WORLD CIVILIZATION

Detailed explanation-1: -Summary. The helots were the slaves of the Spartans. Distributed in family groups across the landholdings of Spartan citizens in Laconia and Messenia, helots performed the labour that was the bedrock on which Spartiate leisure and wealth rested.

Detailed explanation-2: -helot, a state-owned serf of the ancient Spartans. The ethnic origin of helots is uncertain, but they were probably the original inhabitants of Laconia (the area around the Spartan capital) who were reduced to servility after the conquest of their land by the numerically fewer Dorians.

Detailed explanation-3: -In 371, the Theban commander Epaminondas defeated the Spartans at Leuctra, and later, he invaded the Peloponnese, where he liberated the helots of Messenia.