The population of Laconia was divided into the three classes of
Spartans, Perioeci and Helots.
I. The SPARTANS were the descendants of the leading Dorian
conquerors. They formed the sovereign power of the state, and
they alone were eligible to honours and public offices. They
lived in Sparta itself and were all subject to the discipline of
Lycurgus. They were divided into three tribes,--the HYLLEIS, the
PAMPHILI, and the DYMANES,--which were not, however, peculiar to
Sparta, but existed in all the Dorian states.
II. The PERIOECI were personally free, but politically subject
to the Spartans. [This word signifies literally DWELLERS AROUND
THE CITY, and was generally used to indicate the inhabitants in
the country districts, who possessed inferior political
privileges to the citizens who lived in the city.] They
possessed no share in the government, and were bound to obey the
commands of the Spartan magistrates. They appear to have been
the descendants of the old Achaean population of the country, and
they were distributed into a hundred townships, which were spread
through the whole of Laconia.
III. The HELOTS were serfs bound to the soil, which they tilled
for the benefit of the Spartan proprietors. Their condition was
very different from that of the ordinary slaves in antiquity, and
more similar to the villanage of the middle ages. They lived in
the rural villages, as the Perioeci did in the towns, cultivating
the lands and paying over the rent to their masters in Sparta,
but enjoying their homes, wives, and families, apart from their
master's personal superintendence. They appear to have been
never sold, and they accompanied the Spartans to the field as
light armed troops. But while their condition was in these