So all i've heard about this is that the Spartans were a sort of small elite that ruled over the helots who vastly outnumbered them. What was the connection between the two groups. Were they essentially the same 'people', where the helots were just the unfortunate lower class and the 'Spartans' the aristocracy. Were they ethnically the same? Did the helots and Spartans both originate from the same place, or were the Spartans originally foreign conquerors who subjugated the helots.
Thanks
More or less ethnically the same, but not culturally. The helots were descended from the original inhabitants of Laconia (the Spartan region of Greece), who were conquered and enslaved by the progenitors of the Spartans when they arrived from elsewhere in Greece.
EDIT- I really recommend reading Helen of Troy by Bettany Hughes for more info on this and Spartan culture in general, if you're interested- very informative and digestible.
Well there are two broad groups of helots. There are Laconian helots which worked in Laconia around Sparta, and then there are Messenian helots who were conquered by Sparta and put into helotry. The origins of Laconian helots is not known. Some speculate that they are original inhabitants who were conquered by Spartans. Other Greek cities states seemed to think this was the case and believed that the word helot came from the city-state Helos which had been a community near Sparta and enslaved by her. Modern linguists consider it impossible for helot to derive from Helos and the Spartans never wrote on the origins of helots so we don't really know about the origins of Laconian helots.
Messenian helots on the other hand are Greek but they are a sperate people from Spartans just as Corinthians and Athenians are not Spartans.
There are however some interesting ideas on the origins of Laconian helots, but nothing absolute.
The Helots hailed from neighboring Messenia. The Spartans claimed that they were descended from the "Dorians" who supposedly invaded the Peloponnese and settled there, which is why they spoke a Dorian dialect of Greek, as opposed to the Ionian dialect of Athens.
As an add-on: how do helots compare to peasants, slaves, or serfs?