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Theneodamodes (Greek:νεοδαμώδεις,neodamōdeis) werehelots freed after passing a time of service ashoplites in theSpartan army.
The date of their first apparition is uncertain.Thucydides does not explain the origin of this special category.Jean Ducat, in his bookLes Hoplites (1990), concludes that their statute "was largely inspired by the measures dictated concerning theBrasidians", i.e. the helots freed after taking part in the expedition ofBrasidas in 424 BC.
Their existence is attested from 420 to 369 BC. They were part of Sparta's army and 2,000 of them are recorded taking part, for example, inAgesilaus II's campaign inIonia between 396 and 394 BC.
The name comes from the words νέοςneos, meaning "new", andδῆμοςdêmos, meaning "deme or territory". Differently from what is written byHesychius of Alexandria, who brings together the neodamodes and theAtheniandemotes (citizens of ademe), they never acquired full citizenship. The suffix -ωδης-ôdês signals only a resemblance. In truth, the onlydeme they joined was that of thePerioeci.