Εἵλως
helot
Translated by D. Graham J. Shipley7 Feb 2005Vetting: high4 revisions
Translation
[genitive] ei(/lwtos : the slave. 1 And the ethnic2 Heilotes [is used] among Lakedaimonians [for] illegitimate men and those slaves born from captives;3 from the [word] Helos. Helos [is] a polis in the Peloponnese.4
So the Lakedaimonians, because of being always at odds with their slaves, used to call them helots by way of dishonour and insult.5
The [participle]kateilwtisme/nos has been noted for its (?) shortening.6
So the Lakedaimonians, because of being always at odds with their slaves, used to call them helots by way of dishonour and insult.5
The [participle]
Greek original · Adler’s text
Εἵλως, εἵλωτος· ὁ δοῦλος. καὶ τὸ ἐθνικὸν Εἵλωτες παρὰ Λακεδαιμονίοις οἱ νόθοι καὶ οἱ ἐξ αἰχμαλώτων δοῦλοι γενόμενοι· ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἕλους· Ἕλος δὲ πόλις ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ. οἱ οὖν Λακεδαιμόνιοι διὰ τὸ ἀεὶ διαφόρους εἶναι ἀλλήλοις τοὺς δούλους αὐτῶν ἐκάλουν εἵλωτας κατὰ ἀτιμίαν καὶ ὕβριν. τὸ δὲ κατειλωτισμένος σεσημείωται εἰς τὴν συναλιφήν.
Betacode
*ei(/lws, ei(/lwtos: o( dou=los. kai\ to\ e)qniko\n *ei(/lwtes para\ *lakedaimoni/ois oi( no/qoi kai\ oi( e)c ai)xmalw/twn dou=loi geno/menoi: a)po\ tou= *(/elous: *(/elos de\ po/lis e)n *peloponnh/sw|. oi( ou)=n *lakedaimo/nioi dia\ to\ a)ei\ diafo/rous ei)=nai a)llh/lois tou\s dou/lous au)tw=n e)ka/loun ei(/lwtas kata\ a)timi/an kai\ u(/brin. to\ de\ kateilwtisme/nos seshmei/wtai ei)s th\n sunalifh/n.
Notes (6)
- See also epsiloniota 133, epsiloniota 134, epsiloniota 135.
- 1This is probably incorrect. Another lexicographer, Pollux, famously defines the helots as ‘between free and slave’, and it is generally agreed nowadays that they were not chattel slaves (to be bought and sold, as at Athens and elsewhere), but a serf population attached to farms and living a reasonably normal, Greek-style existence with a family structure. ↩
- 2Ethnikon: an adjective denoting ethnicity or nationality, usually membership of a polis, e.g. Athenaios = citizen of Athens. ↩
- 3In fact, even if this statement were true, they would not be descendants of captives in war in general, but only of the original Helots, supposedly the previous inhabitants of Laconia and Messenia whom the Lakedaimonians (including the Spartans) reduced to serfdom, perhaps in the 8th century BC. ↩
- 4More precisely in southern Laconia: see Strabo 8.5.2, etc. The derivation of 'heilos' is still a matter of debate, as to whether it is from the place-name or from the root hel-, 'take', found in
ei(=lon , the aorist ofai(re/w . ↩ - 5From the scholia to Thucydides 1.101.2, where helots are mentioned. ↩
- 6(For 'has been noted' see under nu 249.) Shortening:
sunalifh/ , also spelledsunaloifh/ , means the running of two syllables into one through synaeresis, crasis, or elision (LSJ s.v.). The shortening inkateilwtisme/nos , the perfect passive participle of an otherwise unattested verb,kateilwti/zw (which can only mean 'I reduce to helot status' or serfdom), is in the omega (crasis of two omicrons), as is regular in verbs with vowel stems ending in omicron. At kappa 1033kateilwtisme/nos is defined askatededoulwme/nos , 'enslaved'. ↩
References
P. Cartledge, Sparta and Laconia, ch. 10
G. Shipley, 'Lakedaimon', in M.H. Hansen and T.H. Nielsen (eds), An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis (Oxford, 2004), 569–98, at 574 (Helos)
G. Shipley, 'Lakedaimon', in M.H. Hansen and T.H. Nielsen (eds), An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis (Oxford, 2004), 569–98, at 574 (Helos)
Linked from5 entries
- ει133Εἱλωτεύεινto be a helot[Meaning] to be a slave. For helots were the slaves of Lakedaimonians, not [so] by birth, but [by virtue of being] the first-defeated of the inhabitants of the city Helos.
- ει134Εἱλωτείαhelotage, helot-status[Meaning] slavery.
- ει135Εἱλωτίςhelot-woman, female helot[Meaning] the female slave.
- κ1033Κατειλωτισμένοςhelotized[Meaning one who has been] enslaved. From the [word] ei)/lws, [genitive] ei)/lwtos, which means a slave.
- κ1703Κλαρόταιserfs[Meaning] immigrants; like [the] Mariandynoi in [sc. Pontic] Herakleia and [the] Helots in Sparta and [the] Penestai in Thessaly and [the] Kallikyrioi in Syracuse.
Neighbouring entries
Revision history4 revisions · last 27 Dec 2012
- tweak — Catharine Roth
- another keyword; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- expanded n.6 — David Whitehead
- tweaked translation; augmented (and rearranged) notes; added more keywords; cosmetics — David Whitehead
- Translated — D. Graham J. Shipley