8. Sparta’s Subjugation of the Helots
The Spartans were unique in Ancient Greece, in that they enslaved other Greeks. The entire Spartan system and economy was based upon the enslavement of their Messenian neighbors, whom they had conquered in the 8th to 7th century, BC. After a long war, the victorious Spartans transformed the entire Messenian population into state slaves, known as Helots. The Helots had few rights and could be killed almost at will by their overlords. The Helots were also subjected to sundry humiliations to remind them of the inferiority of their status, such as being forced to get super drunk. The staggering serfs were then shown to Spartan children as object lessons in the evils of overindulgence in booze, and a demonstration of the superiority of Spartans over the contemptible Helots who behaved in such bestial manner.
The Spartans had not been that different from other Greeks before subjugating the Helots. However, once they had been conquered, controlling the restive Helots, who outnumbered the Spartans about ten to one, required the transformation of Sparta into a wholly militarized state and society. It also became a police state, with secret police known as the Krypteia, established to spy on Helots and kill any who seemed restive or showed leadership potential. Thousands of years later, the Nazis looked to Sparta and its treatment of the Helots when they concocted their plans for lebensraum. Like the Spartans, the Nazis hoped to conquer their neighbors in Eastern Europe and Russia. They planned to then exterminate most of the native Slav population, and reduce the survivors to Helots, who would serve the German ‘Master Race’ like the Messenians had served the Spartans.
