7. The Helot Revolts Against Sparta
Sparta’s Helots frequently revolted, only to be brutally crushed by the better trained and equipped Spartans, then subjected to unsparing revenge. For example, after one failed revolt, thousands of Helots were gaily decked out, marched out of town, and never heard from again. In 464 BC, a major earthquake struck Sparta, killing thousands. Taking advantage of the turmoil, the Helots made another bid for freedom by rising up and establishing a fortified base in the mountains. The hard-pressed Spartans asked Athens for help. A conservative faction controlled Athens at the time, so 4000 Athenian soldiers were duly sent. However, once they arrived, the Athenians’ democratic ideas alarmed the Spartans. Fearing that such notions would spread to their Helots and further fuel the uprising, or that the Athenians might switch sides, the Spartans sent them back home.
The insulted Athenians threw out their conservative leaders and repudiated their alliance with Sparta. Left to their own devices, the Spartans eventually managed to crush the Helot uprising after two years of bitter fighting, in 462 BC. They then subjected their slaves to yet another round of savage reprisals. The Helots finally gained their freedom a century later, when the Theban leader Epaminondas crushed the Spartans in battle, then liberated its Helots, and set up an independent country for them.
