Penestae
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The penestai or penestae (Greek: oἱ πενέσται, hoi penéstai) were a class of unfree labourers in Thessaly, Ancient Greece. These labourers were tied to the land they inhabited, comparable in status with the Spartan helots.
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The penestai or penestae (Greek: oἱ πενέσται, hoi penéstai) were a class of unfree labourers in Thessaly, Ancient Greece. These labourers were tied to the land they inhabited, comparable in status with the Spartan helots.
==Status== Tradition made the penestae descendants of the Achaeans subjected by invading tribes arriving from Thesprotia. Archemachus (cited by Athenaeus, VI, 264), a 3rd-century BC writer, believed instead that they were Boeotians:
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