Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

HASTATI

201

HELOTES.

darts, resembling in form the lance and
javelin, but much smaller, adapted conse-
quently to the light-armed (jaculatores), and
used in hunting as well as in battle, we find
in classical authors the names of various
other spears, which were characteristic of
particular nations.—Thus, the sarissa was
the spear peculiar to the Macedonians. This
was used both to throw and as a pike. It
exceeded in length all other missiles.—The
Thraeian romphea, which had a very long
point, like the blade of a sword, was pro-
bably not unlike the sarissa.—With these
weapons we may also class the Illyrian sibina,
which resembled a hunting-pole.—The iron
head of the German spear, called framea, was
short and narrow, but very sharp. The
Germans used it with great effect either as a
lance or a pike : they gave to each youth a
framea and a shield on coming of age.-—-The
Falarica or Phalarica was the spear of the
Saguntines, and was impelled by the aid of
twisted ropes ; it was large and ponderous,
having a head of iron a cubit in length, and
a ball of lead at its other end ; it sometimes
carried flaming pitch and tow.—The matura
and tragula were chiefly used in Gaul and
Spain : the tragula was probably barbed, as
it required to be cut out of the wound.—The
Aclis and Catcia were much smaller missiles.
—Among the decorations which the Roman
generals bestowed on their soldiers, more
especially for saving the life of a fellow-
citizen, was a spear without a head, called
hasta pura. The celibaris hasta, having
been fixed into the body of a gladiator lying
dead on the arena, was used at marriages to
part the hair of the bride. A spear was
erected at auctions [Auctio], and when ten-
ders were received for public offices (loca-
tiones). It served both to announce, by a
conventional sign conspicuous at a distance,
that a sale was going on, and to show that it
was conducted under the authority of the
public functionaries. Hence an auction was
called hasta, and an auction-room hastari'um.
It was also the practice to set up a spear in
the court of the Cextujiviri.

HASTATI. [Exercitus, p. 168, b.]

nECATOMBE. [Sacrificium.]

HECTE or HECTEUS (eWij, «Teus), and
its half, Hemiectcm or Hemiecteon (yuiMKroy,
jj/mcKTeW). In dry measures, the kecteus was
the sixth part of the medimnus, and the
hemiecteon, of course, the twelfth part. The
hecteus was equal to the Roman modius, as
each contained 16 fe'cn-ai or sextarii. The
Hecte or Hecteus and Hemiecton were also
the names of coins, but the accounts we have
of their value are very various. The only
consistent explanation is, that there were

different hectae, derived from different units ;
in fact, that these coins were not properly
denominations of money, but subdivisions of
the recognised denominations.

HELEPOLIS (eA.eVoA.ts), " the taker of
cities," a machine constructed by Demetrius
Poliorcetes, when he besieged the city of
Salamis in Cyprus. Its form was that of
a square tower, each side being 90 cubits
high and 45 wide. It rested on four
wheels, each eight cubits high. It was
divided into nine stories, the lower of which
contained machines for throwing great
stones, the middle large catapults for throw-
ing spears, and the highest other machines
for throwing smaller stones, together with
smaller catapults. It was manned with 200
soldiers, besides those who moved it by push-
ing the parallel beams at the bottom. At
the siege of Rhodes, b. c. 306, Demetrius
employed an helepolis of still greater dimen-
sions and more complicated construction.
In subsequent ages we find the name of
" helepolis " applied to moving towers which
carried battering rams, as well as machines
for throwing spears and stones.

HELLAXODICAE (eAAai/ooiVou), the judges
in the Olympic games, of whom an account
is given under Olymtix. The same name
was also given to the judges or court-martial
in the Lacedaemonian army, and they were
probably first called by this name when Sparta
was at the head of the Greek confederacy.

HELLEXOTAMIAE (eAArji/oTOfii'aO,' or
treasurers of the Greeks, were magistrates
appointed by the Athenians to receive the
contributions of the allied states. They
were first appointed b. c. 47 7, when Athens,
in consequence of the conduct of Pausanias,
had obtained the command of the allied
states. The money paid by the different
states, which was originally fixed at 460
talents, was deposited in Delos, which was
the place of meeting for the discussion of all
common interests ; and there can be no doubt
that the hellenotamiae not only received, but
were also the guardians of, these monies.
The office was retained after the treasury
was transferred to Athens on the proposal of
the Samians, but was of course abolished on
the conquest of Athens by the Lacedaemonians.

HELOTES (etXeoTes), a class of bondsmen
peculiar to Sparta. They were Achaeans,
who had resisted the Dorian invaders to the
last, and had been reduced to slavery as the
punishment of their obstinacy. The Helots
were regarded as the property of the state,
which, while it gave their services to indi-
viduals, reserved to itself the power of eman-
cipating them. They were attached to the
land, and could not be sold away from it.