Ancient Greek Ideas about Work

The ideal way of life for the ancient Greeks was not to have to work. Slaves in their society did most of the difficult labor. The philosopher Aristotle gave us insight to the Greek mind-set. He believed salves were tools, which just happened to be alive. He also believed citizens should not work “since leisure is necessary both for development of virtue and for the performance of political duties” (Middleton, 2003, pg. 7). Evidence from the period suggests that many citizens were able to live off their land or small shops where they employed managers, leaving them free to pursue other things. If a person did work, they almost always were self-employed. To the ancient Greek way of thinking, taking a wage from another citizen was similar to slavery.