The helots was a population enslaved by the Spartans. During the classical period, the population of helots was much larger than the population of free Spartans. Such a large population of slaves represented a risk to the Spartan population. Because of this, several Spartans institutions were designed with the purpose of preventing rebellion and reducing the risk of helots forgetting their social role. The Spartans developed a strong military in order to ensure that they were able to resist a helot uprising.
