Helos

Helos was an ancient town in southern Laconia, in the marshy plain near the mouth of the Eurotas river, mentioned in Homer's Catalogue of Ships. Ancient tradition derived the name of the helots, the state serfs of Sparta, from its inhabitants, said to have been enslaved after resisting the Spartans. In the early Middle Ages Slavic settlers known as the Ezeritai lived in the plain.