Oikos
![Part of the excavation at Olynthos. The grid layout, with regularly sized rectangular houses, can be seen.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Ancient_Olynthos_Chalkidiki_-_Greece_-_048.jpg)
The ''oikos'' was the basic unit of society in most Greek city-states. In normal Attic usage the ''oikos'', in the context of families, referred to a line of descent from father to son from generation to generation. 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. Large ''oikoi'' also had farms that were usually tended by the slaves, which were also the basic agricultural unit of the ancient Greek economy. Provided by Wikipedia