Oikos (Ancient Greek: οἶκος Ancient Greek pronunciation: [ôi̯.kos]; pl.: οἶκοι) was, in Ancient Greece, two related but distinct concepts: the family and the family's house.[a] Its meaning shifted even within texts.[1]
The oikos was the basic unit of society in most Greek city-states. For regular Attic usage within the context of families, the oikos referred to a line of descent from father to son from generation to generation.[2] Alternatively, as Aristotle used it in his Politics, the term was sometimes used to refer to everybody living in a given house. Thus, the head of the oikos, along with his immediate family and his slaves, would all be encompassed.[3] Large oikoi also had farms that were usually tended by the slaves, which were also the basic agricultural unit of the ancient Greek economy.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha>
tags or {{efn}}
templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
template or {{notelist}}
template (see the help page).