PĔNESTAE

( πενέσται ), a cla of serfs in The aly, who stood in nearly the same relation to their The alian lords as the helots of Laconia did to the Dorian Spartans, although their condition seems to have been on the whole superior. They were the descendants of the old Pelasgic or Aeolian inhabitants of The aly Proper. They occupied an intermediate position between freemen and purchased slaves, and they cultivated the land for their masters, paying by way of rent a portion of the produce of it. The Penestae sometimes accompanied their masters to battle, and fought on horseback as their va als: a circumstance which need not excite surprise, as The aly was so famous for cavalry. There were Penestae among the Maced on i ans also.