The Concept of Oikos in Antiquity

Introduction

To study the ancient world it is necessary to study in depth some concepts that marked the behavior of human beings in their social or political relationships. One of these fundamental concepts is that of oikos, from the Greek οἶκος, the equivalent of the term “house” in Ancient Greece, but which has other much broader and more important meanings in the ancient world, of which we can trace its trace back to the dawn of the contemporary age.

The oikos, in a first reading, was an autonomous economic and social unit, the center around which daily life was organized, an axis from which not only material needs were satisfied but also norms and ethical values, duties, obligations and responsibilities, social relations and relations with the gods.

José Morales

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