“Slavery was the backbone to the strength and greatness of the ancient Greeks” (Cliff 2009). The people in this time were very hard working people. They did not have any time to waste. Enslaving people of a land they had just conquered was a vital part of making sure their society could function properly. This is exactly what the Spartans did when they took control of the helots. The only people who knew about the area the Spartans had just overthrown were the helots so they needed them to care of the land the way they knew how. Helots also had other tasks that were vital to the community. The helots were an important aspect of society in ancient Greece. The helots existence spreads over the Archaic and Classical periods of Ancient Greece starting at about 950 to …show more content…
When people think of slaves, they think of them being treated cruelly. The relationship between slave and master was not like this in every society or period in time but when it comes to the Spartans and the helots, it was. As mentioned earlier, the sense of security was often threatened. The Spartans did well on inflicting fear on the helots in terms of war. There were also no consequences for the murder of a helot. The helots were treated very brutally and were looked at as “enemies of the state” (Cliff 2009). They would routinely humiliate the helots in front of the entire public to show young members of society what not to be like. They were also punished in public. Often times being beating and abused in front of everyone (Cliff 2009).
The roles of the masters were also something to consider. Their roles were pretty much what you would expect of slave owners. They were free Spartans and therefore, could have any job possible. So any free Spartan could own a slave, no matter how low or high ranking their job was. The Spartans had total control over whichever helot they owned (Kennell