I have a question about history! Very diffcult to understand!?

Question

The postion of the "common man" is often very difficult. Rank, in order of preference from tbest to worst, the position of the following common men and justify your ranking... a small Roman farmer in the late Republic, a helot, and a serf

Please help explain to me. I been trying to figure this out all day. Thanks!

Answer 1

Helot - high expectation of protection, ability to keep a good bit of your own harvest after paying the fixed tribute to your Spartan lord, two crops per year in much of the lands on which they lived, ability to achieve some degree of personal wealth, ability to purchase your own freedom.

Roman farmer - moderate degree of freedom, self-reliance (which can be good or bad), ability to keep a much of your own harvest, decent expectation of protection, some political freedom, some freedom to move.

Serf (presumably you mean medieval European serf) - moderate degree of protection, low ability to retain food and personal property, poor to moderate living conditions, low life expectancy and sketchy healthcare, no political freedom, tied to the land (no ability to move).

Answer 2

i would say
roman farmer
helot
serf

i put them in this order because a helot and a serf were both basically slaves but helots were the serfs of sparta and had a higher ranking then a normal serf

Answer 3

A helot was a Spartan slave from Classical era Greece.
Roman
Serf
Helot

Answer 4

Helot, Roman farmer, serf. That's my best guess.