Who were the helots, how did Sparta control them, and how far did fear of helot revolt shape the Spartan state and its policy?
The helots and Spartan control: the status and role of the helots, the perioikoi, the krypteia and the methods of repression, the great revolt after the earthquake of 464 BC, and how dependence on and fear of the helots shaped Spartan society and foreign policy.
An OCR A-Level Ancient History depth study guide to the helots and Spartan control. Covers the status and role of the helots, the perioikoi, the krypteia and methods of repression, the helot revolt after the 464 BC earthquake, and how dependence on and fear of the helots shaped Spartan society and foreign policy, with evaluation of Thucydides and Plutarch.
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What this dot point is asking
The Sparta depth study turns next to the foundation of the whole system: the helots. This page covers the status and role of the helots, the perioikoi, the krypteia and the methods of repression, the great helot revolt after the earthquake of 464 BC, and how Sparta's dependence on and fear of the helots shaped its society and foreign policy. The prescribed sources here are above all Thucydides (contemporary, analytical) and Plutarch (later, idealising), and weighing them is central.
The answer
The helots and the perioikoi
The helots were the economic base of Sparta: their labour is what allowed every Spartiate to be a soldier rather than a farmer. This dependence is the key to understanding why Sparta was organised as it was.
The krypteia and institutionalised repression
These mechanisms turned repression into a permanent institution. They also help explain the agoge's harshness and Sparta's constant military readiness: the Spartiates lived, in effect, in a permanent state of armed occupation of their own land.
The revolt of 464 BC and the shaping of policy
The danger was not theoretical. After a devastating earthquake around 464 BC, the Messenian helots revolted, fortifying Mount Ithome and holding out for years. Sparta found the revolt so hard to suppress that it appealed for help, including to Athens, and then dismissed the Athenian contingent, a snub that helped sour relations and contributed to the drift towards the Peloponnesian War.
This is why fear of the helots is so often judged the deepest influence on Spartan policy:
- It made Sparta reluctant to campaign far or for long abroad, in case the helots rose in their absence.
- It bred a caution that Thucydides repeatedly notes, and atrocities such as the secret killing of 2,000 helots.
- It shaped the whole military character of the state.
Examples in context
A model answer treats fear of the helots as a structural cause to be weighed against other influences, and prefers Thucydides where the sources differ.
Try this
Q1. Assess the importance of the helots to the Spartan state. [20 marks, depth essay style]
- What the marker wants. An argument from the sources that the helots were the economic base that made full-time Spartiate soldiering possible, that controlling them shaped the military character of the state, and that fear of revolt influenced policy, with a judgement on their overall importance.
Q2. What was the krypteia? [2 marks]
- Cue. A secret operation in which selected young Spartans were sent into the countryside to live off the land and kill helots, especially the strongest, to keep the helot population intimidated.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of OCR exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
OCR H407/11 202020 marks'Fear of the helots was the most important influence on Spartan policy.' How far do the sources support this view? [shown at the 20-mark cap; the depth essay is worth 36 in the full paper]Show worked answer →
A Section B depth-study essay (AO1, AO2 and AO3), shown at the 20-mark cap (worth 36 in the full paper).
For the view. The helots vastly outnumbered the Spartiates and worked their land, so Sparta needed a permanent military readiness; Thucydides records Sparta's caution and the secret killing of 2,000 helots; the annual declaration of war on the helots and the krypteia institutionalised repression; fear shaped the reluctance to campaign far or long abroad.
Against. Other factors (the desire to lead the Peloponnesian League, conservatism, the constitution) also shaped policy; some caution was strategic rather than helot-driven.
Judgement. Argue from Thucydides and Plutarch that fear of the helots was a pervasive and probably the deepest structural influence, while not the only one. The top level argues from the sources and judges.
OCR H407/11 202212 marksHow useful is Thucydides for understanding Spartan treatment of the helots? [shown at the 12-mark source-utility style]Show worked answer →
A source-utility evaluation (AO3) on a prescribed source.
Value. Thucydides is a contemporary, careful historian, valuable for episodes such as the secret killing of 2,000 helots who were tricked into identifying themselves, and for Spartan caution born of helot danger; his analytical method makes him relatively reliable.
Limitations. He reports the helot massacre at second hand and is mainly interested in the war, so his coverage of helot life is incidental; he gives little on the day-to-day condition of the helots.
Judgement. Highly useful for Spartan attitudes and specific atrocities, but limited and incidental on helot society, to be supplemented by Plutarch (with caution). Top answers judge usefulness for the enquiry.
Related dot points
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An OCR A-Level Ancient History depth study guide to the Spartan constitution. Covers the dual kingship, the gerousia, the ephors and the apella assembly, the Great Rhetra, the mixed-constitution debate, and how the prescribed sources (Xenophon, Aristotle, Plutarch, Thucydides) describe and evaluate the Spartan system of government.
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- Sparta in the Peloponnesian War 431 to 404 BC: Spartan strategy and aims against Athens, the role of Brasidas in the Archidamian War, the decisive part of Lysander and the Persian alliance, and the final defeat of Athens in 404 BC.
An OCR A-Level Ancient History depth study guide to Sparta in the Peloponnesian War 431 to 404 BC. Covers Spartan strategy and aims, the role of Brasidas in the Archidamian War, the decisive contribution of Lysander and the Persian alliance, and the final defeat of Athens in 404 BC, with evaluation of Thucydides and Xenophon.
- The Greek historians: the methods, strengths and limitations of Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon as the prescribed sources for the Persia and Greece period study and the Sparta depth study, and how to evaluate them.
An OCR A-Level Ancient History skills guide to the Greek historians. Covers the methods, strengths and limitations of Herodotus (the Persian Wars), Thucydides (the Peloponnesian War and Sparta) and Xenophon (the Spartan constitution and the end of the war) as prescribed sources, and how to evaluate them for the Greek topics.
Sources & how we know this
- OCR A Level Ancient History H407 specification — OCR (2017)
- Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War; Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus — Perseus Digital Library