Research Catalog

Title

Helots and their masters in Laconia and Messenia : histories, ideologies, structures / edited by N. Luraghi and S.E. Alcock.

Publication

Washington, D.C. : Center for Hellenic Studies, Trustees for Harvard University ; Cambridge, Mass. : Distributed by Harvard University Press, 2003.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Luraghi, Nino
• Alcock, Susan E.

Description

vii, [1], 314 p.; 23 cm.

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 the functions that slaves fulfilled 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. Essays deal with the origins and historical development of Helotry, with its sociological, economic, and demographic aspects, with its ideological construction and negotiation."--Jacket.

Series Statement

Hellenic studies ; 4

Uniform Title

Hellenic studies 4.

Subject

• Helots > Greece > Lakōnia
• Helots > Greece > Messēnia
• Lakōnia (Greece) > Social conditions
• Messēnia (Greece) > Social conditions

Genre/Form

• History
• Congresses (form)

Note

• "This volume originates from a workshop held at Harvard University on March 16-17, 2001" (p. v.)

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 308-309) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Researching the helots: details, methodologies, agencies / Alcock, S.E. -- Raising hell? the helot mirage, a personal re-view / P. Cartledge -- Conquerors and serfs: wars of conquest and forced labour in archaic Greece / H. van Wees -- Agreste genus: Helots in hellenistic Laconia / N.M. Kennell -- The imaginary conquest of the helots / N. Luraghi -- The Dorianization of the Messenians / J/M/ Hall -- Freedom for the Messenians? a note on the impact of slavery and helotage on the Greek concept of freedom / K.A. Raaflaub -- The demography of the Spartan helots / T.J. Figueira -- Helot numbers: a simplified model / W. Scheidel -- Spartiates, helots and the direction of the agrarian economy: towards an understanding of helotage in comparative perspective / S. Hodkinson -- Reflections on helotic slavery and freedom / O. Patterson.

ISBN

0674012232 (pbk.)

LCCN

^^2003019543

OCLC

• 52980628
• SCSB-11843861

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library