartan army. They cultivated their plots to produce the cereals that maintained the Spartan army. They were also heavily taxed to support Spartan lifestyle. Moreover, they provided the labour force without which Sparta could not stand.The Spartans were to a greater extent dependent on the Helots but were reluctant to acknowledge that fact. They cut themselves from the rest of the world because they had nothing to import because the Helots dwelt on agriculture to produce all the food that they required. Due to this the Helot population discovered that since they could support an entire Spartan population, then they were not any better than them, and thus took advantage of any opportunity that presented itself to stop the exploitation. War usually outweighed Sparta and the Helots usually took advantage of such lapses to revolt. They always knew that their revolt could cripple the army because it was depended on them for the food supplies. Hunt noted that the Helots of Messenia were infamous for their rebellions10. A slave rebellion in 490BC prompted Sparta to seek the aid of other city states to counter a mammoth uprising of slaves. In certain cases, the Helot soldiers usually deserted the Spartan army and joined their enemies that promised freedom in order to weaken them. The general organization of the Helot community threatened the Spartan existence. Hunt also noted that their traditions and way of life made them a greater threat to the Spartans than the chattel slaves11. They lived as groups and families which gave them autonomy over individual Spartans. This prompted Sparta not to buy or take as spoils of war numerous slaves from the same place because this gave them power to reorganize themselves to strike with a mightier force. Spartans were only strong as a group but individually they could be taken down by the Helots. Moreover, the Helots took advantage of the military training they received at the hands of the Spartans to strike back. This led to the suspicious relationship that characterized the Spartan-Helot lifestyle. Their position of being free slaves had given them the considerable power that they held over their masters, the Spartans thus ensuring that the class struggle continued. The Helots took advantage of Sparta’s granting of rights to women to regroup and fight for an equal status quo with them. With the advent of women rights, the Spartan population began declining. Cartledge asserted that in the early forth century Sparta’s population was approximately one fifth of what it had been two hundred years earlier hence the once mighty military could no longer preserve its position as a revered military power house12.According to Robert Fleck and Andrew Hanssen, the Helots always ensured that their revolt paralleled with a low point in the Spartans ratings, for instance they struck after their loss to Argos, but unlucky for them, they lost devastatingly13. Due to this constant threat at their low point, Sparta made a pronouncement to ever strike the Helots irrespective of the factors at hand to denote the fundamental status of their coexistence. When a great earth quake struck Sparta, the ever ready Helots saw a chance to strike. The rebellion was so severe that the Spartans called on the Athenians for military aid to ensure that the status quo was not overturned. The Spartans usually did anything that could ensure that they ever remained a class above the Helots. According to Josiah Ober, the Helots knew their free history and thus there was no way they were going to stand aside and view the Spartan abuses14. This gave them the impetus of ever revolting whenever they got a chance to. Since they knew that the Spartan economy was fully depended on their unwavering support; any uprising could fully cripple the Spartan society. The Helots made it their duty to ever ensure that the Spartans were always turning on their own because they always resisted from the inside. They wanted to destabilize the Spartan society from the inside and thus make them weak to the outside invasions in order to have a change in the social status. This ensured that the Spartans precious time was always spent monitoring the Helots for any sign of revolt. Moreover, their relatively privileged status which made it possible for some propertied Helots to buy their freedom usually sparked the revolts because they felt that they could challenge the Spartans. This made the Spartans to always take the necessary precautions hence spending more time and resources managing an internal feud. The propertied Helots saw no difference between them and the Spartan lot and thus ensured that they were on the same standard with the Spartiates. Conclusion The cat and mouse relationship that existed between the Spartans and the Helots characterized their class struggle in which the Spartans (masters) were making an attempt to subdue the Helots (slaves) while they on the other side, were in a constant effort to claim their humanity. Though the Spartan soldiers never fancied the idea of fighting beside them, it is not clear whether they fought on the same line or the Helots were at the rear. The fall of Sparta cannot be fully tied on the constant revolts of the Helots, however they were a force to reckon with because the Spartans were always looking over their shoulders and their intense militarism was partly geared towards the subduing of the Helots and thus ensuring that they remained several classes above the Helots. This class struggle was the root of the matter because being Greeks; the Helots felt that they were on the same scale as the Spartans. Their aim was to prove that there were no enslaved or lesser beings, that they were all equal as Greeks. This prevalent struggle ensured that the Spartans never really developed because it took much of their time and resources. The privileges of the Helots enabled them sustain the struggle because they felt that they were equal to the Spartans. They could marry and bring up families, something that the other slaves could not. Moreover, the Helots could own property, something that the other slaves never dreamed of. These privileges enabled them to constantly threaten the Spartan existence because they wanted the same status. References Cartledge, Paul.Agesilaos and the Crisis of Sparta. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1987. Fleck, Robert & Hanssen, Andrew. Rulers Ruled by Women: An Economic Analysis of the Rise and Fall of omen Rights in Ancient Sparta, 2007. Hunt, Peter. Slaves, Warfare and Ideology in Greek Historians. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Hunt, Peter. Arming Slaves and Helots in Classical Greece in Arming Slaves in The World History. Yale: Yale University Press, 2005. Lendering, Jona. Helots: Class of Unfree Peasants in Spartan Society. Ancient Warfare magazine, 2005. Ober, Sparta. The Fall of the Empire. The Quarterly Journal of Military History 1Today. Published by MHQ Magazine, 1998. Shutt, Timothy. A History of Ancient Sparta: Valor, Virtue and Devotion in The Greek Golden Age, 2009. Read More