Xenophon wrote this account of a dialogue between Socrates and Ischomachus, an Athenian landowner who explains to Socrates how he taught his young bride the roles of husband and wife in the running of the household. The topic here is the household, and the household to the Athenian meant more than we would. The actual term is oikoi and was the principle means of subsistence for all Greeks, including all members of the family, all servants and slaves, and all property: Without property there could be no household. There was no economy separate from privately owned farms and small businesses, which provided jobs in our sense of the word (Nagle 105).
Ischomachus explains to his wife how she is to be in charge of the household. When we read these words, we may think of doing housework, cooking meals, and caring for the children, but for the Greeks, being in charge of the household meant much more and much greater responsibility. Nagle explains it as follows:
A wife was not a slave in her own household, firmly under the thumb of her despotic, patriarchal husband, who arranged everything without her knowledge or consent. On the contrary, wives ran the household and were well informed on domestic finances and participated fully in family decision making (Nagle 105).
There is something businesslike in the way Ischomachus explains her duties to his wife, and Nagel would agree as he compares the household to a sort of corporation that is jointly ma
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