Nabis and helots

  • Larisa G. Pechatnova Institute of History, the Saint Petersburg University, Mendeleevskaya Line, 5, 199034, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Abstract

The paper deals with the policy of the Spartan king Nabis towards the helots. The significant differences between the social policy of Nabis and that of his predecessors, the kings-reformers Agis IV and Cleomenes III, are shown. The author comes to the conclusion that Nabis used an entirely new principle of replenishment of the citizen body. He freed some helots and made them full-fledge citizens. However, Nabis did not manage to destroy helotage completely, although he sought to do this. Accepting the helots and foreigners as full-fledge members of the citizen body, Nabis has created an entirely new type of citizen-subject who was devoted not so much to the state as to the king personally. Nabis’ radical social reforms have abolished the archaic principles of forming the citizen body, and at the same time Lycurgian Sparta has finally come to an end, transformed, to a greater extent, into a monarchy of already the Hellenistic pattern.

Author Biography

Larisa G. Pechatnova, Institute of History, the Saint Petersburg University, Mendeleevskaya Line, 5, 199034, Saint Petersburg, Russia

doctor of science (history), docent; professor at the department of History of Ancient Greece and Rome

References

  1. Cartledge P., Spawforth A. Hellenistic and Roman Sparta: a tale of two cities. 2nd ed. London ; New York, 2002.
  2. Chrimes K. M. T. Ancient Sparta: A Re-examination of the Evidence. Manchester, 1952.
  3. Jones A. H. M. Sparta. Oxford, 1967.
  4. Kennell N. Spartans. A New History. Ancient Cultures. New York, 2010.
  5. Oliva P. Sparta and her social Problems. Prague, 1971.
  6. Ducat J. [The Helots]. Bull. corresp. Hellenigue. Suppl. 20. 1990 (in Fr.).
  7. Figueira T. The Demography of the Spartan Helots. Helots and Their Masters in Laconia and Messenia: Histories, Ideologies, Structures. Chapter 8. Cambridge, 2003.
  8. Kennell N. Agreste Genus: Helots in Hellenistic Laconia. Helots and Their Masters in Laconia and Messenia: Histories, Ideologies, Structures. Chapter 4. Cambridge, 2003.
  9. Piper L. J. Spartan Helots in the Hellenistic Age. Anc. Society. Vol. 15/17. 1984 –1986. P. 75–88.
  10. Shimron B. Nabis of Sparta and the Helots. Class. Philol. 1966. Vol. 61, No. 1. P. 1–7.
  11. Texier J. G. [Nabis and Helots]. Dialogues d’histoire anc. 1974. Vol. 1, No. 1. P. 189 –205 (in Fr.).
  12. Hadas M. The Social Revolution in third-century Sparta. The Class. Weekly. 1932. Vol. 26, No. 10. P. 65–68.
  13. Ehrenberg V. [Nabis]. Real Enzyklopadie. 1935. Vol. XVI, 2. P. 1471–1474 (in Germ.).
  14. Birgalias N. [Nabis: Hellenistic prince?]. Gerion Anejos. 2005. No. 9. Р. 139 –151 (in Fr.).
  15. Fornis C. [«Revolutionary» basileia of Nabis]. Soc. Precapitalistas. 2016. Vol. 5, No. 2. P. 1–19 (in Span.).
  16. Tarn W. Hellenistic civilization. Moscow, 1949 (in Russ.).
  17. Fuks A. Agis, Cleomenes, and Equality. Class. Philol. 1962. Vol. 57, No. 3. Р. 161–166.
  18. Pechatnova L. G. [Hypomeiones and mothakos. Structure of Sparta civil collective]. Vestnik drevnei istorii. 1993. No. 3. P. 100 –115 (in Russ.).
  19. Texier J. G. [Nabis]. Paris, 1975 (in Fr.).
  20. Mendels D. Polybius and the Socio-economic Revolution in Greece (227–146 B. C.). L’antiquite class. [Classical antiquity]. 1982. Vol. 51, No. 1. P. 86–110.
  21. Pechatnova L. G. [History of Sparta. Archaic and Classical period]. Saint Petersburg, 2001 (in Russ.).
  22. Toynbee A. Some Problems of Greek History. London, 1969.
  23. Shishova I. A. [Early legislation and the formation of slavery in ancient Greece]. Leningrad, 1991 (in Russ.).
Published
2017-09-29
Keywords: helots, civil rights, Spartan citizen, Sparta, Nabis, Polybius, Titus Livius
How to Cite
Pechatnova L. G. Nabis and helots // Journal of the Belarusian State University. History. 2017. 3. PP. 61-68.