Western Civilization I / Unit 3 WC1 0211 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Helots, the Krypteia, and Spartan Caution
Captions available
The idea
Sparta was a slave society: about ninety percent were helots, serfs of the conquered, killable at will under an annual declaration of war. The anchor puts Spartan soldiers at never more than eight thousand.
In practice
The Krypteia, young Spartans killing helots by night.
Where people slip
Chapter four's fourth century for the Athens war is wrong; it was four thirty-one to four oh four.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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