The Helots of Messenia
When the arable land of Laconia, which was predominately held by aristocrats, proved
too small to support the full citizen population of Sparta, the Spartans attacked their
Greek neighbors to the west in the Peloponnese, the
Messenians1. In the
First Messenian War2 (c. 730-710 B.C.) and then in
the Second (c. 640-630 B.C.), the Spartan army captured the territory of Messenia, which
amounted to forty percent of the Peloponnese, and reduced the Messenians to the status
of helots. With the addition of the tens of thousands of people in
Messenia, the total helot population now more than outnumbered that of
Sparta, whose male citizens at this time amounted to perhaps between 8,000 and 10,000.
The terrible loss felt by the Messenians at their fate is well portrayed by their legend
of King
Aristodemus3, whom the Messenians remembered as having sacrificed his
beloved daughter to the gods of the underworld in an attempt to enlist their aid against
the invading Spartans. When his campaign of guerrilla warfare at last failed,
Aristodemus is said to have slain himself in despair on her grave. Deprived of their
freedom and their polis , the Messenian helots were ever after
on the lookout for a chance to revolt against their Spartan overlords.
