The state owned a number of slaves, among whom were the Scythian archers responsible for keeping public order; others were notaries, jury clerks, coin testers, and an executioner. These were the fortunate ones, treated with respect and given a degree of independence.
There are no records, but by the fifth century Athenians collectively owned thousands of slaves (some estimate as many as 150,000, not far off the number of the free population). They came from all around the Eastern Mediterranean; some were unfortunate Greeks who were sold into slavery by their enemies in war (Scione, for example) or kidnapped by pirates. Many were not Hellenes; these were mainly “barbarians” from Thrace and such places as Illyria and even faraway Scythia, and may well have been sold by their parents. Others originated in Caria and Lydia.
An auction sale list from 415 has survived. If its numbers are typical, it suggests that slaves were not cheap. A Syrian male was sold for 301 drachmas and a “little Carian boy” fetched 240 drachmas. A slave’s average market value stood at anything between 50 and, exceptionally, 1,000 drachmas, with about 200 drachmas an average price.
Most Greeks believed that slavery was ethically acceptable, but Aristotle reports that some argued that “it is contrary to nature to rule as master over slave, because the distinction between slave and free is one of convention only, and in nature there is no difference. This form of rule is based on force and therefore not just.”
Few paid attention to such awkward critics. A Hellene’s heart may have lain with the wolf, but his mind told him that dogs were very useful acquisitions.
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The island of Sphacteria was a remote and lonely spot on the southwest coast of Messenia in the Peloponnese, the enslaved land of Sparta’s helots.
One great thin chunk of mountainous rock, it was nearly three miles long and about 150 yards wide. The ruins of an ancient prehistoric fortification could be found on a high hill at the northern end, but, with only one spring, the place was uninhabitable and was the exclusive haunt of birds of prey. The soil was red. The stony terrain was wooded and there were no tracks or paths. On the landward side a wall of cliffs tumbled precipitately into the waters of a magnificent natural harbor, which Sphacteria protected from the open sea.
Two channels led into this harbor. The one to the north of the island was very narrow, no more than 150 yards across, and on the far side loured a tall, more or less impregnable headland called Pylos. In the south the passage was about 1,400 yards wide.
One spring day in 425 an Athenian fleet of forty triremes sailed past on its way north with orders to sail to Corcyra and Sicily (for more about the expedition see this page). Most unusually, it was carrying a private citizen who had a secret plan in mind.
He was Demosthenes, an associate or protégé of Cleon and one of a new breed of military commander. Like the admiral Phormio, he was a dashing and creative improviser. While campaigning in western Greece in the previous year, he had devised a plan to launch a surprise attack on Boeotia from the north, mainly using locally recruited troops. It was a brilliant idea, but poorly executed. It led to an embarrassing defeat and 120 Athenian hoplites were killed. Demosthenes dared not return to Athens to face the fury of the demos, but stayed in the region, where he scored victories against a Peloponnesian force and a colony of Corinth. This retrieved his reputation at home.
He was reelected strategos, but his term of office would only begin in the summer and in the meantime he conceived another bright scheme. If only Athens could gain a foothold on the coast of the Peloponnese it would go some way to counterbalance the regular invasions of Attica.
The two fleet commanders were given the mysterious instruction to allow Demosthenes to “make what use he liked of this fleet of theirs on its way around the Peloponnese.” As they passed by Pylos he pointed it out to them and recommended that it be fortified; it would be a useful base from which local Messenians and those who had been settled in Naupactus in the Corinthian gulf could harry the Spartans.
The commanders were not impressed, but a fortunate storm forced them to take shelter in the harbor. Pylos was a natural stronghold and to pass the time the crews were authorized to fortify its weak spots. When the weather improved after a week, Demosthenes stayed behind with five triremes.
When the news of Pylos’s capture reached Lacedaemon the authorities were seriously alarmed. Ships and troops were sent to eject the Athenians. Attacks were launched on Pylos and 420 Spartan hoplites with helot servants landed on Sphacteria to prevent the Athenians taking it as a permanent base. Demosthenes had little trouble repelling the Spartans, but he dispatched two triremes to bring back the fleet. When it arrived, it defeated the Spartan ships in short order.
This meant that, in effect, the Spartans on the island were under siege. They numbered less than one thousand in total, if we assume that each of the hoplites was accompanied by a helot servant. Of the hoplites themselves, at least 180 were elite citizens or Equals. Two Athenian warships sailing round Sphacteria in opposite directions stayed on permanent patrol to prevent any rescue attempt from the mainland.
To lose so many Equals was inconceivable and some ephors arrived in person to assess the situation. It was embarrassingly clear that the hoplites and helots on the island could not be freed. Sparta offered a truce during which it would suspend hostilities and temporarily hand over its fleet to the Athenians. A trireme conveyed a Spartan delegation to Athens where they proposed a permanent peace that would bring the war to an end.
Cleon persuaded the ecclesia to insist on impossible terms. These were, in effect, the reinstatement of the “land empire” abandoned under the terms of the Thirty Years Peace. The envoys suggested private talks, but Cleon vetoed the idea. The delegation gave up and left town. The truce was ended, but Demosthenes refused to give back the Spartan fleet as promised, alleging some minor infraction. The blockade of Sphacteria continued.
Grain, wine, and cheese were smuggled across the water to the Spartan soldiers by underwater swimmers and small boats. It began to look as if they could survive the siege indefinitely. By contrast, the supply of food was beginning to be a logistical problem for the Athenians. The arrival of winter might put an end to the blockade.
Then at last there was an important, if accidental, development. There were so many soldiers and so little space on Pylos that marines on the Athenian patrol ships used to disembark on the southern tip of Sphacteria and cook their midday meals there. One day they accidentally set fire to part of the wood. The wind got up and the flames quickly spread. Soon the entire island was ablaze.
In the absence of tree cover it was now possible to see exactly how many Spartans there were and where they were encamped in the center of the island near the only well. Demosthenes had been considering an attack, but now he was in a position to prepare a detailed plan.
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Time passed and nothing seemed to be happening. In Athens, the demos became impatient. Ordinary citizens wished that they had accepted the peace terms, which they had been persuaded to reject. Cleon felt under pressure and blamed a political rival, a multimillionaire businessman, Nicias, who was one of the year’s generals.
Born in about 470, Nicias came from the entrepreneurial middle class. He inherited a large fortune from his father. His property was valued at the huge sum of 100 talents and included a labor force of slaves who worked his substantial concessions at the silver mines of Laurium and provided him with a handsome income. He lacked charm and found it hard to make up his mind. He was deeply religious and avoided decisions until he had taken omens. A poor orator, he was thought of as an earnest bore. However, he was extremely public-spirited and became popular because of his generous support of public causes. He made a point of being a hard worker. His lack of charisma stood him in good stead when compared with the opportunism and unreliability of a demagogue like Cleon.