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Economics we learn was not so organized in previous times.
The way of living of humans was greatly simpler in ancient societies. Food,
clothing and habitation-these, only, were the elementary needs of humans. The methods of
exchanging goods were very limited. Basically, physical labor was the only means for production.
During the period of the prophet Moses, that means, at around 2500 BC, in Hebrew
civilization, in religious scriptures and in the books of philosophy, there have been some scattered thoughts
about economics. Income, religion, morality, philosophy and economics were
discussed all together at that time. There was no individual presence of economics as a
discipline.
The basis of today's European civilization is constructed
upon the thoughts of the Greek thinkers, Roman laws and the Christian religion. It was in
Greece that Aristotle and other philosophers accepted the idea of individual ownership for
the first time, and individual ownership upon land had been established. In the history of
Greek civilization, Aristotle is taken to be the first economist. Special attention has been
paid on the division of labor, business and the use of money. The Greek civilization is mainly
a civilization based on city- states. Slavery was an recognized fact at that time. The populations
of the cities were mainly traders and mechanics. The English word, economics, has come
from the Greek word Okonimia. Okonomia means the Management of the Household.
Plato (427-347 BC) and Aristotle (384-322 BC) were the two renowned scholars of the
Greek civilization. These two thinkers have discussed about diverse central topics of
economics, along with individual property, the wages of the laborers, slavery and interest.
