Economics. The Greek household was based on a principle of economy: it provided the food, clothing, and shelter necessary to sustain the life of its inhabitants. It was a kind of cottage industry where residents engaged in productive activities such as farming, spinning, weaving, and food preservation that would ensure survival. The household also produced children who would continue to live in it and maintain it for generations. The goal of each oikos was therefore self-sufficiency, the ability to sustain and perpetuate itself for generations.

Women's Work. There was a strict division of labor within the oikos. In Homer's Iliad (circa eighth-seventh centuries B.C.E.), the great Trojan hero, Hector, explains to his wife that he must return to the battle to defend his honor and his city and commands her to return to the house: "Go...