Helōrum and Helōrus, now Muri Ucci, a town and river of Sicily, whose swollen waters generally inundate the neighbouring country. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 3, li. 698.—Silius Italicus, bk. 11, li. 270.——A river of Magna Græcia.
Helos, a place of Arcadia. Pausanias, bk. 8, ch. 36.——A town of Laconia, taken and destroyed by the Lacedæmonians under Agis III., of the race of the Heraclidæ, because they refused to pay the tribute which was imposed upon them. The Lacedæmonians carried their resentment so far, that, not satisfied with the ruin of the city, they reduced the inhabitants to the lowest and most miserable slavery, and made a law which forbade their masters either to give them their liberty, or to sell them in any other country. To complete their infamy, all the slaves of the state and the prisoners of war were called by the mean appellation of Helotæ. Not only the servile offices in which they were employed denoted their misery and slavery, but they were obliged to wear peculiar garments, which exposed them to greater contempt and ridicule. They never were instructed in the liberal arts, and their cruel masters often obliged them to drink to excess, to show the free-born citizens of Sparta the beastliness and disgrace of intoxication. They once every year received a number of stripes, that by this wanton flagellation they might recollect that they were born and died slaves. The Spartans even declared war against them; but Plutarch, who, from interested motives, endeavours to palliate the guilt and cruelty of the people of Lacedæmon, declares that it was because they had assisted the Messenians in their war against Sparta, after it had been overthrown by a violent earthquake. This earthquake was supposed by all the Greeks to be a punishment from heaven for the cruelties which the Lacedæmonians had exercised against the Helots. In the Peloponnesian war, these miserable slaves behaved with uncommon bravery, and were rewarded with their liberty by the Lacedæmonians, and appeared in the temples and at public shows crowned with garlands, and with every mark of festivity and triumph. This exultation did not continue long, and the sudden disappearance of these 2000 manumitted slaves was attributed to the inhumanity of the Lacedæmonians. Thucydides, bk. 4.—Pollux, bk. 3, ch. 8.—Strabo, bk. 8.—Plutarch, Lycurgus, &c.—Aristotle, Politics, bk. 2.—Pausanias, Laconia, &c.
Helōtæ and Helōtes, the public slaves of Sparta, &c. See: [Helos].
Helvetia, a vestal virgin struck dead with lightning in Trajan’s reign.
Helvetii, an ancient nation of Gaul, conquered by Julius Cæsar. Their country is the modern Switzerland. Cæsar, Gallic War, bk. 1, &c.—Tacitus, Histories, bk. 1, chs. 67 & 69.
Helvia, the mother of Cicero.——Ricina, a town of Picenum.
Helvidia, the name of a Roman family.
Helvii, now Viviers, a people of Gaul, along the Rhone. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 4.
Helvillum, a town of Umbria, supposed to be the same as Sullium, now Sigillo. Pliny, bk. 3, ch. 14.
Helvīna, a fountain of Aquinum where Ceres had a temple. Juvenal, satire 3, li. 320.