perioikoi

perioikoi (‘dwellers around’, i.e. around Sparta), in Laconia (the south-east district of the Peloponnese), the free inhabitants of such small towns and villages as were not subjugated to Sparta. They were, however, under Spartan supervision, served in the army and paid taxes on a par with Spartan citizens although they had no political rights in the Spartan state. They carried on what industry and commerce there was, from which Spartans were excluded.