Helots and Their Masters in Laconia and Messenia : Histories, Ideologies, Structures

by Luraghi, Nino

• ISBN13: 9780674012233
• ISBN10: 0674012232
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-01-15
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr

Summary

The name "Helots" evokes one of the most famous peculiarities of ancient Sparta, the system of dependent labor that guaranteed the livelihood of the free citizens. The Helots fulfilled all the functions that slaves carried out elsewhere in the Greek world, allowing their masters the leisure to be full-time warriors. Yet, despite their crucial role, Helots remain essentially invisible in our ancient sources and peripheral and enigmatic in modern scholarship. This book is devoted to a much-needed reassessment of Helotry and of its place in the history and sociology of unfree labor. The essays deal with the origins and historical development of Helotry, with its sociological, economic, and demographic aspects, with its ideological construction and negotiation.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(30)
1. S.E. Alcock,
Researching the helots: details, methodologies, agencies	3	(9)
2. P. Cartledge,
Raising hell? The Helot Mirage-a personal re-view	12	(19)
Part I: Helotic histories	31	(76)
3. H. van Wees,
Conquerors and serfi: wars of conquest and forced labour in archaic Greece	33	(48)
4. N.M. Kennell,
Agreste genus: Helots in Hellenistic Laconia	81	(26)
Part II: Ideologies	107	(84)
5. N. Luraghi,
The imaginary conquest of the Helots	109	(33)
6. J.M. Hall,
The Dorianization of the Messenians	142	(27)
7. K.A. Raaflaub,
Freedom for the Messenians? A note on the impact of slavery and helotage on the Greek concept of freedom	169	(22)
Part III: Structures	191	(96)
8. T. J. Figueira,
The demography of the Spartan Helots	193	(47)
9. W. Scheidel,
Helot numbers: a simplified model	240	(8)
10. S. Hodkinson,
Spartiates, helots and the direction of the agrarian economy: towards an understanding of helotage in comparative perspective	248	(39)
Conclusion	287	(24)
11. O. Patterson,
Reflections on helotic slavery and freedom	289	(22)
Index	311