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Ancient and modern

How to be self-sufficient

21 March 2020

9:00 AM

21 March 2020

9:00 AM

Those with signs of Covid-19 are being asked to ‘self-isolate’ (Latin insula, ‘island’). But do they have the mindset for it? That requires self-sufficiency, for which the Greeks had a word: autarkeia (our ‘autarky’; contrast ‘autarchy’, ‘absolute rule’).

Such a mindset was essential in the ancient world, where the threat of starvation, disease or disaster was permanent, and death everywhere.

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