Experiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens: Material Culture, Iconography, Burials, and Social Identity in the 9th to 4th centuries BCE 0198949138, 9780198949138, 9780198949152

Table of contents :
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
About the Author
List of Figures and Tables
1. Introduction
2. Material Culture, Iconography and Burials: A New Methodology for Exploring Childhood in the Past
3. Experiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens: Life
4. Experiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens: Death
5. Childhood in Ancient Athens: A Social Experience
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

Citation preview

1

Introduction ‘Where have all the children gone?’ Kathryn Kamp questioned in 2001, because children easily become ‘invisible people’ and childhood ‘an invisible process’ in traditional archaeological approaches (Moore and Scott 1997). Kamp highlighted the lack of an established archaeology of childhood at the beginning of the twenty-­first century: almost twenty years after her article, the question is still a pertinent one in Greek archaeology, and a pressing one in some areas in particular. Children are still generally considered inaccessible in domestic contexts and their experiences of social change continue to be overlooked in favour of analyses focused upon the experiences of adults. Crawford and Lewis, looking to establish the archaeology of childhood in 2008 proclaimed, ‘every adult was once a child’ (11). A simple, and obvious, statement, but one that says a lot about how much is lost if societies are only investigated with a focus on their adult populations. Interpretations of families, households, communities, and societies cannot be truly nuanced and representative if they do not consider the identities of the children, as well as the adults, that are a part of them. Societies comprise webs of relationships, in which children are significant; failing to consider children distorts interpretations of the whole (Toren 1993: 462). In ancient societies, with a lack of modern methods of contraception and shorter life expectancies, children made up a larger proportion of the population and individuals could spend a greater proportion of their life course in childhood (Garland 2021: 204). All adults have been children—­regardless of the fact what it means to be a child varies cross-­culturally—­but not all children become adults. This was especially so in the pre-­modern past where child mortality rates were high, and many infants did not survive beyond their first years of life.1 As a consequence, studying children provides a broad interpretative lens through which to analyse social and cultural change because every living, socialised individual has some experience of childhood. Investigating childhood informs both upon the experience of childhood itself, but also upon the socialisation of adults that survive to leave childhood

1  Historical child mortality rates are heavily debated (Shepherd 2018: 523; see Parkin 2013), but extreme estimates suggest they were up to 50% in the first year of life (Syrogianni 2020: 229–230). See Syrogianni (2020) on the causes of high peri- and post-­natal mortality rates in ancient Greece. The burial record almost certainly does not represent the true demographic reality at any point; the number of extant child burials is much too low to be truly reflective and certain groups, including peri­ natal infants, are known to have been generally excluded from formal burial rites (Houby-­Nielsen 2000: 155; Liston and Rotroff 2013: 62).

2  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens behind. It explores the experiences that lead to individuals becoming active members of their communities. In a sense, investigating childhood is investigating the preparations for societal transformation because it is during childhood that individuals learn the social norms that they later, as adults, either endorse or seek to change. Socio-­political change, which was prevalent in ancient Greece across the ninth to fourth centuries bce, was brought about by adult—­male—­ citizens, but they were, once, children. A focus upon children provides a new perspective on the consequences of that change, and an opportunity to explore the impact of it on a demographic that has typically been marginalised in scholarship investigating socio-­political transformation. The socio-­political transformation that took place in Athens, and its hinterland Attica, across the ninth to fourth centuries is well attested; historically, archaeologically, and in art. Evidence of ancient Greek children is most readily available from Attic contexts because Athens was the major Greek production centre for painted pottery and carved marble stelai, which were sometimes decorated with iconography of children. This well-­documented historical context and availability of archaeological evidence facilitates a broad-­spectrum approach to investigating the identities of ancient Greek children. Recent research means children are no longer invisible in some areas of scholarship on ancient Greece; depictions of children on painted pottery and carved marble stelai have received significant attention, whilst burials have also been recorded and analysed on some scale. Existing research has not, however, considered evidence from across the Geometric throughout the Archaic and into the Classical periods. Most has focused either on the Geometric period alone, or on the Archaic and Classical periods, if adopting a diachronic approach (for example, see Seifert 2010; Beaumont 2012; Langdon 2015a; Sommer and Sommer 2015). This has resulted in interpretations of the evidence that fail to acknowledge long-­term consistencies in childhood, which suggest core beliefs about it and children’s status in Athenian society, and a lack of acknowledgement about the length of time changes apparent in the fifth century had been gaining momentum for. Further, painted pottery, grave stelai, burials, and material culture have not been con­ sidered in conjunction, with iconography usually treated separately from burials. It remains the case that children are generally invisible in domestic contexts; but that invisibility can be challenged with an approach that is informed by a stronger awareness of the material culture associated with children’s identities, which can be achieved through combined analyses of iconography and burials. That approach must investigate how childhood was conceptualised in ancient Attica and what material culture was used to construct and communicate the identities of children. It can then evaluate what the distribution of material culture in domestic and funerary contexts suggests about children’s uses of and access to domestic space, and their interactions with other members of their household

Introduction  3 and community, to reflect upon the consequences of that in terms of children’s social visibility. That evaluation, placed in light of the socio-­political trans­form­ ation attested in Athens as it developed into a democracy, makes new suggestions about the experience of childhood in ancient Greece, and also about how Athenian society managed and responded to change across the ninth to fourth centuries bce.

1.1  Defining the Context Used for self-­definition by individuals, social groups, and city states in ancient Greece, art and material culture record how their producers conceptualise the world around them (Osborne 2018: 256). Thereby diachronic changes in art styles and typologies of material culture record how societies—­including artists as members of them—­producing art and decorated objects come to see their world differently across time; it is evident in what producers emphasise in their art at certain points in time compared to in others. Analysing the changing nature of ancient Athenian art and material culture associated with children reflects upon diachronic social transformation throughout the ninth to fourth centuries bce, termed the ‘Geometric’, ‘Archaic’, and ‘Classical’ periods. These terms are somewhat arbitrary labels assigned to blocks of time in ancient Greek history—900 to 700 bce, 700 to 480/479 bce, and 480/479 to 323 bce re­spect­ive­ly—­by modern scholarship. The nomenclature is derived from styles of art produced in each period, but the fallacy of uncritically ascribing unilateral labels to all archaeological evidence types is demonstrated by the fact burials can often not be assigned to a specific era if they are dated to a period close to a point of transition. That said, notable societal differences were apparent in each of the three periods investigated, and transitions between the designated eras broadly correlate with transformations in the nature of society. Transitions from one period to another were indicative of change, though imposing strict chrono­logic­al parameters on designated eras risks creating a false impression regarding the immediacy of that change. There was not a day in 700 bce that marked the end of one period of history and the dawn of the subsequent era, though the transition from the Archaic to the Classical period is more directly associated with a specific historical event—­the sack of the city of Athens by the Persians—­if not a precise day. It is valid to speak of Geometric (Homeric), Archaic, and Classical Athenian societies as distinct, evolved from one another by means of socio-­political trans­form­ation. It is valid to investigate the similarities and differences between them. The key point is that a diachronic analysis of those similarities and differences must consider socio-­political change to be tied to the historical narrative, created by assigning chronological dates to key events and labels to nominal periods of time, but not constrained by it.

4  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens It is problematic to neatly tie patterning in the archaeological evidence to attested historical events, not least because the dating of much archaeological material is not absolute. Such attempts quickly lead to distorted interpretations and insecure arguments. An awareness of the historical background is, however, essential to contextualise any investigation of social change brought about, at least in part, as a response to transformations in the historical context. An understanding of the historical context of ninth to fourth century bce Attica is facilitated by the availability of literary sources; the earliest Greek literature, the works of Homer and Hesiod, have been dated circa 700 bce and scholars generally agree they are somewhat reflective of society then and earlier. Literary evidence suggests ninth and early eighth century society was non-­ feudal, with a free peasantry that was set apart from a—­probably aristocratic—­ elite by ascribed status, land ownership, wealth, and lifestyle (Coldstream 2004). That is difficult to confirm archaeologically, but material remains indicate society was centred around rural estates, with villages scattered throughout the landscape, and the economy was oikos-based (Dimitriadou 2019; Snodgrass 1971; see also Murray 1993: 45; Whitley 2001: 89; Langdon 2008: 10, 43; Bintliff 2012: 213). The small, self-­governing communities constituted dēmoi. Scholars have suggested that, like in Homer, hereditary basilēes stood at the head of their dēmos and used xenia to establish alliances, with gift exchange and networks of obligation (Finley 2002). Geometric art was predominantly reserved for the elite, who acted as artists’ patrons (Langdon 2008: 42). Dēmoi were apparently governed by common law, with the basileus acting as a mediator in disputes between in­di­vid­ uals (Roebuck 2000; Murray 1993: 58). In the later Geometric period, Attic basilēes became the Eupatridai and subsequently archons, who held all the major seats on the Council of the Areopagus, which seemingly rose to prominence over individual leaders and the agora in the later eighth century (Wallace 2007; Hansen 1999, especially 27–29). Dēmoi conglomerated into poleis by processes of synoikismos throughout the eighth century (Kosmetatou 2021; for examples, see Hansen and Nielsen 2005). The archaeological record, including increasing evidence of settlement activity and more burials, suggests a significant increase in the population of Attica in the midst of that coming together (Dimitriadou 2019; Morris 1987; see also Murray 1993: 65; Osborne 2009: 68–75; Pomeroy et al. 2009: 59, 125).2 By the end of the Geometric period at the close of the eighth century, Greece was made up of a number of emerging poleis: each was a distinct, self-­governing community but inter-poleis interaction and competition was increasingly commonplace as the

2  Scholars suggest the population of Athens was 10,000 in the seventh century, 20,000 by the end of the sixth, and there were up to 30,000 citizen males in Athens in the fourth century, reduced from a peak of twice that number in the early fifth century (Morris 1987; Whitley 2001; Morris 2005; Osborne 2021).

Introduction  5 Greeks congregated at panhellenic sanctuaries to participate in competitive events, such as the Olympic Games, and make dedications that proclaimed their wealth and status (Runciman 1982; Starr 1986; Murray 1990). Athens was governed by its elite, in a form of oligarchy, and intermarriage between prominent families from different poleis was common (Wallace 2007: 49). As a result, women were a political tool for forging alliances through marriage and they had a public presence in Geometric society, with agency to go freely about the settlement (Hurwit 1985; Pomeroy et al. 2009: 57). This presumably extended to children, as iconography usually associates children with women and houses were small, so activity in the domestic sphere was often public-­facing. Inter-­tribal raiding developed into more formal warfare as poleis became established and hoplite warfare emerged in the seventh century, starting the process of reducing the pre-­eminence of the aristocracy and promoting the good of the state over individual glory (Murray 1993: 135–136; Pomeroy et al. 2009: 98, 162–166; Bintliff 2012: 239–240). This was mirrored by decline in the importance of birth, with the primary index of status becoming wealth and excellence in Archaic Greece (Murray 1993: 141; Osborne 2021). Solon’s legal reforms of 594/593 bce in Athens created property classes based upon wealth, rather than birth.3 Membership of the four classes dictated eligibility for public office; the most senior positions were reserved for men from the top two classes, but all citizens could theoretically participate in the ekklēsia and be elected as jurors in the dikastēria (Solon Fragments; Cartledge 2009, especially 46–54). Solon is typically considered the founder of Athenian democracy and he is characterised as a champion of the people, who challenged the monopoly of the elite (Murray 1993: 188; Buckley 2010: 83–100). This has been questioned by some scholars, however, who suggest Solon created distinctions within the elite—­they suggest conflict amongst the Athenian elite was the impetus for Solon’s reforms—­but did not really expand eligibility for overall participation in state governance (Pomeroy et al. 2009: 128–131). In either case, Solon’s reforms were contrasted favourably with Draco’s earlier law code, which was considered acutely harsh. Scholars have suggested the severity of the 621/620 bce laws was in response to social unrest (for example, Humphreys 1991). This indicates dissatisfaction with the elitist nature of Attic society—­wherein wealth and the most productive land was concentrated in the hands of the elite—­from the later seventh century. This discontent endured throughout subsequent decades, remaining unresolved by Solon’s reforms, and culminated in the later sixth-­century Peisistratid tyrannies. Tyranny, absolute rule contrary to established laws and customs, was con­ sidered the worst form of rule in ancient Greece (Plato Republic; Aristotle 3  Solon’s reforms are termed the seisachtheis: his political reforms probably created the people’s Council of 400 and dictated that power of judgement in court cases was transferred to an assembly of the people (Murray 1993: 189–197).

6  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Politics). That said, it was prevalent in Archaic poleis: at Athens, Kylon unsuccessfully attempted to take charge as a tyrant in 632 bce and Peisistratos’ original tyranny in 560 bce was brief, though he and his sons later ruled as tyrants from 546 to 510 bce. Like elsewhere, Athenian tyranny was made feasible by discontent with, and within, the governing elite; Peisistratos was originally a populist leader who rose to prominence by criticising his peers (Andrewes 1982). Tyrannies were initially popular because they challenged the establishment, including through confiscation of land held by elites. They also produced state prosperity, which was demonstrated by intense patronage of the arts; for example, the Peisistratids tried to establish Athens as a panhellenic cultural and religious centre (Shapiro 1989). Rule by tyranny came to be detested because it typically became more brutalist over time, as did the tyrannies of Peisistratos’ sons Hippias and Hipparchos. Hipparchos’ murder in 514 bce was ultimately celebrated as a victory for democracy (Lang 1955). Resulting from continued intra-­elite strife, including the exile of 700 prom­in­ ent Athenian families by the chief archon Isagoras with assistance from King Kleomenes of Sparta, the 508/507 bce reforms of Kleisthenes are often cited as a major step towards true democracy in Athens (Ostwald 1969; Siewert 1982). They demonstrate a key concern with establishing and demonstrating rights to citizenship of the polis set against the context of early citizenship lists dated to circa 510–500 bce. Kleisthenes’ reforms divided Attic society into ten phylai that each comprised three geographical trittyes; one based in the city, one in the countryside and one at the coast. Each trittys was a conglomeration of dēmoi, of which there were around 139 in the fifth century. New male citizens were admitted to their deme at age 18, and membership was hereditary (Cartledge 2009, especially 55–64). Kleisthenes’ reforms reduced the power of the elite and extended rights to citizenship compared to the earlier phratry system, which was oikos-based and fundamentally elitist (Lambert 1993). They expanded Solon’s Council of 400 to create a Council of 500, to reflect the expansion of the citizen body; whereas the Council of 400 had been dominated by elite ex-­magistrates, seats on the Council of 500 were distributed throughout the demes Kleisthenes established (Osborne 1985, compare Whitehead 1986; Develin and Kilmer 1997). Fundamentally, Athenian society remained a form of oligarchy until the turn of the fifth century, when reforms following Kleisthenes removed barriers to participation in politics and concentrated power in the hands of boulēs no longer dominated by aristocrats and the wealthiest members of society (Osborne 2018: 213–214; 2021: 212–218). It is arguable that true democracy post-­dated Kleisthenes however, because it was Perikles who introduced pay for jury service, thereby removing a significant barrier to participation in state government for poorer citizens, in the later fifth century (Aristotle Athenian Constitution 27.2–3; Plutarch Pericles 9.3; Lyttkens and Gerding 2018).

Introduction  7 Archaic Greek society was the world of the established polis, recurrent tyranny, legal reform, and hoplite warfare. Different poleis were governed differently, and each polis had its own distinct cultural identity, but panhellenic identity was fostered by increased activity at panhellenic sanctuaries. Inter-poleis associations established by individuals seeking outside support, cultivated by tyrannies, and fostered by coalitions forged to fight outside threats including the Persians, resulted in escalating tensions between city-­state particularism and panhellenism, especially in the sixth century (Hall 2002; Mitchell 2007). Archaic Attica was swept by attempts at, and periods of, tyranny interspersed with legal reforms that looked to address the socio-­ political issues arising from tensions between attempts to preserve elite values and a desire to embrace egalitarian democratic principles (Cartledge 2009, especially 41–64). Those reforms reduced the pol­it­ ical value of women but opened up citizenship rights to more children with each successive generation. Athens was very often at war throughout the fifth and fourth centuries bce. The Athenians led the Greek victory in the Persian War (499–449 bce), with their naval strength constituting a key determining factor in the success. As a result, despite the destruction of the city in 480 bce, Athens benefitted significantly and prospered as a consequence of conflict with the Persians. The Delian League, established in the aftermath of the war to protect Greece from the threat of Persia, was headed by Athens, to whom other member states paid tribute (Low 2008a, especially chapters by Giovanni, Kallet-­Marx, and Osborne). The power and wealth leadership of the League conferred upon Athens facilitated the establishment of the Athenian Empire in 449 bce, which endured into the late fifth century; the Peace of Nicias between Athens and Sparta in 421 bce allowed the Athenians to retain their empire (Rahe 2008). The Delian League’s wealth was centralised in Athens in 454 bce when its treasury was relocated from Delphi and the Chalcis Decree of 446 bce (IG3 40) suggests Athens held basically imperial power over allied states in the League, because they swore allegiance to Athens, not the confederation (Meiggs 2008). Leagues established in the fifth and fourth centuries demonstrated continued allegiance between poleis that were united by panhellenic values, though they were increasingly divided by their city-­state particularism throughout the Classical period. That particularism culminated in inter-­Greek conflicts like the Peloponnesian Wars in the fifth century (Osborne 2009: 270–275). Defeat in the Peloponnesian War marked a decline in the Athenian prosperity that was triggered by their successes in the preceding Persian War; Athens was forced to give up its navy, which constituted the bedrock of its fifth-­century powerbase, and consequently its empire, in 404/403 bce (Kagan 2013; Low 2008b). Socio-­politically, the wars of the fifth century resulted in a greater desire for democratic power on the part of the general populace: citizens from lower social

8  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens classes were instrumental in facilitating Athens’ martial successes because many of the rowers in the Athenian navy were from the lower social orders (Raaflaub 2007: 122). The importance of the military capabilities of archon candidates also increased, given the state was so frequently at war: this resulted in the rise of stratēgoi and the power of the Council of the Areopagus declining (Hansen 1999, especially 288–295). Ephialtes’ reforms of 461 bce compounded this. Ephialtes and his follower Perikles abolished the Council and replaced it with a system in which Athens was governed by the ekklēsia, hēliaia, and boulē; accountability to the people was a key pillar of this new system of governance (Cartledge 2009, especially 55–64; Raaflaub 2007). More responsibilities were allocated to the Assembly, which met more frequently, and jurors in the People’s Court were subsequently elected by lot and paid for their time. This moved Athens closer towards the ideals of dēmokratia: isēgoria and isonomia (Osborne 2009: 288). Elite dissatisfaction with the political system, and concerns about dēmokratia’s fitness to govern at times of crisis—­demonstrated by Athens’ lack of success in the Peloponnesian War—­resulted in a brief resurgence of oligarchic rule around 411 bce and in 404/403 bce. In 411/410 bce Athens was fleetingly governed by elite councils, the Rule of 400 and subsequently the Rule of 5,000, whereby those in power chose those that stood alongside them. Tyranny, in the form of the Regime of the Thirty Tyrants, briefly returned to Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian War in 404/403 bce; the regime was sympathetic to Spartan influence and sought to remove the Athenian elite (Krentz 1982). The systems proved unsustainable, probably because they excluded thetes, who were a major resource in war and had therefore been instrumental in the activity of the polis throughout the fifth century, from politics (Raaflaub 2007). The rise of dēmagōgoi around 430 bce was an earlier indication of the fact that by the later fifth century the general populace of Athens appreciated dēmokratia. Dēmagōgoi were typically from non-­elite backgrounds and the fact of their power being rooted in their appealing to the masses demonstrates the increased desire for democratisation in Athenian politics in the Classical period (Finley 1962). The ultimate urbanisation of ancient Greece was complete by the Classical period, when significant proportions of poleis’ populations lived within major settlements and society was city-­centred (Hansen 2006; Mitchell and Rhodes 1997; Andersen et al. 1997). In Athens, this process was concentrated by events of the Peloponnesian War; Perikles encouraged citizens of Attica to move within the walled confines of the city of Athens for protection from Spartan incursions in the surrounding countryside (Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War 2.14–16). This exacerbated the effects of the plague outbreak in 430 bce, which ultimately resulted in the death of up to one-­third of the population (Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War 2.47–58, 3.87). Archaeological and literary evidence suggests this urbanisation of Attic society resulted in the greater seclusion of women, at least women of more affluent families, as an ideal (for example, see

Introduction  9 Lewis 2002, especially 137–141; Pomeroy 1975: 71–73). Perikles’ citizenship law of 451 bce is also an often-­cited factor in this: the law restricted citizenship rights to children of two Athenian parents, which led to increased concern with the fidelity of citizen wives, as well as the cessation of inter-poleis alliances through marriage (Aristotle Athenian Constitution 26.3; Plutarch Pericles 37.2–5; Demand 1994: 148). It has also been associated with an increased focus on oikos privacy, demonstrated by the inward-­facing nature of fifth-­century houses. The law was instituted to reduce the number of men with citizenship eligible to join the ekklēsia, which had increased significantly following the reforms of Kleisthenes: scholars have suggested the number of recognised Athenian citizens doubled across the first half of the fifth century (Osborne 2018: 217). Throughout the fifth century, war and death in battle became realities of everyday life (Osborne 2018: 119). As a consequence, despite citizenship reform, the later fifth century saw major depopulation in Athens: scholars have suggested the population of the polis in 403 bce was half of the size it was in 432/431 bce (Pomeroy et al. 2009: 254–255; Hornblower 2011: 209; see Akrigg 2019 and Hansen 1985). This was the result of plague outbreaks and difficulties with securing provisions because localised agriculture had been decimated in the Archidamian War, as well as death in battle. The state was subsequently under pressure to provide support, including for war widows and orphans (Aristotle Athenian Constitution 1268a8; Dillon 1995: 29). This probably led to women having an increasing public presence, because they would be needed to work beyond the confines of their oikos, given the reduced number of adult males in the population (for example, Xenophon Memorabilia 2.7; see Kosmopoulou 2001; Brock 1994). With steady population growth in the peace that followed the Peloponnesian Wars, Athens experienced a return to some prosperity in the fourth century and once again became a leading cultural centre in Greece in the 370s bce (Hornblower 2011: 209). Athenian security was again threatened by war, however, after Philip II ascended to the throne of Macedon in 360 bce. Athens was opposed to Philip, and constituted part of the Greek resistance to his incursions: war formally broke out between the Athenians and Philip in 340 bce. Philip invaded Athens in 338 bce but was lenient in victory (Roebuck 1948). His son Alexander subsequently used Athens’ naval capabilities in his campaigns against the Persians and in Asia (Diodorus Siculus Library of History 17.22.5; Hornblower 2011: 295–296), before Athens became part of the Hellenistic world, under the Antigonids, after Alexander’s death in 323 bce (Worthington 2020). Whereas the Archaic period was characterised by threats from within the polis, resultant of civic strife, and threats from beyond the Greek world, particularly the Persians, much of the Classical fifth century was characterised by inter-poleis conflict. Whereas the Archaic period, and the Geometric period before it, had witnessed the importance of the individual, the Classical period saw a greater

10  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens unity of the state in the face of threats to polis autonomy and identity (Osborne 2018: 252). In particular, tension between Athens and Sparta was prevalent from the time of the Persian War, culminating in the Peloponnesian Wars of 460 to 445 bce and 431 to 404 bce. The stance on Sparta was a determining factor in the fate of several politicians and the outcome of various political conflicts in fifth-­century Athens; for example, Kimon was a victim of the Athenian ostracism system in 462/461 bce as a consequence of his pro-­Spartan sentiments (Buckley 2010: 214, 220). Defining a polis by what it was in contradiction to other poleis became common, in detriment to panhellenic sentiment. Panhellenism was resurgent in the late Classical period, when poleis were united in their opposition to Philip of Macedon. Throughout the Classical period, outside threats served to unite the Greeks, whilst peace with outsiders left Greece open to inter-poleis strife, pitting Greeks against Greeks and resulting in each polis being keen to establish its own, distinct identity. At Athens, that identity was bound up with the concept of dēmokratia, which, theoretically, gave each citizen man an equal right in speech and before law to express a view as to how the polis of Athens was to be governed and how Athenian identity was to be defined. Athenian women and children remained at the mercy of their patrilineal and patriarchal society, which often defined their identities for them.

1.2  Outlining the Evidence Children were characterised in iconography, formally buried, and discussed in ancient literature throughout the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods, presenting extensive data that can be analysed to understand the material cultures of children and childhood in ancient Athens. Geometric painted pottery and burials inform upon the Geometric period (900–700 bce). Black-­figure painted pottery, grave stelai, and burials inform upon the Archaic period (700–480/479 bce). Red-­figure painted pottery, white-­ground painted pottery, grave stelai, and bur­ ials inform upon the Classical period (480/479–323 bce). Geometric painted pottery, red-­ figure, and black-­ figure iconography predominantly inform upon material culture associated with children during their lives. White-­ ground painted pottery, grave stelai, and burials inform upon material culture associated with children in funerary contexts, which is often also connected to children in life, as well as being associated with them upon and following death. The material culture associated with children across all these evidence types can inform upon the identities of children in domestic contexts and across the extended life course. The distribution and evidence for use of children’s material culture can be evaluated to elucidate children’s use of and access to domestic space and the relative visibility of children in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical society as a consequence. Likewise, comparative analyses of the

Introduction  11 typology of material culture associated with children in corporeal and funerary contexts can be evaluated to understand the social impact of the death of children in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Attica and to investigate if, and how, children’s identities were conceptualised in terms of an extended life course in ancient Greece. This explores the possibility that children’s identities could be transformed—­rather than just commemorated—­after death, being prolonged and/or projected, when embodied life courses were curtailed in certain circumstances. The extended life course concept acknowledges that existence—­and thereby some form of identity—­does not necessarily begin at physical birth and end at biological death: when life begins and ends, and the nature of being that precedes and follows life, vary according to the ontological beliefs of a society (DeVries 1981: 1074–1076; Hallam et al. 1999: 2; Hockey and Draper 2005: 44–45; Gilchrist 2012: 1; Degnen 2018: 57–59). Individuals can have an identity before they are born; they can also retain an identity after they die because identity is dynamic and multi-­faceted: it is defined by society, rather than dictated or confined by nature. For that reason, identity does not have to be embodied and is not necessarily extinguished by biological death, though it is unquestionably changed by the transition. Post-­mortem identities can endure in various ways, including in the memories and imagination of the living. The living give agency to the dead, and in doing so prolong the deceased’s identity. The extended life course proposes that identities of the dead can be prolonged and projected, such that the living imagine the deceased continues to progress through the life course. The dead can be moved further along the life course than they had progressed in an embodied sense, whilst alive; for example, children can be interred with the accoutrements of adulthood that they would have used in life had they survived to maturity. Much work on the extended life course has its foundations in soci­ ology, but since the pioneering work of Hockey and Draper (2005), the per­tin­ ence of the approach has been recognised more broadly, including in archaeology. That said, consideration of the extended life course is conspicuous by its absence in analyses of ancient Greece, a society that clearly conceptualised existence as extending beyond the boundaries of physiological birth and death. An ex­plor­ ation of how far children were thought to have identities that could endure and be transformed, beyond the boundaries of physical birth and biological death in Attica during the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods (Gooch 2024), indicates how far society’s inclination to celebrate children, acknowledge their social value, and recognise their extended life courses was impacted by transformation in the socio-­political situation in Athens across the ninth to fourth centuries bce. Evaluation of this presents a new perspective on how ancient Athenian society responded to some of the major transformations in its history. Holistic analyses of children’s material culture, their social visibility, and the societal impact of their deaths provides an innovative opportunity to draw conclusions about the

12  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens experiences and significance of children and childhood with reflection upon diachronic change and societal transformation.

1.3  Introducing the Enquiry Ultimately, the low visibility of children in most existing research on ancient Greece is a significant problem, which only holistic and diachronic approaches that evaluate multiple evidence types can hope to overcome (Beaumont, Dillon, and Harrington 2021b: 1).4 A focus upon the material culture used to construct children’s identities sets out to address these visibility issues, especially relative to domestic contexts and social change. Using a holistic approach provides a much-­ needed tool for identifying and interpreting the presence of children, particularly in the archaeological record. I explore how children’s use of material culture resulted in archaeological deposits, which suggest, in response to Kamp, that children have not necessarily gone anywhere: they are there to be found in the archaeological and historical records of ancient Greece, provided they are looked for in the right way, making full use of the evidence available. As Susan Langdon (2021: 179) has recently argued, we need to anticipate archaeological evidence for children ‘rather than setting a prohibitively high bar of proof ’. To identify children’s material culture, I consult major published records of iconography and burials to identify objects individuals conforming to the criteria outlined in Table 2.3 are associated with; either that they are repeatedly buried with as associated funerary objects or are shown with in iconography.5 In burials, I focus on objects that do not have distinct purposes that would practically preclude their use by children. In iconography, I focus on objects held by or making contact with children and those depicted in scenes with lone children. Through quantifying6 the associations between children and objects, I determine those that have prevalent associations with children across multiple evidence types to be children’s material culture. I also suggest that finding children can help with finding a new perspective on wider issues relative to how ancient Athenian society responded to some of the major transformations in its history. In seeking this new perspective, the aims are three-­fold; to establish the material cultures of children and childhood in ancient Attica, identifying examples of material culture that were used to construct and 4  See Lillehammer (2015b) on the importance of using inter- and multi-­disciplinary approaches to investigate children’s identities and use of space. 5  For pottery: primarily Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum and the Beazley Archive Pottery Database, as well as Langdon (2015a); Rombos (1988); and Ahlberg (1971). For stelai: primarily Conze (1893, 1900, 1906, 1911–1922) and Clairmont (1993). For burials: Kerameikos volumes; Thorikos volumes; Mylonas (1975); the Agora database; the AiGO database; and journals AA, AAA, AC, ADelt., AM, and BCH. 6  Data analysis, including filtering and tabulating, of evidence catalogues: see Appendix.

Introduction  13 communicate the identities of children throughout the ninth to fourth centuries; to explore the nature of children’s identities as they were evidenced materially in domestic and funerary contexts, leading to an evaluation of the visibility of children in society; to evaluate the extent to which children had recognised social identities before they were born and after they died, and if their identities were projected further along the normative life course when they died in childhood throughout the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods. This new perspective facilitates reflection upon how major socio-­political change impacted the iden­ tities of ancient Greek children that lived and died in its midst. It opens up the possibility of investigating how the adoption of democracy, the effects of socio-­ political unrest, and the cultivation of a distinctly Athenian identity impacted how Attic society conceptualised and valued children. Using it, we can ask what was the nature of children’s identities in the extended life course; how did that change over time, in accordance with how ancient Attic society conceptualised and valued children, and what motivated the changes? Experiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens: Material Culture, Iconography, Burials, and Social Identity in the 9th to 4th Centuries BCE. Emma Gooch, Oxford University Press. © Emma Gooch 2025. DOI: 10.1093/9780198949152.003.0001

2

Material Culture, Iconography and Burials A New Methodology for Exploring Childhood in the Past

Childhood is a cross-­cultural life stage, though the experience of being a child is far from universal. That childhood constitutes a discernible trajectory in every life course has been recognised and explored in philosophy since the ‘Age of Enlightenment’.1 However, only some more recent social commentaries have acknowledged that children’s experiences, as well as those of adults, must be considered to present nuanced understandings of identities and social relations in past and contemporary cultures. General textbooks on ancient Greece do not comment on children to any significant extent; the terms ‘child(ren)’, ‘boy(s)’, and ‘girl(s)’ are not even included in the indexes of most volumes.2 This says much about the lack of integration between the disciplines of Greek archaeology and the archaeology of childhood; there remains substantial work to be done to render children truly visible in scholarship on ancient Greek society.

2.1  Childhood in the Past: A Growing Discipline Historical disciplines recognised the importance of considering children and childhood in the mid- to late twentieth century; the publication of Philippe Ariès’ Centuries of Childhood: A Social History of Family Life in the 1960s (1960 in the original French; the English translation was produced in 1962) stands as an often-­ cited turning point.3 Ariès’ work on French history was fundamental in highlighting the need to consider children, but some of his conclusions, demonstrably distorted by ethnocentrism, are now questionable. Ariès suggested high infant 1  For example, works of Jean-­Jacques Rousseau focused on the education of children. See Wolff (2013) on Rousseau and the impact of Enlightenment on conceptualisations of children and childhood. Wolff (2013: 83) highlights that, in art, children were portrayed naturalistically from the Renaissance period, before the Enlightenment. 2  For example, Snodgrass (1987); Murray (1993); Osborne (2009); Buckley (2010); Hornblower (2011); Mee (2011); Neer (2012); Barringer (2015). 3  See Wilson (1980) for a review of Ariès. See Cunningham (1998) on the legacy of Ariès’ work.

Material Culture, Iconography and Burials  15 mortality rates in the past led to lesser parental attachment to children.4 This is now considered a largely unfounded generalisation, and evidence from Greece demonstrates careful treatment of many children, including the youngest infants, and an, at times, marked interest in childhood. This contradicts another tenet of Ariès’ argument; that the distinct characteristics of childhood were not recognised by ancient societies. In methodological terms, however, Ariès established the useful precedent of using both pictorial and literary evidence to investigate childhood in the past: I follow him in this respect, consulting literary sources and analysing iconography, in conjunction with archaeological evidence, to investigate childhood in ancient Greece. In social sciences concerned with contemporary evidence, including anthropology, ethnography, and psychology, significant work on childhood appeared earlier in the twentieth century. Margaret Mead (1928; 1930) pioneered the anthropology of childhood, which has since been developed by scholars including Charlotte Hardman (1973) and David Lancy (2015). Mead and her followers argue though childhood is universal, it is experienced differently in different cultures. Thereby, anthropology highlights the need to investigate the nature of childhood in context; it also clarifies that it is cross-­culturally valid to study the experiences of children. In ethnography, Arnold van Gennep scrutinised the ritualised socialisation of children in his seminal work Les rites de passage, published in French in 1909 and still relevant in 1960 when it was translated into English. Melanie Klein (1932; 1961) pioneered the psychoanalysis of children and identified the importance of social development in early infancy.5 She developed an ‘object relations theory’ that explores the roles of interpersonal relationships and interactions with objects in socialising children (1923; 1975). In Klein’s theory, ‘objects’ are actually individuals, or parts of them—­ for example a mother’s breast—­that children interact with. I investigate inanimate objects children interacted with in ancient Greece, which are now pieces of archaeological and iconographical evidence. Analyses of the objects suggest the nature of interpersonal relationships and strategies of socialisation, which are observed directly by ­scholars like Klein and van Gennep but can only be inferred in archaeological and historical investigations. Anthropological, ethnographic, and psy­cho­ana­lyt­ ic­al considerations of contemporary children provide points of reference as to col­lect­ive characteristics of childhood that can support investigations of children’s experiences in the past, wherein the perspectives of the subjects themselves are

4  Research in subsequent decades often maintained Ariès’ stance: for example, introducing a chapter on the evolution of childhood deMause claimed ‘the further back in history one goes, the lower the level of childcare’ (1974b: 1). The chapter was one of ten in a volume edited by deMause that explored childhood in a range of socio-­historical contexts. Psychoanalyst Erikson recognised the pitfalls of ethno­cen­trism in his monograph on the social significance of childhood (1951), but his arguments were unacknowledged by Ariès and chapters in deMause (1974a). 5  See Melanie Klein Trust (2020) on Klein’s work and the legacy of her research.

16 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens typically unavailable. An exploration of material culture used by, and directly associated with, children is an attempt to access that elusive perspective; to investigate the experiences of children and define the nature of childhood in a context far removed from those available for first-­hand observation. Scholarship on childhood in the past emerged on a significant scale throughout the last decade of the twentieth century,6 but research initially continued to ask broad, relatively simple questions such as ‘where are the children?’ (Sofaer-­ Derevenski 1994a), and to highlight ‘missing stages of life’ (Chamberlain 1997) or those stages that remained difficult to discern in past societies (for example, see Kleijwegt 1991 on adolescence in ancient Greece). Subsequent publications explored the ‘history of children’ (Colón 2001), ‘the world of children’ (Lillehammer 2000) and ‘child’s play’ (Wilkie 2000); they supported Kamp (2001) in demonstrating that the fundamental question ‘where have all the children gone?’ was still a pertinent one at the turn of the twenty-­first century. The ‘archaeological child’ was born in the aftermath of Grete Lillehammer’s pioneering 1989 article and a number of archaeological studies focused upon childhood emerged in subsequent decades.7 Lillehammer (1989; 2000) recognised the need to investigate children to facilitate better understandings of the transference of cultural traditions; highlighting the importance of considering the impact of social change on children, as well as adults, which I also explore.8 Yet the archaeology of childhood made slow progress and was still considered an emergent field of scholarship until the early years of the twenty-­first century (Lillehammer 2000; Kamp 2015). Most early scholarship focused on outlining why the ‘invisibility’ of children in foregone scholarship was an oversight that required redress; it struggled to move beyond the argument that children were visible in the past, if they were looked for (Roveland 1997).9 It rarely suggested how they could be looked for, nor explored how they could be incorporated into broader research strategies when ‘found’. As Joanna Sofaer-­Derevenski (1994a: 8) appraised, early studies in the archaeology of childhood were ‘random and [only] descriptive’. 6  Lillehammer (1989: 89) and Cunningham (1998: 1195) suggest this was resultant of increasing social concern about how to raise children in the Western world in the later twentieth century. In scholarship, it was linked to trends in feminism and gender studies, which foregrounded investigations of family life. 7  See Lillehammer (2015a) for reflection on her ground-­breaking article and the growth of the discipline. Progress made incorporating children into discourse on past societies has also been reviewed at regular intervals by others (see Rawson 2005; Becker 2006; Baxter 2008). 8  Lillehammer remains one of the foremost scholars on the archaeology of childhood; frequently proposing and reviewing methodological approaches to investigating the ‘world of children’ (especially 2000). She stresses the importance of ‘child-­centred narratives’ (Lillehammer 2010a; 2010b; 2012; 2018). Other early research on the archaeologies of children and childhood often focused upon material culture, concentrating upon toys because they were ‘objects most obviously associated with children’ (Crawford et al. 2018b: 4). 9  See Moore and Scott (1997) on incorporating previously overlooked groups into analyses of the past, especially section three on ‘invisible’ children.

Material Culture, Iconography and Burials  17 By the end of the first decade of the twenty-­first century, once ‘invisible’ children from the past were becoming visible once again in historical and arch­aeo­logic­al research investigating their lives and experiences (Sofaer 2015).10 The topicality of investigating past childhoods was demonstrated by the establishment of the Society for the Study of Childhood in the Past (SSCIP) in 2005–2007.11 The range of historical periods and cultures investigated under the aegis of childhood in the past studies since then is demonstrated by the range of topics covered in the SSCIP’s journal contributions and the broad scope of sources compiled in Vuolanto et al.’s (2018) extensive subject bibliography. Some of the SSCIP’s founding principles were that historical childhoods must be investigated because children were numerically dominant in past societies and all members of any society have some experience of childhood (Crawford and Lewis 2008: 13). These justifications combine with Lillehammer’s to emphasise the importance of investigating children when investigating the past. Moving forward, there remains significant room for centralising children in investigations of the past and for exploring their experiences of society as distinct from those of their adult contemporaries (following Lillehammer 2000; 2015a). There is also still a need to develop theoretical approaches to support this; to establish the place of children in archaeological theory as well as archaeological practice (following papers in Coşkunsu 2015; Kamp 2015). I look to address those needs here by using a child-­ centred narrative and an inter-­disciplinary methodology. Since the SSCIP was founded the discipline it represents has expanded consistently, producing a steadily increasing academic discourse in archaeology, ancient history, classics, and related disciplines. This is evident in the significant increase in the number of dedicated academic conferences in recent years and the ever-­expanding range of topics covered in conference proceedings and edited volumes. Recent conference activity has broadened the scope of research on childhood in the past and encouraged inter-­disciplinary working (for example, Coşkunsu 2015). At the same time, edited volumes, and handbooks on childhood in the past have become increasingly common place. The Oxford Handbook of Childhood and Education in the Classical World was published in 2013 and was supplemented by The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of Childhood in 2018. The Routledge History of Childhood in the Western World was produced in 2013 and a more recent Routledge volume, Children in Antiquity (2021), has shifted the focus on to the experiences of children in the ancient world. The range

10  Hawes and Hiner (1991), Colón (2001), and Wileman (2005) produced historical overviews of childhood, which highlight its distinct nature in each culture. 11  The Society was established within the Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity at Birmingham University, and has produced a bi-­annual journal, Childhood in the Past, since 2008. It also produces a monograph series and organises a yearly international conference. See Crawford and Lewis (2008) on the founding of the Society; see Murphy (2017) on the progress of the Society in its first ten years. See SSCIP (2023).

18 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens of  contributions in these handbooks and other edited volumes, including Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood (1997), Hoping for Continuity (2005), Children, Childhood and Society (2007), and Rethinking the Little Ancestor (2011), demonstrates the importance and potential of inter-­disciplinary methodologies. Nonetheless, Classical archaeology has been reluctant to engage with multi-­ disciplinarity. Embracing it, looking to archaeology, ancient history, and classics as well as architectural and sociological theory for a methodology that consults literary sources and evaluates iconographic and archaeological evidence to investigate children’s identities in ancient Attica, creates a focus on children’s experiences. In the last thirty years, research on childhood in the past has demonstrated an acute focus upon defining and categorising the stages of childhood (see Fahlander 2011; Parkin 2013). Research has also explored the gendered identities of children; investigating how and when gender norms and social values were introduced to children in past societies (James 1998; Dickmann 2006; Sánchez Romero 2008; see below on the work of Beaumont). Sofaer-­Derevenski has evaluated the role of material culture in helping children to learn gender norms and has emphasised the need to understand the nature of children and childhood in each socio-­historical context specifically to identify its universalities and its culturally specific characteristics (1994a; 1994b; 1997a; 1997b; Sofaer 2015). She (2000b) stresses that there are distinctions between ‘the child’ and ‘childhood’ (see also Korbin 2003). The distinctions Sofaer-­Derevenski makes are especially pertinent in underlining that the materiality of children is not necessarily the materiality of childhood. This mitigates the limitations of object association methodologies, which have been widely criticised in their basic form (for example in gender studies by Conkey and Spector 1984). As I explore them here, the material culture of children is the full range of objects used by children, whether societal norms exclusively associated them with childhood or not. The material culture of childhood comprises objects solely affiliated with non-­adults, which are more difficult to isolate with certainty archaeologically. Historical archaeology12 has clarified the role of children in moulding material culture assemblages that have typically been unilaterally associated with adults. Laurie Wilkie (2000) argued material culture used by children requires evaluation as statements made by children, rather than by-­products of adults’ actions relative to children. Wilkie’s statements apply to historical archaeology, but they are equally applicable to ancient contexts. I apply that new perspective to the archaeological record of the ancient past, looking to identify material culture of which children were the primary users and/or ­creators, to evaluate it as statements of children’s identity. Jane Eva Baxter (2005a; 2005b; Baxter and Ellis 2018), investigating historic America, produces seminal 12  That is, the archaeology of the modern world, ad 1400 to present (The Society for Historical Archaeology 2023).

Material Culture, Iconography and Burials  19 work on the archaeology of childhood that has established methodologies that can be adapted for use in pre-­historical contexts. For ex­ample, she has ascertained that ‘children do not use space in random fashions because they interact with a material world that is filled with messages and meanings that shape their behaviour’ (Baxter 2008: 169).13 Baxter (2000; 2005c) has analysed the distribution of objects distinctly identified as children’s toys in nineteenth-­ century America; at four of five of her case-­study sites the distribution of the objects demonstrated patterning that was distinct from that of other items. This demonstrates the viability of using the distribution of material culture to inform upon the activities of children in domestic settings. I apply a similar methodology to more ancient contexts here. Baxter emphasises the need to consider the range of ­e vidence types available to overcome ethnocentric biases and truly see children in the past as actors, rather than passive spectators, in society (2005c; 2008). I use a range of literary, iconographic, and archaeological sources and materials to contextualise analyses of children’s relationships with their society, evaluating children’s interactions with material culture to understand how far they were active participants, rather than passive observers, in ancient Athenian society.

2.2  Children and Childhoods in Ancient Greece Starting in the 1970s and gaining momentum throughout the two subsequent decades, Classical archaeology, ancient history, and classics recognised the need to consider children following work in gender studies, which highlighted that past societies were not solely comprised of the adult male citizens that were the traditional focus of scholarship; ancient cultures consisted of whole demographics—­ including children—­that must be considered to produce truly reflective and nuanced interpretations. Early research explored the roles of women and children by considering the home lives of male citizens (for example, see Lacey 1968). Examinations of family life have remained prominent in research on childhood in the past (Evans Grubbs and Parkin 2013: 3–5).14 With a new focus in terms of  context, I explore how children interacted with their families in domestic environments, given young children especially would spend most of their lives in the company of their families within their oikoi. I also reflect upon how children’s identities were constructed by members of their family circle, particularly their mothers as their primary caregivers.

13 In anthropology, Toren (1990; 1993) has demonstrated children and adults understand the nature and use of space differently; children’s understandings of concepts are typically inverted compared to adults’. 14 See A Cultural History of Childhood and Family in six volumes: the first volume, edited by Harlow and Laurence (2010), focuses on antiquity.

20 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Greek archaeology pre-­empted associated disciplines: its first considerations of childhood in ancient Greece emerged in the earlier twentieth century, though the discipline was subsequently slow to develop. Early publications focused on iconography, which is unsurprising given the Greeks were one of the first ancient cultures to depict children naturalistically. The publications were, for the most part, catalogues of juvenile-­centric art with thematic commentaries (Lafargue 2017; see Klein 1932; van Hoorn 1951; Beck 1975; Jenkins and Bird 1980).15 Iconographic investigation remains predominant in the archaeology of ancient Greek childhood; for example, more than 75% of the papers in Cohen and Rutter’s Constructions of Childhood in Ancient Greece and Italy, a key edited volume on the subject, present arguments supported by iconographical analyses. The prevalence of research investigating iconography is evident in German as well as Anglophone scholarship (see Rühfel 1984a; 1984b; 1988; see below on work by Seifert).16 Recent German scholarship has frequently been inter-­ disciplinary, considering both iconography and ancient literature (Crelier 2008; Stark 2012).17 Viktoria Räuchle (2017) has recently used analyses of both to argue for greater consideration of emotions—­and the interplay between them and societal norms and expectations—­in investigations of ancient child- and mother-­ hood.18 Most iconography-­based analyses of ancient Greek childhood focus upon painted pottery, but grave stelai and votive reliefs are also investigated.19 Funerary iconography and burials are typically treated separately, though both inform upon ancient Greek mortuary practices.20 For example, Christiane Sourvinou-­ Inwood’s fundamental Reading Greek Death focuses upon interpreting funerary practices as systems of behaviour. She analyses iconography, on vases and grave stelai, but barely consults burial evidence. In contrast, Sanne Houby-­Nielsen’s extensive engagement with Greek burials (1992; 1995; 1996; 1997; 2000) gives 15 See Lafargue (2017) for a detailed scholarship review and an extensive multi-­ lingual bibliography. 16 See Oakley’s (2008; 2014) reviews of recent iconographic studies. See also Schnapp (1997), which considers children in ancient Greece from a historical perspective but investigates the ‘images of young people’. See also Bradley (2013), which constitutes a classics-­based investigation of childhood but looks at ‘images of childhood in classical antiquity’. 17 See Schlegelmilch (2009) comparing Greek iconography and literature to Egyptian art and mythology in Hellenistic contexts. 18  Children’s close bond with their mothers are demonstrated from as early as the Mycenaean period, in evidence including Linear B tablets (Langdon 2021: 179). See Moraw (2021) and Waite and Gooch (2023) on depictions of motherhood in Athenian vase painting and motivations for its under-­ representation. See Pepe (2018) on the argument that emphasis was placed on women producing children rather than mothering them. See Reboreda Morillo (2018) on the irrelevancy of the mother-­ child bond in defining a child’s social status in Athens. Children were ultimately defined by their relationships with their fathers in Attic law (Pepe 2018), though adoption legally detached a child only from their father and not their mother (Hatzilambrou 2021: 65–66). 19  On grave stelai, see Margariti (especially 2018/2020) and Burnett Grossman (especially 2007). On votive reliefs, see Seifert (2006a) and Lawton (2007). 20 Focus on iconography: Mertens (1977); Vermeule (1979); Hirsch-­ D yczek (1983); Morris (1992/1993); Oakley (2003; 2004); Burnett Grossman (2007); Closterman (2007); Langdon (2015a). Focus on burials: Houby-­Nielsen (2000); Lagia (2007).

Material Culture, Iconography and Burials  21 little consideration to funerary iconography on pottery and stelai. John Oakley (2003) has summarised the evidence available in terms of grave goods and icon­ og­raphy, but here I seek to go beyond that, presenting in-­depth broad-­spectrum analyses of both, with iconographical analyses of scenes on painted pottery and grave stelai and typological analyses of burials and the grave offerings within them at the centre of the methodology adopted. Children’s participation in ritual activity in ancient Greece has been explored by various scholars, often using iconographic evidence. Many investigations focus on children’s involvement with the Anthesteria festival (for example, Karouzou 1946; van Hoorn 1951; Green 1961; Bazant 1975; Stern 1978; Hamilton 1992; Raepsaet and Decocq 1997; Bron 2003; Gex 2003; Ham 1999; 2006; Seifert 2008). They present evaluations of red-­figure choes, most of which are decorated with scenes of children, that are typically associated with a rite of passage ­celebrated at the festival. Depictions of children on choes are analysed here for a number of reasons, besides them being by far the most prolifically available form of iconographic evidence; the Anthesteria commemorated children joining their society, and may have been celebrated in household contexts,21 and in any case choic iconography often depicts generic scenes from children’s lives rather than festival activity. My focus is upon the lives of children in secular—­particularly household—­contexts because their day-­to-­day lives are under-­explored in existing scholarship, which has dismissed children as ‘invisible’ or ‘inaccessible’ in domestic settings. Previous research on children in domestic contexts is minimal, not only relative to ancient Greece, but more generally in childhood in the past studies. Various papers in Ault and Nevett’s (2005) seminal edited volume on Greek households were revolutionary in considering marginalised groups (see Trümper 2005; Nevett 2005b) including metics (Tsakirgis 2005), the poor, and the homeless (Ault 2005b), but children were not considered. Annika Backe-­Dahmen (2010) evaluated spaces children were permitted entry to as they passed through stages of socialisation in ancient Greece, but her focus was generally on public spaces. Instead, I focus on children’s access to space in private, domestic contexts. As a result of the dearth of literature on children in ancient domestic contexts, my methodology looks to investigations of the same theme—­children’s experiences in the domestic sphere—­in historical contexts (for example, Calvert 1992; Baxter 2000; 2005c), which often focus upon identifying the material signatures of children’s activities. Catalogues of material culture associated with children in ancient Greece have been produced at infrequent intervals, including; André’s (1991a) publication of artefacts exhibited at the Musée d’Archéologie Méditerranéenne in Marseille and Neils and Oakley’s (2003a) publication of an exhibition at the Hood Museum of 21  As one of few festivals celebrated by families, rather than gender-­specific groups (Humphreys 1983: 16).

22 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Art at Dartmouth University, New Hampshire. The Neils and Oakley volume marked a point of departure; the catalogue is supplemented by substantial discursive chapters exploring children’s experiences and relationships in ancient Greece, using the catalogued objects as examples. The chapters are key sources that meaningfully moved forward attempts to understand the societal roles of children and their places in the relationship webs that constituted Greek society. Both Neils and Oakley (2003a) and Cohen and Rutter’s (2007) later edited volume were fundamental in advancing research on childhood in ancient Greece, emphasising the need to investigate the lives and experiences of children, not just the processes of childhood. They also highlight the range of evidence that is available to support investigations of children and childhood in ancient Greece. Papers in both volumes present significant conclusions and a number of salient points and methodologies to be explored further. As standalone research, however, most are limited by their focus on one period and/or a few evidence types, meaning that an appreciation of diachronic change is under-­explored unless the edited volumes are considered in their entirety. Drawing upon multiple evidence types and using a diachronic methodology facilitates an innovative, extended investigation of change across time and circumstances, with a focus upon the impact of changes on experiences of childhood and the nature of children’s identities. Considerations of ancient literary sources are essential to avoid presenting an investigation of Greek childhood that is distorted by ethnocentric bias. The sources typically offer little genuine interest in children per se, but rather discuss childhood as a preparation for adulthood (Fossheim 2017), or philosophically debate on children and childhood to better understand the world of adults (Schofield 2011). Yet ancient sources offer a contemporary perspective, though they are the idealised perspectives of male adults and not the children themselves. Ancient historians and classicists have investigated the lives of children using various sources. Louise Pratt (2013) has analysed early sources, including Homeric epic and works of Hesiod, to ascertain that Greek childhood could be a time of carefree play. However, as Pratt herself acknowledges (2013: 277), written sources often focus upon the atypical and most of her conclusions relate to the lives of divine and mythological children. Here, engagement with literary sources is juxtaposed with evaluation of archaeological evidence to explore how far the ideals of a playful childhood reflected the reality for mortal children. Keith Bradley (1999; 2000), using works of Plutarch in particular, has investigated parents’ attitudes to their children and the nature of childhood in ancient Greece. One of his crucial assertions is that literary evidence can only reflect adults’ ­perspectives on children’s experiences, because no extant sources were written by  children. Considering archaeological evidence in conjunction with literary sources is therefore essential to facilitate attempts to access the perspectives of  children. Even archaeology—­including children’s burials—­however, often

Material Culture, Iconography and Burials  23 privileges the adult viewpoint because children’s graves were constructed by their adult mourners (Langdon 2021: 179). An awareness of the pervasiveness of the adult perspective is critical in attempts to present a child-­centred narrative, even if the issue cannot be wholly overcome within the scope of the evidence available. An inter-­disciplinary methodology that considers both literary and arch­aeo­ logic­al material clarifies which perspectives are presented and facilitates comparison between them for a more comprehensive understanding of how the social identities of children were constructed and conceptualised in ancient Greece. Research on ancient Greek childhoods in French and Spanish scholarship has often focused upon the themes of education and play, making steps towards presenting child-­centred narratives (Jeanmarie 1939; Manson 1975; André 1991b; Durand 1991; May 1991a; 1991b; 1991c; Cavalier 1991; Dasen and Vespa 2024).22 The research is typically grounded in iconographical analyses, supplemented by evaluations of material culture with occasional references to literary sources.23 Associated research has looked to identify artefacts—­including objects used in education and play—­that were associated with children in antiquity (for ex­ample, Collin-­Bouffier 1999; Dubois 2012).24 There is significant under-­explored potential in this area: existing research has not established the full materiality of children in ancient Greece. That is a key aim here, to use evaluations of material culture as well as iconographical and literary analyses to establish the materiality of children in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Attica in full. It is only relatively recently that inter-­disciplinary approaches have been used to investigate childhood in ancient Greece. Maria and Dion Sommer’s (2015) monograph, which considers the socialisation of children in Attica using arch­ aeo­logic­al evidence alongside evolutionary development theory from psych­ ology, represents a rare exemplar. Sommer and Sommer concentrate upon the period 480 to 300 bce, exploring the development of children in the first seven years of life, during which time children of both genders would be cared for within the home (Beaumont 2021: 61). Sommer and Sommer conclude that children in ancient Athens were allo-­parented25—that their extended household was involved in their upbringing—­and that childhood was a three-­stage process. They also explore the roles of material culture in the lives of children, asserting that objects could serve both developmental and socialising purposes and were often multi-­functional. Sommer and Sommer’s approach highlights the benefits of adopting a child-­centred narrative that focuses upon the experience of being a child; 22  See Dasen and Vespa (2024) for a literature review of scholarship on play and games in Greek and Roman contexts. See Andreu-­ Cabrera et al. (2010) for an overview focused on Spanish ­scholarship on play and games in ancient Greece. 23  See Patterson (2013) on evidence for children’s education in Plato’s Laws, including discussion of how Platonic ideals may have compared to reality in ancient Greece. 24  In broader contexts archaeologically, see Sofaer-­Derevenski (2000b); Lally and Ardren (2009); Crawford (2009); Harlow (2013). 25  See also Räuchle (2017) on mothers’ distal parenting of Athenian children.

24 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens I adopt a similar focus but explore the impact socio-­political change had upon the experience of being a child across an extended timeframe. Previous research has typically focused on either the Geometric, or the Archaic and Classical, periods. Susan Langdon investigates childhood in the Geometric period and has produced a methodology for identifying sub-­adults depicted on painted pottery (2006; 2007; 2015a). She has ascertained artists characterised children by their short spiky hair, their positions within scenes and their actions (2015a). Langdon argues children had specific roles in ritual practices in the Geometric period, and it was through depiction of them enacting those roles that they were integrated into iconographic schemes (2001; 2007). Much of Langdon’s work, typified by her 2008 monograph Art and Identity in Dark Age Greece, 1100–700 bce, focuses upon what art suggests about social identity in pre-­Archaic Greece. She suggests figural imagery was used to mediate at times of social crisis (Langdon 2006). This is a key point, as it raises the possibility that the impetus for depicting children in iconography was interwoven with socio-­political change from as early as the eighth century, though existing scholarship concentrates only upon its associations with fifth-­century events. Langdon (2005; 2007) has also investigated Geometric burials, especially items used as grave goods. I build upon her approach here; refining it to produce a methodology that accommodates the extended timeframe under consideration. In particular, I follow Langdon in considering both burials and iconographic evidence to inform upon children’s iden­ tities. In contrast to Langdon, I investigate those identities in domestic settings, rather than public ritual contexts. Martina Seifert, publishing primarily in German, has looked to establish the ages of children depicted in black-­figure iconography (2006a; 2010). In doing so, she has explored the ritualised socialisation of children in Attica (on male children: 2001; 2006b; and 2013; on female children: 2007; on socialisation and ­phratry membership: 2008 and 2011). Seifert has ascertained that whilst sub-­ adults are not properly characterised as children in black-­figure iconography, they are discernible by their smaller size, habitus, and position within scenes (2006a; 2006b; 2010). She argues citizenship reform and concerns about depopulation were key motivators for representing children more in art in the fifth and fourth centuries; she suggests Kleisthenes’ reforms and Perikles’ laws on citizenship made evidencing phratry membership more important and that children’s claims to it were demonstrated by wearing strings of amulets (2006b; 2008). Seifert argues age categories—­rather than ages per se—­are characterised in black-­ figure icon­og­raphy.26 Her approach informs the methodology I adopt here, but I avoid Seifert’s focus on the involvement of children in ritual practices in favour of exploring the identities of children in secular, predominantly household, 26 Seifert (2006b) argues age categories were in line with stages of integration into phratry membership.

Material Culture, Iconography and Burials  25 settings because these contexts have received far less attention: scholarship across the discipline has yet to consider children’s identities and experiences in domestic contexts. As well, I address the fact that how children were characterised in art evolved from the sixth century, rather than being a phenomenon of the fifth and fourth centuries as scholars including Seifert suggest. This develops a more nuanced appreciation of the changes and the precipitating social factors that motivated them. Lesley Beaumont is the pre-­eminent scholar on childhood in ancient Greece. Starting with her doctoral thesis, Studies on the Iconography of Divine and Heroic Children in Attic Red-­Figure Vase Painting of the Fifth Century bc, she has ­produced extensive research defining childhood and categorising its stages in Classical Greece (1994a; 1994b; 2000; 2003a; 2003b). She consolidated her approach in her 2012 volume Childhood in Ancient Athens: Iconography and Social History, which was the first English monograph on ancient Greek childhood with an archaeological focus. Beaumont’s methodology for attributing age categories is strong with regard to red-­figure iconography demonstrating reasonable quality artistry but is more limited when attempts are made to assign its cat­egor­ies to children depicted in poor quality iconography or in other media; contradictory indicators often appear in one scene or age markers are entirely absent.27 A broader methodology for attributing age, that is applicable across evidence categories, is used here in place of Beaumont’s system (see below). The initial approach used recalls Beaumont’s, especially in its focus upon what icon­og­raphy reveals about social identities and relationships, but it expands beyond Beaumont’s chronological parameters and integrates analyses of burials, which she does not.28 Beaumont’s focus on iconography, which was an ideological construction rather than illustrative of reality, leaves questions as to how far the conclusions drawn can be seen to be representative of children’s experiences, whereas I suggest also considering burials and evidence of children in excavated houses facilitates more critical reflection on this issue. My wider aims also move beyond Beaumont’s work; exploring the possibility of children having an extended life course in ancient Greece—­where she considered their identities throughout their (embodied) life course. Analysis of the evidence for children’s extended life courses presents a 27 Beaumont’s system for categorising the ages of children depicted in iconography follows Sourvinou-­Inwood’s (1988) methodology for ascertaining the relative ages of girls, characterised as ‘bears’, on krateriskoi from Brauron. Like Beaumont, Sourvinou-­Inwood investigated biological markers of age, including the development of breasts; which can be used to judge the age of some figures, but are not demonstrated across artistic media to consistently facilitate close age category attribution without consideration of other factors. 28  Dasen (2003; 2012) has used analyses of iconography alongside an investigation of material culture associated with children in burials to investigate amulets used to protect juveniles in Graeco-­ Roman antiquity. Dasen is the foremost French scholar on children in Greece and Rome. She typically explores facets of childhood unexplored in Anglo-­American and German research, investigating multiple births and the treatment of surviving twins in antiquity (1995a; 1995b; 2001a; 2001b; 2002; 2005).

26 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens new perspective on the relative nature of individuals’ social identities at different stages in childhood, understandings of which are incomplete—­and usually generalised—­in existing scholarship. Beaumont (2003a; 2003b; 2012), in common with Oakley (2003; 2009; 2013), argues children came to be depicted in art more frequently across the fifth century because of; an increased interest in the ideal family, anxieties about the perpetuation of society in light of depopulation resulting from plague outbreaks and wars, and citizenship reforms. Sue Blundell (2011) argues male children were depicted much more frequently than females because iconography celebrated the role of children in perpetuating their oikoi in the face of those social pressures; female children would perpetuate their husband’s oikos rather than the one they were born into. I adopt a broader chronological focus than existing scholarship including works of Beaumont, Oakley, and Blundell to evaluate how far the movement towards depicting children more frequently and realistically in art was a more gradual process, impacted by other socio-­political factors. Oakley (especially 2004; 2009) has repeatedly investigated the presentation of sub-­adults in mortuary contexts, though much of his evidence is iconographical like Beaumont’s.29 His consideration of burials highlights that some grave goods interred with children were objects they would have used later in life had they survived into adulthood (Oakley 2003: 177), but Oakley has not investigated further. Here, I further that investigation, exploring the possibility that the phenomenon suggests ideas about an extended life course in ancient Greece. I explore if attempts were made to move children along the normative life course when they died, evidenced by children being presented in the manner of older individuals in burial contexts. Classicist Mark Golden produced significant work exploring the lives of children in ancient Greece; his 1990 monograph Children and Childhood in Classical Athens presaged much of Beaumont’s seminal work by more than a decade. Through analyses of literary source material, with reference to some arch­aeo­ logic­al and iconographical evidence, Golden defined stages of childhood and outlined its nature in ancient Greece (1990; 2003). He concluded that children were recognised as social beings almost from birth, but that gender had a significant impact upon when, and the extent to which, their juvenile identities transitioned into more complete citizen identities as they aged. He suggested the tendency to decorate choes with scenes of children was linked to historical events including plague outbreaks and the Peloponnesian War, primarily because of their tight chronological distribution (2003). Golden’s work is important for its centralisation of the ancient Greek perspective on childhood, which results from its focus upon literary source material. This focus did though limit how far

29  Oakley concentrates on scenes on white-­ground lekythoi; Beaumont on red-­figure iconography.

Material Culture, Iconography and Burials  27 Golden could present a child-­centred narrative, because the sources he uses were written by adult men. The approach I adopt here, which considers ancient sources alongside iconographical and archaeological materials, looks to address this and better access the perspective of the children under investigation by analysing evidence types that are signatures of children’s own agency. Olympia Bobou has recently produced notable research on childhood in ancient Greece in the Hellenistic period (2006; 2010; 2015; 2018). Her focus is upon art; she investigates statuary, which she analyses to evaluate the activities and social roles of children (especially 2010; 2018). Bobou has established a four-­stage age categorisation system for pre-­adolescents depicted in statuary, which reflects the greater degree of realism apparent in in-­the-­round sculpture than in painted pottery iconography (2010; 2015; 2018). Bobou has also demonstrated that material culture was used to make statements about the gender identities of children, and to a lesser extent their ages, in Hellenistic art (2010; 2015). I investigate how far material culture was used similarly earlier and in different artistic media. I do not investigate the Hellenistic period like Bobou because children were no longer integrated into painted pottery iconography after the early third century and the production of Attic marble grave stelai was curtailed by Demetrios of Phaleron’s sumptuary laws in 317 bce. Ultimately, integrating approaches previously developed in a range of dis­cip­ lines by various scholars that, heretofore, have not been combined, produces an opportunity to present a fundamentally inter-­disciplinary and diachronic ex­plor­ ation of the identities of children in ancient Greece. Only an inter-­disciplinary approach can overcome the current impasse in archaeology, where children are considered ‘inaccessible’ or ‘invisible’ in the domestic settings in which they spent most of their lives. Failure to investigate children’s identities in domestic contexts is a failure to investigate what it truly meant to be a child; research that focuses only upon public-­facing aspects of children’s lives only reveals what childhood was like. Previous scholarship has shown that investigating childhood is not necessarily the same as scrutinising the experiences children; here, I consider the differences between the two in ancient Greece. Existing scholarship focuses upon investigating what childhood meant to society in ancient Greece; I investigate how living in a society that was changing impacted what it meant to be a child throughout the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods in Attica.

2.3  Identity and Age In presenting an investigation of the nature of childhood and identities of children, the concepts of identity and ageing warrant explication before the meth­od­ology used to investigate childhood and how material culture could be used to construct children’s identities in ancient Greece is outlined. In particular,

28 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens what is meant by ‘childhood’ and ‘children’ requires explanation. Childhood is a universal stage in the life course that all cultures recognise, though each defines its distinct nature and specific parameters in a unique way. It is essentially the antithesis of adulthood, and the material culture of childhood is a range of objects exclusively associated with individuals that exist within the confines of the life stage their society defines as ‘childhood’. The experiences of children are different, because they account for concerns atypical of childhood cross-­culturally; for example, childhood is not usually associated with work, but in some—­particularly historical—­contexts, children did work. Discussing the experiences of children acknowledges that being a child is affected by various factors, not least cultural background and socio-­economic class. To that end, the material culture of children is wider-­ranging and includes any objects demonstrably used by children, regardless of whether socio-­cultural norms would categorise them as part of the material culture of childhood. Exploring the material culture of children, rather than just the material culture of childhood, presents a child-­centred narrative, which recognises the agency children could have in constructing their own iden­ tities in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Attica. Social identities are multi-­faceted statements of what it means to be an individual or group within the society in which a person or group of people exist.30 They can be both personal—­how individuals recognise themselves—­and perceived, how others define them. Fundamentally, social identities are relative and created through being performed. They are always in process and are subject to change upon transition from one life course trajectory to another: they are transformed by processes including death and burial (Hockey and James 2003; Díaz-­ Andreu and Lucy 2005; Emler 2005; Fowler 2013b; 2018).31 Identities are often tied to the physical body, but they are not necessarily limited by it (Hallam et al. 1999; Meskell 2001; Budgeon 2003; Hockey and Draper 2005). They can therefore endure beyond the death of the body in various ways. The lived identity, as it was at the time of death, can continue through being remembered and commemorated by mourners; this is a prolonged identity. Identities can also be transformed following death, in the way that the deceased, it is imagined, moves further along the normative life course than they had when they died. This develops a new identity for the deceased after their death, a projected identity that moves them further along the life course. Both forms of post-­mortem identity are transmutations of the lived identity of the deceased, to different degrees; typ­ic­ al­ly, only selective parts of an identity are remembered and commemorated when identities are prolonged, whilst when they are projected, identities are transformed more comprehensively into identities that were never actually ex­peri­ enced by the deceased. 30  Social identity can be collective when facets of it are shared across cohorts (Hockey and James 2003). See Díaz-­Andreu et al. (2005), especially Díaz-­Andreu and Lucy (2005). 31  See Shepherd (2018) on identities evidenced in Greek burials.

Material Culture, Iconography and Burials  29 Historically, individuals were considered in terms of their social roles, but these are now reconceptualised as social identities, to better account for differentiation and inclusivity. Investigating an individual’s social ‘identity’ rather than their ‘role’ focuses upon investigating who the person is, or was, rather than only what they do, or did (Emler 2005).32 This is particularly applicable to children because they may have few established roles within their society though they, nonetheless, possess a distinct social identity. Here I investigate what it meant to be a child in Attic society in the ninth to fourth centuries; primarily how that was experienced by the children themselves, but also, inevitably, as it was perceived by their adult caregivers, who so often curated the evidence now available for investigation. Material culture is used to construct and define identities. It is a physical trace of the social interactions that create identities and is thereby a foremost source of evidence for archaeologists attempting to understand identities of individuals and groups in the past (Antonaccio 2010; Fowler 2010).33 As per post-­structuralist approaches, material culture is imbued with values of the culture or society that produce it (Hodder 1982; Tilley 1989; 2000); types of material culture considered appropriate for certain groups can inform upon the identities of those groups. For example, if a society produces objects specifically and unilaterally intended for children’s use—­like highchairs—­it demonstrably recognises childhood as a distinct stage in the life course, disparate from adulthood and with different artefactual requirements. I explore how the form and selection of material culture was used to articulate and demonstrate the social identities of children, to investigate what the archaeological distribution of material culture suggests about the experiences of children and the nature of childhood in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Attica. I argue material culture frequently associated with children iconographically and archaeologically, in burials, is a trace of what was used to define and demonstrate children’s identities in ancient Greece. Investigating the typology of that material culture informs upon the nature of childhood. Analyses of contexts in which children are shown in iconography, and of the distribution of locations in which their material culture is found in excavated houses, using architectural spatial analysis theory, suggests the nature of children’s identities as they were experienced in domestic contexts. Analysis of the types of material culture associated with children in mortuary contexts, compared to objects used by them in life as demonstrated in iconography and literary sources, when appraised in light of sociological theory on the extended life course, suggests how far children’s identities were conceptualised to endure and transform after death. The sum of these analyses, reviewed diachronically, suggests how what it meant to be 32  Social identities are a summation of an individual’s social roles (Gowland 2018), but also more than that because they account for facets that are not associated with particular roles. 33  See papers in Hales and Hodos (2010) on using material culture to investigate identities in antiquity.

30 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Chronological

AGE Sociological

Physiological (Biological)

Figure 2.1  Defining age: the ageing factors intersect variably to dictate how age is defined in different socio-­cultural contexts. Source: the author.

a child changed as socio-­political transformation impacted Attica across the ninth to fourth centuries. Age, like identity, is a multifactorial and socially constructed concept.34 In the modern Western world, age is primarily chronological: an individual is a certain number of years old because that many calendar years have passed since the date of their birth. Cross-­culturally, ageing is measured differently, and this must be accounted for when investigating other, including ancient, contexts. In archae­ ology, taking the lead from bioarchaeology and osteology, age can be defined in three ways; ageing is chronological, physiological (biological) and sociological (Figure 2.1; Arber and Ginn 1995; Gowland 2006; Halcrow and Tayles 2008; Sofaer 2011). The different types of ageing are often asynchronous (García-­ Moreno et al. 2021). Physiological age is a measurement based on biological changes in the body: it is the type of age produced when skeletal remains, including teeth, are aged for archaeological purposes (Sofaer-­Derevenski 2000b: 8). This is usually presented as a range, though still quantified in numerical terms. Sociological age is different; it is not measured numerically. It is the ‘culturally constructed norms of appropriate behaviour and status’ demonstrated by an individual in accordance with the age category they are ascribed (Halcrow and Tayles 2008: 192). The quantification of age is further complicated since diverse types of evidence can suggest different ages for the same individual and bioarchaeologists and social archaeologists often use different terminology and systems of 34  See Lucy (2005), especially 61–65 on material culture-­age associations.

Material Culture, Iconography and Burials  31 classification to define development stages, life course trajectories, or age categories (Halcrow and Tayles 2008: 193–197). The extent to which each factor of ageing is acknowledged socially varies by culture and how far each factor is evaluated in scholarship is discipline and context dependant (Appleby 2018). A first step in investigating age in any historical context must therefore be an evaluation of how age was conceptualised and measured in that time and place and what type of age categories can best be ascribed based on the evidence available. Age, of one or a combination of types, is widely used to cater to the universal need to create social structures; many cultures sub-­divide their society into age cohorts (Sofaer-­Derevenski 1994a: 8; 1994b: 2). Age-­based transitions between trajectories in the life course are often marked by rites of passage, celebrated by both individuals and age cohorts (Garwood 2007: 66). For example, in the UK today individuals become adults on their eighteenth birthday and cohorts (chronologically) aged 18–19 leave compulsory education. Age cohorts were also used to structure ancient Greek society and age, chronological and sociological, often dictated eligibility to participate in rites of passage that marked life course transitions: children ‘in the third year of their birth’ were crowned with wreaths at a festival that was probably the Anthesteria (Golden 1990: 41, recorded in Philostratus Heroicus 35.9);35 girls aged 5 to 10 could be arktoi at Brauron;36 elite girls aged 7 to 11 could serve as arrēphoroi in Athens;37 epheboi entered Attic military training aged 19 in the fourth century (Hornblower and Spawforth 2012); and candidates serving on the boulē had to be 30 years old so as to be wise enough to serve (Gomme, Cadoux, and Rhodes 2012; Gomme and Hornblower 2012, recorded in Xenophon Memorabilia 1.2.35–36).38 Literary evidence suggests chronological age was also used to demarcate transitions in childhood and structure schooling. Aristotle, in his discourse on an ideal state (Politics VIII.1386b), recorded that education should begin at age 7:39 when the five years from two to seven have passed, the children must now become spectators at the lessons which they will themselves have to learn. And there are two ages corresponding to which education should be divided—­there must be a break after the period from seven to puberty, and again after puberty to twenty-­one.40 35  Rusten and König (2014). 36  Shown on black-­figure krateriskoi from Brauron, interpreted as showing girls aged 5 to 10 years old taking part in the Arkteia ritual; running from the wrath of Artemis and linked to their impending menarche and subsequent marriage (Beaumont 2012: 174–186; 2021: 69; see also Kahil 1965; 1976; 1977; 1981; Sourvinou-­Inwood 1988). 37  Recorded in literary sources, including Aristophanes’ Lysistrata (640/1); girls who lived on the Acropolis in Athens for two years serving the goddess Athena Polias, including by weaving a robe for her statue (Henderson 2000: footnote 60; see also Sourvinou-­Inwood 1988; Beaumont 2012: 170–174). 38  Marchant, Todd, and Henderson (2013). 39  Garland (2021: 205) has suggested children from poorer families would work from the age of 7. 40  Rackham (1932).

32 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens In his similarly idealised discussion of education, Plato (Laws VII.810a) argued children aged 10 should study letters for three years. He also reasoned that male and female children should be separated from the age of 6, though they could continue to share some lessons (Laws VII.794c):41 After the age of six, each sex shall be kept separate, boys spending their time with boys, and likewise girls with girls; and when it is necessary for them to begin lessons, the boys must go to teachers of riding, archery, javelin-­throwing and slinging, and the girls, also, if they agree to it, must share in the lessons, and especially such as relate to the use of arms.42

The biological changes brought about by physiological ageing were also noted in ancient sources. Aristotle (History of Animals IX.587b15) recorded that babies started to produce teeth at 7 months old. Demonstrably, physiological, socio­ logic­al and a form of chronological ageing were recognised in ancient Greek society, though it is not clear upon what basis chronological ages were measured; there are no known examples of birth certificates or recorded celebrations of birthdays and ages are not recorded on tombstones (Golden 1990; Beaumont 2012). Given the range of evidence types considered and the fact investigation suggests an awareness of all three types of age in ancient Greece, my meth­od­ ology uses an amalgamated system, which refers to all of the factors of ageing, to categorise the ages of children in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical iconography and burials (see below).

2.4  What Is a Child? Childhood, and often intermediary stages between it and adulthood, is an acknowledged part of life in all societies, but what it means to be a child and the extent of childhood is socio-­culturally specific. Chronological, physiological, and sociological age categorisation systems all recognise stages of childhood, but the parameters placed upon them can vary significantly, even if the ageing factor used is consistent (Fahlander 2011).43 There are few universalities in the detailed definition of childhood and the concise demarcation of its sub-­stages cross-­ culturally because, though it has biological and social immaturity as its

41  Literary evidence, including Plato, recommended children entered education outside the oikos at age 6–7, though younger children are usually difficult to discern in education scenes on painted pottery (Golden 1990: 18–21). 42  Bury (1926b). 43  Defining categories of childhood using one methodology does not necessarily produce consistent results; for example, using osteological analyses to attribute age categories to life stages demonstrates variability.

Material Culture, Iconography and Burials  33 foundations, childhood is a cultural construct (Prout and James 1997: 3). That said, childhood does have some general characteristics that can be used as a starting point for defining it in a given context, and some stage markers have wide-­ ranging applicability; for example, physiological indicators based upon biological cap­abil­ities, including the age at which babies can crawl, are comparable across the human experience (Lewis 2011). Fundamentally, children are those in society that are not mature enough to be adults. In modern, Western societies individuals usually attain their majority, and thereby become adults, when they reach the chronological age of 15 to 25 years old (Panter-­Brick 1998b: 3). In past societies, defining the extent of childhood and identifying when the transition to adulthood took place is more problematic and must be considered on a case-­by-­case basis. Ancient Greek childhood can be defined as a general concept with reference to literary sources. This facilitates the creation of an age attribution system that categorises children in terms of their chronological, physiological, and sociological ages in ancient Attica (see below). The ancient sources demonstrate that childhood was a distinct, acknowledged, and sub-­divided life stage in ancient Greece, but when authors such as Plato and Aristotle considered children, their focus was usually upon the process of childhood and the systems used to rear and educate children, rather than upon the experiences of the children themselves. Literary sources generally contemplated children and childhood to investigate the development of adults and the foundations for the construction of adult society (Grahn-­Wilder 2017: 19; Garland 2021: 203). They are thereby limited by almost exclusively focusing upon male children, charting their progression towards full citizenship; because girls would never achieve that status, even as adult women, they are barely considered. According to the sources, ancient Greek society judged children against adult norms; hence children were typically conceptualised as coming up short and considered ‘phys­ ic­al­ly weak, morally incompetent [and] mentally incapable’ (Golden 1990: 5). In both Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey children, when they rarely appear, are portrayed as vulnerable individuals that are fundamentally in need of care. They are characterised as weak, whimsical, and lacking responsibility, and warriors are compared to children to ridicule them (Pratt 2011; Pinto 2024). That said, children were typically cherished, and even doted upon, by their parents. Astyanax is the only child character in Homer, featuring in one scene in the Iliad (Pinto 2024: 13). Thus Pratt (2011) has suggested though he is a mythological figure, he is the model characterisation of how children were perceived in Homeric society. She (2011) argues Astyanax was predominantly a characterisation of the bond between his parents, Hector and Andromache, and that his experiences were used to emphasise the tragedy of losing a parent in battle. Thereby, the characterisation of the child in Homeric epic mirrored some purposes of depicting children in later black-­figure iconography; children were used to make statements about the adults around them, rather than to characterise quintessentially juvenile identities.

34 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens The mental and physical faculties of children were often unfavourably compared to those of adults in later literature as well. A comment in Aeschylus’ Agamemnon (277) suggests an adult—­ in the case in question a woman, Clytaemnestra—­was offended by having their intelligence compared to that of a child.44 Aristotle refers to the fact that children45 are not fully developed more than once (Politics I.1260a; Magna Moralia I.IV.1185a). Both Aristotle (History of Animals IV.IX536b6–8; Generation of Animals IV.744a33) and Plato (Laws I.645e–646a) assert that children46 lack proper control over themselves, in a way adult men only do when drunk. In his dialogue Protagoras (342e),47 Plato remarks that an individual is ‘like a helpless child’.48 Aristotle (Politics I.1259b) declares fathers should rule over their children49 as kings do their subjects and Heraclitus (On the Universe XCVII) suggests children50 are to adults as men are to the gods. Children were conceptualised as works in progress, imbued with potential because they could become adults in time. Lysias shows this in his speech Against Alcibiades (17): When this person, as a child,51 had not yet shown what kind of man he would be.52

In short according to the literary evidence, children were primarily viewed as a lesser form of adults, throughout the Geometric to Classical periods in Greece. Childhood was a time of dependency, a period during which adults could mould what children would become by fashioning their education and guiding their activities. Depending on the child’s social status and gender (Beaumont 2021: 60), ancient Greek childhood was a time of play, but also of learning, because—­ according to the ancient sources—­childhood was fundamentally a time of development and preparation for adulthood.53 In accordance with that, and the nature of the authors of the sources,54 detailed consideration of the stages of childhood is minimal in the literary evidence and it is unclear at what point, and how, children made the transition into adulthood.55 The end of childhood was not simply 44  In the original, paidos: παιδός (see Glossary). 45  In the original, pais: παῖς. 46  In the original, paidia: παιδιά. 47  Lamb (1924). 48  In the original, paidos: παιδός. 49  In the original, teknon: τέκνον. 50  In the original, pais: παῖς. 51  In the original, pais: παῖς. 52  Lamb (1930). 53  Ancient sources repeatedly discuss the importance of children’s play that is geared towards preparation for adult occupation (see Aristotle Politics VII.1336a; VIII.1336a; Plato Laws I.643c; II.659d; VII.794a). 54 Ancient sources are sometimes contradictory. For example, whilst Aristotle argued children should stay within the home until they were 7, Plato suggested children should be taken to public places like temples to socialise with other children from the age of 3 (Beaumont 1994b: 33). These contradictions could simply reflect the differing views of the different men, but they also clearly show there was no one way to raise a child in ancient Greece. 55  Status was dictated by development stage rather than calendar age (Beaumont 1994a: 87).

Material Culture, Iconography and Burials  35 Table 2.1  Stages in the progression to maturity for an adult male citizen in Athens: the focus here is on the stages before meirakion and meiraks.

Childhood

Life Stage Descriptor

Description

brephos paidion paidarion paidiskos pais palleks boupais antipas mellephebos meirakion meiraks ephēbos neaniskos neanias

newborn nursling child able to walk and speak child able to be educated

Associated Chronological Age to age 7 7 to 14

typically ‘child’ or ‘young child’ (usually ‘young boy’)

14 to 21 young man in military training

18 to 20 21 to 28

Source: the author, after Golden 1990: 14–15.

demarcated by age in calendar years in ancient Athens; the childhood-­adulthood transition could be marked by biological, civic, legal, and social transitions, which occurred at different ages in chronological terms: biologically childhood ended at puberty, civically and legally the transition took place at 18 years of age, and socially individuals could prolong their childhood by remaining in military training (Beaumont 1994a: 86; 2021: 64). Full adulthood status was not achieved until the age of 30 for males.57 Females entered adulthood upon the birth of their first child (Beaumont 2021: 64). As demonstrated above, ages were cited as markers for when children should begin certain activities appropriate to their stages of development in the literary sources, but little detail is given about how far transitions between stages were formal, universal, or even truly observable in reality.58 Golden (1990), analysing literary source material, identified eight stages of development towards adulthood (Table 2.1).59 They are difficult to discern 57  In Athens as well as elsewhere in Greece, for example at Sparta (Beaumont 2021: 61). 58 The Hippocratic school of medicine recognised seven life stages, including (Garland 1990; Parkin 2010; Dean-­Jones 2013): small child (aged 0–7), child (aged 7–14), and youth (aged 14–21), or; infant (aged 0–4), child (aged 4–10), teenager (aged 10–18), youth (aged 18–25), and adult (aged 25+). Solon recognised up to ten life course stages (Parkin 2010). 59  Golden and Bradley have also categorised childhood, using the ancient sources as the basis for their categorisations. Bradley (2013) used a tri-­partite categorisation system: infancy (to age 5),

36 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens ­ recisely, however, as a range of age-­relative vocabulary is used to refer to non-­adults p and much of it is difficult to translate concisely; for example, the term pais was used pervasively to refer to juveniles from infancy to puberty, as well as to slaves (Garland 1990: 13; Golden 2003: 14; Cohen 2007a: 4). It is also difficult to apply the categorisations to iconographic and archaeological evidence without add­ ition­al information. They demonstrate that childhood was perceived as a staged life course trajectory in ancient Greece, and elements of the categorisation system can be usefully applied to the broader spectrum of evidence, but the terminology and chronological age ranges cannot be directly applied to iconographic and funerary evidence without further investigation of the stages of childhood evidenced in those evidence types. One of the predominant difficulties in setting the boundaries of ‘childhood’ and ascertaining childhood age, or even stage of childhood, in ancient Greek archaeology is the availability of a cohesive interpretive model, which accounts for each of the evidence types available. It is very difficult to attribute and demarcate age categories across media; for example, adolescence can be identified in the burial record with relative ease—­signified as it is by universal physiological changes associated with the emergence of reproductive capabilities—­but it is more difficult to identify an ‘adolescent’ iconographically (following Beaumont 2000: 41). Further, as Jo Appleby has discussed (2018), age cannot, and should not, only be explored using (biologically aged) skeletal remains, because individuals in the past also aged functionally and socially. Especially in ancient Athens, where chronological age was not the foremost way in which people were aged, children cannot simply be considered as those between birth and age ‘x’. Existing scholarship has repeatedly looked to develop age categorisation systems applicable to iconographic material and burial evidence from ancient Greece (Table 2.2). Foremost is the work of Beaumont (especially 1994a; 1994b; 2000; 2003a; 2003b). She has developed a system for ascertaining chronological, physiological, and sociological age based upon identifying indicators—­especially in red-­figure iconography—­that characterise developmental stages.60 Beaumont’s age indicators cannot be applied to every evidence type, but her methodology is the strongest, and constitutes the basis for the methodology adopted here. It is more secure than that of Sourvinou-­Inwood (1988), which depends upon being boyhood (to age 11–12), and adolescence (to age 17–18). Golden (2003) sub-­divided childhood to a greater degree, applying different chronological parameters: babyhood (to age 2), early pre-­school (from 3 to 5 years old), pre-­school (to age 6 or 7), school (to puberty), and adolescence (following puberty). 60  Bobou (2010; 2015) uses a similar methodology to categorise children depicted in statuary. She distinguishes infants, younger children, older children, and pre-­adolescents. Infants, younger than 2, sit or crawl and may be swaddled. Younger children, aged 2 to 5, sit or stand, are chubby and usually nude. Older children, aged 6 to 9, hold objects, have longer limbs, and may be draped. Pre-­adolescents, aged 9 to 14, are similar in appearance to youths, but have less defined musculature. Youths and maidens are older than 14. Lawton (2007) uses the same categories as Bobou, without chronological age parameters, in her assessment of votive stelai.

Table 2.2  Childhood age categorisation systems developed for ancient Greece. Age(years) Beaumont (1994a) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Infancy (to 3)

Golden (1990; 2003) Paidion (to 7)

Younger Childhood (to 7)

Older Childhood (to 15)

Source: the author.

Babyhood (to 2) Early Pre-School (to 5)

Ham (2006)

Sommer and Blundell (2011) Clairmont (1993) Bobou (2010); Sommer (2015) Lawton (2007)

Houby-Nielsen (2000)

Infants (to 3)

Baby Children (to 2) (to 11) Early Pre-School (to 5) Real Pre-School (to 6–7) Pais (to 14)

Infant (to 1) Small Child (to 3–4) Older Child (to 8–10)

Younger Children (to 6–7)

Pre-School (to 6–7) Older Children Pais, School Paidiskos, (to puberty) Paidion (to 14)

Babies (to 2) Boys/Girls (to 10–12)

Infants (to 2) Children (to 6)

Older Children (to 9) Pre-Adolescents Adolescents (to 14)

Maidens/Youths Maidens/Youths (to 17) Meirakion

Meirakion (to 20)

Maidens/Youths

38 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens able to accurately assess the bodily proportions of figures in iconography.61 Sourvinou-­Inwood’s methodology hinges on the fact that artists in ancient Athens fully acknowledged the biological reality of children having proportionately larger heads than adults and applied the principle consistently. Her methodology for identifying the physio- and socio-­logical ages of children depicted on painted pottery is based upon evidence of biological indicators—­such as budding breasts for maidens62—and identifying and recognising iconographic types known to represent certain ages, for example arktoi and arrēphoroi. Sourvinou-­Inwood’s methodology is problematic because evidence for her indicators can be distorted by the quality of the artistry and the nature of the artistic medium considered; they are also difficult or impossible to discern when records of evidence are poor quality photographs or only descriptions. Further, some poses adopted by children render applying Sourvinou-­Inwood’s methodology untenable, and the age categorisation indicated by her methodology is often not consistent with other indicators, including associated attributes and facets of a figure’s habitus. For these reasons, Sourvinou-­Inwood’s methodology can only be applied sparingly to broad-­spectrum analyses of iconography, though her ‘age signs’ are useful to distinguish children from maidens (1988: 33–39). Many age categorisation methodologies that have been applied to iconography, including red-­figure, are simpler than Beaumont’s, as any broad-­spectrum meth­od­ology must be to some extent: Blundell (2011) defined children, identified by their physiological immaturity, as, chronologically, younger than 11. A ­number of methodologies have outlined a three-­phase staged childhood for children in ancient—­particularly Classical—­Greece (for example, Ham 1999; 2006; Dickmann 2006; Seifert 2006b; Sommer and Sommer 2015). Their categorisation systems focus upon using physiological age indicators to ascribe chronological age. Jens-­Arne Dickmann (2006) classified children as crawling infants, younger children, and older children, depending on their style of dress. He ascertained that younger children are usually nude, whilst older children are dressed or have pseudo-­athletic bodies. Greta Ham (2006) argued the first stage constituted the first three years of life, whilst the second stage extended to the age of 6 to 7 years. Sommer and Sommer (2015) recently based their age categories upon stages of play that children were physically capable of engaging in: using terminology taken from Golden (1990), their methodology categorises paidion children as aged up to 7, pais older children aged up to 14, and meirakion adolescents aged up 61  Sourvinou-­Inwood’s methodology ascertains the age of figures in accordance with the size of their head relative to the size of their body. She argues figures aged up to 3 demonstrate proportions of 1:4 or 1:5, children proportions of 1:5, older children proportions of 1:6 or 1:7, and adults proportions of 1:7 or 1:8 (1988: 37). 62  In the absence of biological indicators like budding breasts, which are not evident consistently, hairstyles are taken as indicators of female children’s age in painted pottery iconography, sculpture, and statuary: maidens typically have long hair, sometimes bound in braids (Lawton 2007: 55–56; Beaumont 2012: 105).

Material Culture, Iconography and Burials  39 to 21 years old. Paidion are sub-­divided into babies, aged up to 2; early pre-­ schoolers, aged up to 5; and real pre-­schoolers, aged up to 7. Sommer and Sommer’s system, in particular the distinction between the ‘early pre-­school’ and ‘real pre-­school’ classifications, is difficult to apply fully, but the paidion and pais stages can be more readily taken into account, with the age of 14 used as the upper limit marking the transition from childhood to youth.63 Hebe, standardised at age 14 and ascertained physiologically and ascribed chrono- and sociologically, can be used as a universal cut-­off point, for consistency (following Golden 2003: 24). Here, I recognise distinctions highlighted in existing categorisation systems but do not concur that all infants are shown crawling—­as demonstrated beyond painted pottery iconography, for example on stelai—­and suggest indicators of the older child category are more nuanced; older children are differentiated from youths by their state of dress and the physiognomy of their bodies. My approach has a broader focus than, for example, Sommer and Sommer (2015), in terms of the ageing factors considered, and I am less concerned with assigning chronological age parameters to categories than Sommer and Sommer (2015), Ham (2006), and Beaumont (especially 1994a; 2012). The less naturalistic characterisation of child figures in Geometric and black-­ figure iconographies results in the fact age categorisation systems for those media are, by necessity, less precise. Langdon (2015a) categorises children depicted on Geometric painted pottery as infants, younger children, or older children, without associating those categorisations with specific ages. Seifert (especially 2006a) similarly differentiates between toddlers, small children and older children, without distinguishing chronological ages for them, in her methodology focused on black-­figure. My methodology adopts a lesser focus on ascribing concise nu­mer­ ic­al ages to account for the fact chronological age cannot be ascertained so precisely for children in iconographic media beyond red-­figure. Ages for children depicted on grave stelai have been categorised by Christoph Clairmont (1993) and Janet Burnett Grossman (2007), but the specifics of their methodologies are limited in their application to other iconographic media. For example, babies and older babies rendered distinct on stelai are distinguished only as perinates and infants or mobile toddlers in burials and in painted pottery iconography. Houby-­Nielsen (1995; 2000) has used osteological analyses alongside the evidence of grave goods assemblages to categorise children in ancient Athens. Her classifications compare to those Anna Lagia (2007) used in her ana­ lysis of Greek burials, though the chronological age parameters for each stage of childhood vary. Lagia’s ‘young children’ are aged 1–5 and her ‘older children’ are up to 15 years old. Chrysanthi Gallou (2021) and Alexandra Syrogianni (2020) have recently used more simplified categories—­with childhood lasting until 12 to 63  Others (for example, Golden 1990; Neils 2003) define childhood as lasting until the age of 17–18 for males, and until marriage for females.

40 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens 15 years old, and the first year being specifically infancy—­in their explorations of Bronze Age and Early Iron Age burials in central and southern mainland Greece and the causes of high infant mortality. Evidently, all existing age categorisation systems demonstrate variability, even those that draw upon the same evidence types or look to establish parameters defined by a consistent factor of ageing. The methodology I use to categorise children builds upon a collation of pre-­existing age categorisation systems, and uses markers evidenced by all of the ageing factors, to maximise its applicability to each evidence type under investigation (Table 2.3). Categorisations are frequently indeterminate because it is difficult to classify juveniles aged around points of transition between categories, especially the youngest juveniles: for example, osteologically differentiating between foetuses, perinates, and infants is currently very difficult though advances in bioarchae­ology are gradually improving understandings of experiences in the early life course (Rebay-­Salisbury and Pany-­Kucera 2020; Sánchez Romero and Cid López 2018; see Halcrow et al. 2017; Hodson 2021). As an investigation of the social identities of children within their familial contexts and domestic environments, the focus here is on iconography and burials of perinates, infants, toddlers, younger children, and older children; scenes with youths and maidens are not discussed in any depth unless older adolescents are within scenes with younger children. A new stage of childhood is generally discernible around the age of 3 cross-­culturally, when a child’s reliance on its mother diminishes as a result of the cessation of breast feeding (Rebay-­Salisbury and Pany-­Kucera 2020: 7). This transition was marked by participation in the Anthesteria in ancient Athens (see above), and is used here as a boundary to mark the transition between toddlers and younger children. The universal biological transition of puberty is a notional cut-­off point, therefore burials of individuals described as ‘teenagers’, ‘youths’ or ‘maidens’, or ascribed a physiological age of 13 to 15 years old and over are also not discussed.64 In terms of iconography, schoolroom and athletics scenes are not discussed unless one of the juveniles is demonstrably younger. The rationale being that it is problematic to ascertain the precise ages of children in those scene types, beyond indications from the sources that they are older than 7, and most could be youths; the scenes would therefore be beyond the current subject matter on two counts, being outside the domestic environment and being evidence of the activities of older juveniles. I use ‘juveniles’ as a catch-­all term, equivalent to ‘sub-­adults’; to indicate reference to individuals from all or multiple age categories outlined in Table 2.3. This is intended to render generalised references to foetuses, perinates, infants, toddlers, younger, and older children distinct from references to only younger and older children. 64  Puberty takes place between the ages of 10 and 13 years old for girls and between 12 and 16 years old for boys (Cunningham, Scheuer, and Black 2016). It is standardised as 13 to 15 years old for both sexes here.

Table 2.3  Childhood age categorisation system used in this research.

Swaddled

Died at or around birth

Nude (M)

Infant

Grave Stelai Swaddled

Up to 18 months

Top-­knot (F) Crawls

Carried but demonstrates some action

Nude (M)

Up to 3 years

Swaddled

Physiologically a Notionally ‘newborn’ in burials a brephos

Would spend most of Buried in pots— Especially their time newborns, ­Houby-­Nielsen within the prior to (1995) Age Amphidromia oikos, Group 1 prior to initiation starting Carried in Chronologically up Notionally formal iconography to 18 months old a paidion schooling

Carried

Crawls in iconography

  Physiologically restricted to crawling and standing   with support

Often wear amulets

Does not have roller

 

Buried in pots or   smaller larnakes—­ Houby-­Nielsen (1995) Age Groups 1/2

Squats

Females wear chitons

Chronologically up Notionally a to 3 years old paidarion

Interacts with roller

Males usually naked

Physiologically able   to walk independently

 

Associated with toy roller

 

Often wear amulets

  Sociologically up to the point of participation in the   Anthesteria

 

Buried in   larnakes—­ Houby-­Nielsen (1995) Age Group 2

Interacts with roller

Toddler

Toddler

Toddler

Toddler

Toddler

Swaddled in iconography

 

Stands or demonstrates more mobility

Infant

Comments

Crawls

Seated or squatting—­ more movement suggested

Top-­knot (F)

Ageing Factor Details

Seated or squatting—­ less movement suggested

Infant

Infant

Infant

Infant

Carried

Toddler

White-Ground Pottery Indicators

Perinate

Burials

Infant

Carried

Perinate

Held or carried

Red-Figure Pottery

Perinate

Perinate

Black-Figure Pottery

Perinate

Age Geometric Pottery Category

 

 

Continued

Table 2.3  Continued

Notionally a paidarion

 

Top-­knot or bun (F)

Little drapery (M)

Short chitons (F)

Males usually naked

 

 

 

 

Short chitons (F)

Interacts with roller

Toy roller is more   likely to be a cart

 

 

Stands Buried like   independently adults—­Houby-­ Nielsen (1995) Age Group 3

 

 

Notionally a paidiskos

 

 

Partially draped

Partially draped

Stands independently

Active or has a role to play

Youth/ Indistinct maiden

Youth/ maiden

With men

Older Child

 

Older Child

Older Child

Females have Chronologically top-­knot hairstyle up to 7 years old

 

With men

Youth/ maiden

 

Chronologically aged up to 14 or 15 years old

 

Partially draped (M)

Females wear longer chitons with sleeves

Longer chiton (F)

Partially draped (M)

Long chitons (F)

Males have some Physiological cut-­off   evidence of point is puberty musculature

 

Long chitons (F)

Low bun (F) Males wear some   clothing, usually a partially draped himation

 

 

 

 

 

 

Up to 14/15 years

Aged over 14/15 years

Youth/ maiden

‘Youth’, ‘maiden’, or ‘teenager’

Source: the author.

Comments

Nude (M)

Younger child

With women

Ageing Factor Details

 

Younger child

 

Up to 7 years

White-Ground Pottery Indicators

 

Older Child

Older child

With women

Younger child

Younger child

On bier or corpse

Nude (M)

Grave Stelai

Older Child

Stands independently, but motionless

Burials

Younger child

 

Red-Figure Pottery

Older Child

Younger child

Black-Figure Pottery

Younger child

Age Geometric Pottery Category

Youth/ maiden

Buried like   adults—­Houby-­ Nielsen (1995) Age Group 3 Maidens have breasts Maidens have long hair, braided or unbound

 

  Not catalogued

 

Material Culture, Iconography and Burials  43 Age stages for female juveniles are at once more complicated and, to an extent, easier to distinguish in certain scene types in black- and red-­figure iconography. Female children have been ascertained, based on literary sources and archaeological evidence, to have taken part in various religious rites as they matured towards maidenhood and eligibility for marriage in ancient Attica. They were arrēphoroi, serving the goddess Athena in her temple on the Acropolis, around the ages of 7 to 11; arktoi taking part in a bear ritual at Brauron in Attica aged up to around 10;65 and were ultimately marriageable maidens upon being represented as parthenoi and kanēphoroi with flowing hair (following Beaumont 2003a; 2003b; 2012). Based upon these age markers, girls likened to arrēphoroi and arktoi are discussed here whilst parthenoi and kanēphoroi are established as a cut-­off point: they had made the transition into maidenhood and thereby left childhood proper behind. As such, they are not discussed. Iconography depicting children engaged in ritual activity is also not treated in detail, unless the settings of the scenes intersect with domestic or burial contexts. This is fundamentally an investigation of what it meant to be a perinate, infant, toddler, younger, and older citizen child in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Attica and how the notions of that were developed and demonstrated in non-­public contexts. Only iconography with a point of origin in Attica is discussed; given the distinct nature of each polis in the ancient Greek world, iconography from elsewhere may not reflect Attic values. Mythological scenes are discarded on the grounds that divinities and immortal heroes were not characterised and did not mature in the same ways as human children (Stark 2012: 212–214).66 Likewise, Emma Griffiths (2020) has recently demonstrated that child characters in tragedy cannot be taken as representative of socio-­historical norms, and so they are not considered here. Slave children are also not considered because evidence of them is difficult to access in many contexts; in the evidence types here, they are only consistently represented on grave stelai.67 There is undoubted potential in investigation of each of these themes, but they are beyond the scope of the current volume. Experiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens: Material Culture, Iconography, Burials, and Social Identity in the 9th to 4th Centuries BCE. Emma Gooch, Oxford University Press. © Emma Gooch 2025. DOI: 10.1093/9780198949152.003.0002

65  Depictions of running or dancing girls on black-­figure krateriskoi found in concentrations at Brauron have been associated with the ritual (see especially Kahil 1965; 1976; 1977; 1981). 66  See also Beaumont (1998) on the childhoods of deities, heroic figures, and characters from mythology. 67  Slave children are identified, and excluded, in accordance with their habitus and their cropped hairstyles or head coverings; height alone is an ambiguous indicator of status and age (following Seifert 2010: 127). For example, small boys carrying athletics equipment in palaistra scenes are typ­ic­ al­ly excluded, as are small girls with short hair or covered heads in dressing and beautification scenes (following Oakley 2013: 158–159, 164). Ascertaining age based entirely on relative size remains problematic, even in analysing increasingly naturalistic iconography, because ancient Greek artists manipulated principles of scale and age to communicate meaning as well as to convey reality (Beaumont 2003a: 108; Cohen 2007b: 261).

3

Experiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Life

The material cultures of embodied childhood and living children in ancient Greece can be investigated throughout analyses of iconography which depicts— at least in an idealised form—notionally alive children: Geometric, black-, and red-figure painted pottery. The nature of and frequency with which material culture associated directly with children is depicted makes statements about the social identities of children. Diachronic development in the material culture informs upon the changing experience of what it meant to be a child and the significance of childhood in Athenian society during the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods. A focus on investigating childhood as something that is experienced both acknowledges the diversity apparent in what it means to be a child and recognises the potential agency children can have in moulding elements of their own identities, including through choosing their own material culture.

3.1  Geometric Pottery Geometric pottery was produced in what was long called the ancient Greek ‘Dark Age’; the period between the end of Mycenaean civilisation circa 1200 bce and the beginning of the Archaic period around 700 bce. Now termed the Early Iron Age, the Geometric period was traditionally considered a time during which little material culture was produced. Ongoing discoveries, however, suggest an un­broken pottery tradition throughout the period. Analyses of art—pottery and bronze figurines1—indicate it was during the Early Iron Age that later social norms, including gender ideals, developed.2 It is clear that even if it is a period for which there is a diminished archaeological record, the Early Iron Age must be considered when evaluating the development of social identities in ancient Greece. 1  Langdon (1999) argues Geometric bronze figurines were used to establish new social hierarchies, rather than to celebrate the perpetuation of society as it was. They do not characterise children or babies. 2  For example, the seclusion of women became idealised in the Late Geometric (Langdon 1999: 23). The pre-eminence of adult males is evident in the number of them commemorated by prothesis scenes: Ahlberg (1971) demonstrated forty-one scenes celebrate a male deceased, five a female, and seven a deceased of indeterminate gender.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  45 The Geometric style has been described as ‘severely economical’ and ‘conceptual [and] analytic’ (Snodgrass 1998: 16; Langdon 2008: 8). Its artistic schemes are highly stylised and sometimes ambiguous, but generally formulaic (Langdon 1993: 9; 2001: 583).3 In that way, Geometric art has its own systematic ‘language’;4 a small group of scene types are typified by characteristic attributes and formulaic actions (Ahlberg 1971: 17; Boardman 1998: 267; Langdon 1998: 251). Designs are based upon mathematical principals, such as symmetry, and were clearly planned in advance of production: the finest examples, often found in funerary and sanctuary contexts, demonstrate extreme attention to detail with almost machine-like precision (Langdon 1993: 200; 2001: 601; 2013: 175). A number of local pottery styles developed during the Early Iron Age, they are distinguished by stylistic nuances in their decorative schemes and the com­pos­ ition of the vase fabrics (Langdon 1989: 185; 2001: 583; Coldstream 1991: 40; Crielaard 1999: 52). Attic Geometric is the best known and most widely studied and Athenian iconography is often used as the benchmark against which other styles are judged (Boardman 1983: 15; Crielaard 1999: 50). Some styles, including Attic Geometric, were exported and subsequently copied elsewhere (Coldstream 1968: 8; Langdon 2012: 111–112).5 For that reason, some are similar; for example, Argive styles are closely related to Attic designs, though they are simpler and more representational (Boardman 1983: 16). The earliest Greek pottery with figural decoration was produced in Crete circa 900 bce.6 Evidencing strong Minoan and Orientalising influences, it is distinctly different from later figural styles like Attic Geometric (Coldstream 1991: 45). The earliest anthropomorphic figure on Attic painted pottery is found on a midninth-century MG Ia krater fragment excavated in the Kerameikos (Coldstream 1991: 46; Stansbury-O’Donnell 2006: 251).7 Living things—anthropomorphic figures and animals, including birds and horses—remained rare until the later Middle Geometric and Late Geometric Attic iconography was innovative in combining figures, objects, and ornamental reliefs in the same scenes (Langdon 2008: 1).8 As scenes became more elaborate throughout the eighth century, they took up an

3  Most scenes take place in indistinct locations; spatial signifiers are uncommon in Geometric icon­og­raphy, though some pictograms may represent elements of landscape (Rystedt 2006: 243; Langdon 2008: 251). 4 Writing featured on pottery from the mid-eighth century; early inscriptions typically only recorded the owner or maker (Crielaard 1999: 66). Inscriptions were included within scenes, to identify figures, from the seventh century (Coldstream 1991: 52). 5 Early Attic Geometric wares were exported across the Cyclades and are found at Knossos. Analyses suggest they were exported less after the mid-eighth century (Langdon 2005: 19; 2012: 111–112). 6  Many regional Geometric styles did not produce any figural decoration (Coldstream 1991: 42). 7  Designs on Attic Geometric pottery have been compared to tapestry patterns, and pottery styles probably had an impact upon other contemporary art forms (Hurwit 1993: 31; Snodgrass 1998: 48–49). 8  See Benson (1970); Rystedt (2006). Some of the earliest Greek depictions of humanoid figures show them training horses (Langdon 2005: 11).

46 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens increasingly large proportion of vase surfaces (Brann 1962: 12; Coldstream 1991: 38–39; Langdon 1993: 31). The main consumers of the most elaborate Attic Geometric painted pottery were probably elites: large vases were produced by master potters as specific commissions (Whitley 1991; Coldstream 1991: 47; Hurwit 1993: 15; Langdon 1993: 44–45; Crielaard 1999: 57–58).9 Over-sized vases were rendered distinct by their incorporation of tableaux that suggest a narrative underpinned the composition (Boardman 1983: 16). Narrative scenes convey stories, or demonstrate action preceded and followed by consequent actions, rather than simply constituting dec­or­ ation.10 Mark Stansbury-O’Donnell (2006) explored the development of narratives in Geometric imagery. He concluded early Attic iconographies—developed in the Middle and Late Geometric periods—incorporated narrative to set apart the elite; prestige goods came to be adorned with imagery that told a story, rather than pictorial elements that simply decorated, in order to showcase the high status and erudition of their patrons. Figural compositions with more than one anthropomorphic figure intended to communicate narrative were produced from the mid-eighth century in Attica (Ahlberg 1971: 286; Coldstream 1991: 42). They would have been key in communicating and standardising social norms in a preliterate world (following Coldstream 1991: 38–39; Langdon 2007: 174). Funerary themes are characteristic of eighth-century Attic iconography; early figural scenes typically adorned monumental vases used as grave markers, predominantly kraters and amphorae (Langdon 2008: 40; Osborne 2009: 127). They were produced by a small group of workshops from around 760 bce (Langdon 2002: 8; Osborne 2009: 126). The iconography is usually considered generic, rather than representative of individualised narratives (Osborne 2009: 127), yet the fact the decorative schemes of no two preserved Geometric vases are identical possibly suggests otherwise. Prothesis scenes proliferate in the Attic Geometric iconographic repertoire.11 They show the deceased lying on a bier surrounded by male and female adult and juvenile mourners that stand and sit in rows beside the bier, kneel below the bier, and sometimes extend into other panels besides the actual prothesis scene. At least in their earliest incarnations, prothesis scenes were imbued with heroic themes. This is suggested by the proliferation of chariots and warriors and the huge number of figures in some scenes, especially on some larger Dipylon kraters (Boardman 1955: 55; Coldstream 1977: 110; Hurwit 1993: 16). Dipylon vases represent the zenith of figural Geometric painted pottery (Coldstream 1991: 37). They were used to mark graves in the cemetery next to the Dipylon Gate at

9  Smaller vessels with simpler decoration were probably products of household industry. 10  See Rombos (1988) on ‘genre scenes’. 11  Prothesis iconography originated in late Bronze Age art, and the three-part funeral was wellestablished by the time of Homer (Garland 2001: 21).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  47 Athens. Prothesis scenes are the only scene-type that endured throughout Greek history until the Classical period and the only motif to endure in popularity throughout the Late Geometric I and II (following Rombos 1988: 77; Shapiro 1991: 629; Crielaard 1999: 49). Ekphora scenes are depicted on far fewer vases; there are only three extant Geometric ekphora scenes, compared to fifty-two examples of Geometric pro­ thesis iconography (Garland 2001: 21, 31; Langdon 2015a: 219). The few surviving ekphora scenes show the funerary chariot drawn by horses in a cortège that is followed by a procession on foot. Groups of armed men are at the head of the procession, whilst women follow behind. Children are also depicted as mourners. Ekphora scenes were popular in the Late Geometric I period, but there are no extant LG II examples. There was a general expansion in the range of scene types in LG II icon­og­ raphy: non-funerary themes appeared more frequently on painted pottery after around 735 bce (Rombos 1988: 369; Langdon 2001: 581; 2006: 205). The malefemale couple was an artistic innovation of Late Geometric II, as were maiden abduction scenes and depictions of festivals and games (Rombos 1988: 395; Langdon 2006: 205; 2008: 276). Late eighth-century iconography was also in­nova­ tive in introducing motifs including horse riders (horses were popular from the Middle Geometric), lions, bulls and cows, fantasy animals including centaurs and sphinxes, and depictions of sporting events, in particular wrestling, boxing, and running (Rombos 1988). There was also generalised elaboration in LG II decorative schemes, for example female figures’ clothing was cross hatched on late eighth-century pottery (Boardman 1998: 27). This could have been owing to an increase in the number of painted pottery producers, which is likewise suggested by greater levels of experimentation evident in products of the LG II period (Langdon 2015b: 33).12 Overall, painted pottery decoration generally became more thematically varied and detailed towards the end of the Geometric period, until there was a hiatus in the production of painted pottery with figural dec­or­ ation, from circa 700 until 630 bce, when black-figure was introduced to Attica. Painted pottery iconography has often been treated typologically, with different techniques (Geometric, black-figure, red-figure, and white-ground) considered separately.13 Thematic investigation with analyses of multiple types is usually 12  Figural scenes adorned a greater range of vessel types, including smaller shapes, in LG II. Vessels including hydriai, kantharoi, and tankards were decorated with motifs in the Late Geometric II (Rystedt 2006: 242). Previously, only amphorae, pyxides, lekythoi, and skyphoi were decorated, with abstract motifs (Coldstream 1991: 39–40). 13  See Coldstream (1991) on Geometric pottery; Sparkes (1996) on black- and red-figure; Mertens (2010) on white-ground; Cohen (2006) on specialist vase painting techniques. Works of reference generally adopt the typological model: Coldstream’s (1968) Greek Geometric Pottery: A Survey of Ten Local Styles and Their Chronology analyses Geometric pottery regionally, comparing styles to establish a chronological framework for the development of the medium. Robertson’s (1992) The Art of Vase-Painting in Classical Athens focuses upon black- and red-figure wares. Boardman has produced

48 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens restricted to considerations of black- and red-figure or red-figure and whiteground iconography. Here, Geometric, black-figure, red-figure, and white-ground iconography are considered in conjunction to investigate diachronic change across the period 900 to 323 bce. All of the iconographic types are treated in a comparable way to inform upon development in how children were characterised in art. Robin Osborne (2018), focusing upon black- and red-figure icon­og­ raphy, recently used close analysis of the change in the range of elements included in scenes to inform upon the development of Athenian society. He argues choices made, by artists, about what to depict at certain times informs upon the key concerns and changing nature of society across time. Here, following Osborne but applying close analysis of attributes—in particular, attributes associated with children—consistently to all of the Attic pottery styles produced across the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods informs upon the changing nature of social attitudes towards children across that time. A focus upon establishing typologies and chronologies for Geometric pottery was characteristic of early, post-War approaches, especially in Anglophone and Germanic scholarship (Langdon 1998: 261–262). They were revolutionary in promoting the study of ‘Dark Age’ material culture in their time but are now seen to lack iconographic interpretation and analysis. John Boardman (1983: 15) highlighted how attention to detail and considerations of the subtleties apparent in Geometric art only appeared in scholarship from the 1930s. Nonetheless, the impetus to establish and refine chronologies upon which to base analyses of Geometric pottery has continued into more recent scholarship. Nicolas Coldstream established a chronology for Geometric pottery in the later 1960s, which has largely been adhered to since. Coldstream’s (1968) date categorisations sub-divided the Geometric period into EG I and II, MG I and II, and LG I and II. The periods are sometimes further subdivided into EG Ia and EG Ib. The focus here is upon pottery of the LG I and LG II periods; further subdivision of the date categories is avoided in favour of attributing chronological dates where available, for greater consistency with other evidence types. Geometric pottery was long overlooked in favour of earlier Mycenaean art and later black- and red-figure iconography.14 This was a legacy of the attitudes of scholars, including J. D. Beazley, and nineteenth- and twentieth-century col­lect­ ors, who generally preferred styles that demonstrated more naturalism in their depictions of the human form.15 Beazley’s influence is apparent in the attribution of Geometric pottery to specific painters and workshops (Davison 1961; see also

seminal volumes cataloguing the same: Athenian Black Figure Vases (1974), Athenian Red Figure Vases: The Archaic Period (1975), and Athenian Red-Figure Vases: The Classical Period (1989). 14  See Rombos (1988: 19–31) and Langdon (1998: 261–266) for detailed review of approaches to studying Geometric art. It was distinguished as a distinct artistic style as early as 1870, by Conze. 15  See Kurtz (1985) on Beazley and connoisseurship.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  49 Coldstream 1968 and Ahlberg 1971).16 The popularity of black- and red-figure wares in scholarship is also probably reflective of their comparative availability: the production and use of Geometric pottery is under-investigated in comparison with later wares because so fewer Geometric wares with figural decoration are available for investigation (following Crielaard 1999: 53, 62). Geometric art was, for much of its history in scholarship, considered too simply as a counterpart of epic poetry; used to illustrate and inject life into Homer’s literary evidence (Webster 1955; Notopoulos 1957; Langdon 2008: 3). More recent work has acknowledged the fallacy of that approach, given it is unlikely Homer recorded excerpts of life at any given time, and is rather to be taken as an amalgam of life—real and imagined—across the Bronze and Iron Ages (Snodgrass 1974; 1998; Hurwit 1993: 19). After significant debate as to whether Geometric iconography showcases ‘real life’ or scenes from epic and myth,17 the current norm is to consider it generally reflective of reality with some scenes being identifiably mythic in character (see Ahlberg 1971; Boardman 1983; Langdon 2001).18 As Langdon (2001: 583) argues, whatever the case, Geometric art and its iconographic schemes were structured by the social concerns of the time in which they were made. This is being better appreciated recently as Geometric pottery comes to be analysed with contextual approaches, which account for the archaeological contexts in which pots were found and the social conditions that constituted the backdrop for their production (for example, see Langdon 2001). The discovery of increasing amounts of Geometric pottery decorated with figural motifs is steadily broadening the scope of analyses of Geometric icon­og­raphy (Rystedt 2006: 240; Stansbury-O’Donnell 2006: 247). Given art styles were regionally distinct in the Early Iron Age, significant scholarship has focused on drawing stylistic comparisons.19 Scholarship has also investigated Geometric icon­ og­ raphy thematically, to inform upon subjects including prothesis and ekphora rituals (see Boardman 1955; Ahlberg 1971). Recent approaches have looked to ascertain how far Geometric iconography incorporated narrative; initially this focused upon analyses of mythological imagery, but ‘every day’ scene

16  The hands of different painters have been distinguished in figural scenes produced from circa 760 bce (Coldstream 1968: 29; 1977: 114; Langdon 1993: 200). Though specific painters are often associated with certain vases, multiple artists sometimes worked on the same vase (Boardman 1998: 25). 17  Figures are not consistently associated with characteristic attributes in Geometric iconography, suggesting scenes do not illustrate events and characters from mythology (Boardman 1983: 26). 18  These debates have been intertwined with debates on the origins of Greek—and particularly Attic—Geometric artistic schemes. Scholars including Benson (1970) have argued the strongest influences were from the Greek Bronze Age or contemporary Egyptian art in the Iron Age. Ahlberg (1971: 198) has argued their origins were Near Eastern. Bronze Age influences are apparent but have been suggested to represent the copying of elements from earlier pieces rather than continuity between Bronze and Iron Age decorative schemes (Boardman 1998: 23). 19 For example, Rystedt (2006) compares art from the Argolid to Athenian styles; StansburyO’Donnell (2006) draws comparisons between art from Athens and Crete.

50 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens types have also been considered in more recent work (see Stansbury O’Donnell 1999; 2006; cf. Paleothodoros 2009).20 Significant energies have been expended upon cataloguing Geometric pottery, starting with Bernhard Schweitzer’s early publication (1917) and Willy Zschietzschmann’s (1928) article in which he quantified prothesis scenes on funerary plaques and pottery including Geometric vases.21 Many key works on Geometric pottery have focused on prothesis and ekphora scenes, because they predominate in the iconographic record of the Early Iron Age. In a monograph derived from her doctoral thesis, Gudrun Ahlberg (1971) produced a close, detailed analysis of elements found in prothesis and ekphora scenes, adopting a structural and functional approach. It was the first English publication on the topic, preceded only by a few in German (Ahlberg 1971: 17). Theodora Rombos (1988) followed Ahlberg with a systematic consideration of elements in all Late Geometric II scene types, presented thematically. Both sources continue to be the basis of any analysis of Late Geometric iconography. Small figures have been identified as children before in considerations of Geometric iconography; scholars including Boardman (1966), Emily Vermeule (1979), and Anthony Snodgrass (1998) have identified some smaller figures as juveniles but have done little to consider their significance.22 Ahlberg did more to explore the roles and significance of children but continued to identify smaller figures as adults unless it could be proven otherwise: she argued figures of only slightly reduced size were depicted in such a way simply for space reasons and only significantly smaller figures could be identified as juveniles (1971: 98–100). This has been critiqued by Langdon, who argues such an approach essentially looks to exclude children rather than to include them, which is not valid given children are only indubitably excluded from three of twenty-nine Late Geometric I iconographic schemes (2015a: 220, 222). Ahlberg (1971: 286) did, however, recognise that the inclusion of children in figural Geometric iconography at all was symptomatic of individualisation: I suggest it is representative of the fact children had recognised social identities in the Early Iron Age. The frequency with which children were characterised in Geometric funerary iconography indicates they had specific roles to play in rituals that commemorated death in Early Iron Age Attica. Langdon is the primary scholar in this field. She has produced both overarching syntheses of Geometric art (Langdon 1993; 2008), as well as focused narratives analysing specific elements of the Geometric artistic tradition23 and certain 20  Stansbury-O’Donnell (1999) argues narrative functions on multiple levels and can be interpreted with various degrees of complexity, which build upon one another. 21  See Brann (1962) for a catalogue of the Late Geometric pottery from the Athenian Agora. 22 Some sources argue children are not included in figural Geometric scenes at all (see Osborne 2009). 23  See Langdon (1989) on the horse-leading motif; Langdon (2006) on maiden ‘abduction’.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  51 themes.24 Langdon (2015b) has recently considered the comparative quality of Geometric pottery to identify the work of child apprentices. She highlights that pots can be studied as objects as well as canvases for iconography. One of Langdon’s key conclusions is that Geometric figural imagery was used to smooth social transitions in times of crisis; she suggests iconography on monumental grave marker pots was used to mediate in the transformations resulting from a death in the family. Langdon (2013: 173) argues children have been ‘thoroughly neglected’ in research on the Early Iron Age because of focus upon the period’s ‘warrior culture’. She is the only prominent researcher to thoroughly investigate the social identities of children in Geometric Greece, drawing upon evidence including pottery and its iconographic schemes (especially Langdon 2015a), as well as artefacts made by children (especially Langdon 2013; 2015b). Langdon (2015a: 225) has recently established that children were included in iconography throughout the Late Geometric period, though they were less frequent inclusions in Late Geometric II scenes;25 whilst few LG I decorative schemes clearly excluded ju­ven­ile figures, fourteen of twenty-nine LG II vases she catalogued demonstrate the absence of children. She has identified iconographic depictions of children and examples of their work in the archaeological record and argues the evidence suggests children were encouraged to take part in ritual and craft activities in Geometric Greece (Langdon 2015b: 28–29). Given many of those rituals were communal, the evidence suggests children had established social identities in Early Iron Age Attica. Those social identities are explored here. The approach adopted marks a point of departure from Langdon’s in that it uses an extended chronological focus to consider how children’s social identities continued to develop beyond the Geometric period.

3.2  Children on Geometric Pottery It can be difficult to identify juvenile figures in Geometric iconography, and the classification of them as children is frequently debatable because some of the key conventions used to characterise them—in particular their diminished stature— could instead be construed as manipulations to convey three-dimensional space and perspective or adherence to spatial restrictions. Children placed under horses and biers are particularly difficult to securely categorise as juveniles, because it can be argued they are smaller simply in order to fit into the confined space.

24 See Langdon (1999) on gender and Langdon (2007) on maturation as expressed in Geometric art. 25  Langdon (2008: 195) notes that, in direct contrast to patterns in later iconography, girls and young women are better represented than young males in scenes on Geometric painted pottery.

52 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Ahlberg (1971: 131) suggested most figures shown under the bier are professional mourners, but the morphology of some sets them apart as children: they demonstrate different actions, especially with their arms,26 and their heads are slightly different in shape and proportionate size. Children have less defined facial features and shorter hairstyles compared to the adults around them, including professional mourners. Smaller figures identifiable as children were included in scenes on Geometric painted pottery from circa 760 bce, when the earliest monumental grave markers adorned with prothesis motifs were produced (Ahlberg 1971; Rombos 1988; Langdon 2015a). In short, in the earliest post-Bronze Age art depicting funerary ritual, children were frequently represented as key participants. This suggests an emerging importance of the social identities of children in the Early Iron Age. Juveniles were depicted on around 11.43% of Geometric pottery with icon­og­raphy incorporating depictions of anthropomorphic figures.27 Twenty-eight vessels with iconography incorporating a depiction of a child are available for analysis. The children are discerned as smaller figures with shorter, spiky hair, or differently shaped heads. Small figures that climb on the bier, and figures that demonstrate a reliance on other figures can generally be recorded as juveniles. A gender for the children can at times be suggested based upon their activities and placement relative to groups of adults; only older male children are with groups of adult males, whilst all others are with adult women. Gender is usually ascertained in accordance with action in Geometric iconography; in prothesis scenes, females tear at their hair to overtly express grief whilst males are more restrained and hold only a single hand to their heads (Ahlberg 1971: 261–262; Garland 2001: 29). Female figures are also distinguished by their closer proximity to the deceased (Langdon 2015a: 220). These were presumably the gendered norms children were socialised towards when they took part in rituals like the prothesis (Langdon 2021: 183). The twenty-eight Geometric scenes showing at least one child demonstrate the actions and placement of children in scenes, their ages and attributes associated with them, and their relationships with other figures—all of which can be investigated to understand the social roles and identities of children in Geometric Attic society. The scene types children are shown in, and which vessel shapes those scenes decorate can also be investigated to assess the probable function of vases decorated with iconography depicting juveniles. Further analysis of chronology and painter attribution information demonstrates how far diachronic change was apparent in the characterisation of children. The style of the iconography and the 26  In the Dipylon Workshop in particular—which produced four of the five examples in which a child or children are shown under a bier—limbs define the actions of the figures (Coldstream 1968: 38). 27 The BAPD records 2,095 ‘Athenian Geometric’ vessels; 11.70% of those have iconography in­corp­or­at­ing depictions of anthropomorphic figures.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  53 composition of the clay suggests all of the vessels were produced in Attica. Provenance information, which is available for few examples, suggests their contexts of use were also Attic.28 A cup found in the Athenian Kerameikos29 and a krater found at Merenda30 were both excavated in graves, interred as offerings. The other vessels were presumably used as grave markers originally, given their monumental size. The placement of children, in relation to other figures and scene features, and their actions in a number of scenes suggest some defined roles for juveniles within prothesis and ekphora rituals (Figure 3.1). When children are included as mourners in scenes, they are always placed within the primary prothesis or ekphora panel.31 In twenty-four instances, children stand at the head of rows of mourners,32 beside, or under, the bier and often touch the platform, the bier cloth,33 or the deceased. This proximity to the body and their lack of restraint in interacting with the deceased suggests it was acceptable for children to be close to the dead in a way that was not permissible for most adults, who do not interact with the corpse. It may have been admissible for children to interact with the dead because they were not fully integrated into the society that was put at risk by the miasma caused by death; children’s immaturity and acknowledged lack of Touching Bier

11

With Corpse on Bier

6

Standing Under Bier

5

Holding Sword

4

Standing Under Horse

3

Held by Adult

3

Activity Unclear (Standing)

2

Standing Beside Bier

2

Walking in Procession

1

Riding in Chariot

1

Figure 3.1  Children’s actions in Geometric iconography. Source: the author. 28  Of six examples for which finds contexts were recorded, two were excavated in Athens, three at Merenda, and another in an unspecified location in Attica. 29  Rombos (1988) No. 95. 30  Rombos (1988) No. 315. 31  Mourners can extend into panels beyond the focal prothesis or ekphora scene and in some cases, rows of mourners are depicted in the absence of the actual prothesis scene itself (Ahlberg 1971: 69). 32  In a scene on a krater in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens (812), the children stand amongst the mourners instead of between the adults and the bier. They copy the adults’ actions. 33 The strōma is signified by chequered patterning above the corpse (Ahlberg 1971: 99; Garland 2001: 24).

54 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 3.2  Geometric krater showing a prothesis scene: a younger child leaning over the corpse’s head on the bier attempts to feed the deceased or place coins on their eyes. Source: photo from the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art; Terracotta krater attributed to the Trachones Workshop 14.130.15, public domain.

control may have placed them in a liminal state whereby expectations placed upon adults to manage their exposure to pollution did not apply.34 Six juveniles, all younger children or infants, appear on the bier interacting with the corpse. The fact they are all younger children or infants may representative of the fact 34  See Parker (1983) on the concept of pollution in Greek society.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  55 children struggled to understand the meaning of death and did not appreciate the altered state of their relative; for example, in one scene the child possibly attempts to feed the deceased (Figure 3.2; Langdon 2015a; Boardman 1966).35 The details are difficult to discern, but it is surely also plausible that the child was placing a coin in the mouth or over the eyes of the deceased, in a practice recorded in later sources, whereby an obol was intended to pay the ferryman Charon for his services (Sourvinou-Inwood 1986; Alföldy-Găzdac and Găzdac 2013). This would represent a key role for a child in the funerary ritual, one that was usually the responsibility of the deceased’s closest relatives. The child of the deceased was considered responsible for retrieving the body and making arrangements for the funeral when an individual did not die in battle in ancient Greece. Amongst other things, ensuring the appropriate treatment of the deceased supported an individual’s inheritance claim (Hame 2008: 4). Depictions of younger children engaging with the corpse could allude to this, making a visual statement that the child was contributing, within their capabilities, to the correct treatment of the dead and was thereby the deceased’s confirmed heir. The role of children in prothesis and ekphora rituals can be seen to be a very public one, given they were often the individuals having the most intimate contact with the deceased. Their presence was also probably used to emphasise family ties and the importance of continued lineage; presumably the deceased is a close relative of the children that interact with the corpse directly, probably a parent or grandparent. In all of the scenes in which they are depicted, the placement of children relative to other figures and broader features of the scene suggests they were included in iconography to communicate characteristics of others (the deceased that the monumental grave marker commemorated) and to serve particular social roles that were most strongly intertwined with notions of continuity and perpetuation of lineages (and thereby, society as a whole). Patterning in how juvenile figures were integrated into scenes suggests children had specific roles in funerary rituals in particular that were bestowed upon them because of a perceived difference in their social identities. For example, children were often permitted the closest physical access to the deceased, and in being given that access they were placed at the centre of the funerary ritual. Clearly in Geometric Greece, elite children at least had public roles to play; they had distinct social identities from an early age as a consequence. Exploring the attributes found in Geometric scenes with children demonstrates limited concern with material cultures of children and childhood in the Geometric period. Horses are depicted fourteen times in scenes with children (Figure 3.3). They variously pull the ekphora cortège or warriors’ chariots in pro­ thesis scenes (Figure 3.4). In three LG I prothesis scenes, children stand under 35  It is not unusual for offerings to be brought to the bier in prothesis scenes, but this is the only known scene in which an attempt is made to feed the deceased (following Boardman 1966: 2–3).

56 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens General Bier

26

Bird

9

Chariot

15

Horse Sword

14 3

3

Warrior

15

Weapons Ship

With Child

11 3

Deer 1 Platform 1 Wreaths 1

Figure 3.3  Attributes in Geometric iconography depicting children. Source: the author.

horses. It is these depictions of children in particular that have led to smaller figures being identified as space fillers rather than juvenile individuals. It is possible child figures were placed under horses for aesthetic reasons; the prospect that smaller figures beneath horses were modified to be space fillers but were also children is a valid one. The significance of the motif is unclear; horses were the quint­ es­sen­tial signifier of the elite and prestige in parts of Early Iron Age Greece, including Attica, so they presumably served to advertise the status of the deceased (following Langdon 1989; 2005). This could coincide with the exaggerated size of horses in some scenes; they are huge in comparison to the human—including adult—figures around them. The placement of juvenile figures under them adds little to this, beyond possibly signifying that the status of the deceased would be perpetuated by the following generation. Other animals are also common in Geometric iconography. Unlike with horses, however, humans do not interact with other animals directly. Birds are common in LG I prothesis and ekphora tableaux, though they are only included in one LG II scene. They emphasise the funereal nature of the iconography (Ahlberg 1971: 223). Taken literally, they could also suggest the prothesis took place outdoors in the LG I period, whilst indoor settings were more common later. Chariots depicted in fifteen scenes are variously used to pull the funerary cortège, in ekphora scenes where extended wheeled conveyances are used, and to transport warriors, in prothesis scenes (Figure 3.4). They do not necessarily represent physical movement in prothesis scenes, which were not a procession in the way of the ekphora. In prothesis iconography they were probably ideograms to represent characteristics of the deceased. In all cases but three, prothesis scenes

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  57

Figure 3.4  Geometric belly-handled amphora showing an ekphora scene: the older children touching the bier are rendered distinct by their diminished stature and their less defined physique. ‘M’ motifs, chevrons, and triangles represent the outdoor setting and swastikas in the wheels of the cart characterise motion. Source: Hellenic National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Inv. Nr. NAM 803 © Hellenic Ministry of Culture/Hellenic Organization of Cultural Resources Development. Credit Line: Newcastle University School of History, Classics and Archaeology Research Committee Funding.

including chariots with warriors adorn kraters, used to commemorate a male deceased (Whitley 1996). Like sea battle scenes, which appear on three kraters, the prevalence of depictions of warriors, weapons, and chariots probably communicated the warrior status of the dead; the iconography was intended to

58 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens represent, in an idealised form, scenes from their lives. In one particularly interesting scene, a child rides in a chariot in one of the decorative friezes below the actual prothesis panel.36 As discussed above, children are also shown on the bier in the prothesis scene on the same vase, suggesting the particular importance of juveniles in the life of the deceased commemorated by the krater (Figure 3.2). Ultimately, children engage in a range of activities in Geometric iconography, most of them associated with roles in funerary practice. Age appears to be a primary factor in impacting the nature of their activities, and it is older children that are most commonly depicted throughout the Late Geometric period (Figure 3.5). Older children usually act in ways that imitate the adults around them, standing beside, and sometimes touching, the bier; younger children often interact more directly with the corpse. Beyond prothesis and ekphora tableaux, older children take part in activities for which they may have been ‘in training’, and therein they are often shadowed by adults, whose roles the children are presumably being socialised to take on. Children are directly associated with specific attributes only rarely in Late Geometric iconography; four older children hold swords, which probably symbolise their forthcoming maturity because swords are considered a generalised ideogram of masculinity in non-combat iconography.37 Despite this lack of a distinct material culture associated with them, children are shown as a distinct character type in Geometric iconography. They are usually depicted in family groups, and then typically only in large scale scenes showing public funerary rituals. The lone child is an iconographic innovation of a much later age. Nonetheless, children clearly had public roles to play in Geometric Attica and in turn, therefore, had social identities that were already developing at that time. Children were adults in training, but they were also participants, as non-adults, in social activity from at least the mid-eighth century. Men and women are often shown together in scenes on Geometric painted pottery, though they are usually segregated spatially in accordance with their gender (following Langdon 1998: 266). In the majority of scenes children are shown with both male and female adults (Figure 3.6).38 Children are depicted alongside adults of a single sex on eleven pots, most frequently, overall, with adult males. This is noteworthy given children’s associations are most frequently with women in the literature and later iconographic repertoires. It is probably linked to the fact most children depicted in Geometric iconography are older males, who are typically placed with male adults to indicate their progression towards maturity. Children are shown only with male adults in two ekphora scenes, in one 36  On A LG II krater in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: 14.130.15. 37  Swords are frequently depicted in battle scenes, but they are also associated with warriors and male figures in other scenes and have been interpreted as generalised ideograms of masculinity in Geometric iconography (Langdon 2015a: 225). 38 All of the scenes showing children amongst mixed sex groups are prothesis or ekphoratype scenes.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  59

Older Child

22

Younger Child

Infant

5

3

Figure 3.5  Ages of children in Geometric iconography. Source: the author. Child

With females and males

With males only

9

7

Children

8

2

With females only 1 1

Figure 3.6  Figural groups including children in Geometric iconography. Source: the author.

indeterminate ritual scene (Figure 3.7) and in a number of prothesis scenes. The higher visibility of male adults is probably reflective of the patriarchal nature of Geometric Attic society and the fact men were often more involved with the public-facing aspects of funerary rites, which are those depicted in iconography. The frequency with which older male children are depicted alongside adult males demonstrates that children were socialised towards adult gender norms at least from later childhood, through participation in social rituals associated with death and burial.

60 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 3.7  Geometric cup showing a ritual scene: an older child stands between two figures that clasp hands above the child’s head. Source: photo from the Archaeological Museum of the Kerameikos, Athens 812 © courtesy of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture.

Older children are grouped solely with women in one prothesis scene,39 and an older girl is accompanied by women in a procession motif (Figure 3.8). Both are LG II scenes. Overall, it is younger children and infants that have the closest associations with women: three young juveniles are held by female figures and other children often stand amongst adult female mourners.40 The youngest children and women are also united in that they interact most directly with the corpse; analyses above show young children engaging with the deceased on the bier during the prothesis, whilst it was typically women that were tasked with preparing the ‘ritually polluted’ corpse in advance of that ritual (Stears 1998; Hame 2008; Vlachou 2021).41 One of the reasons for this was that the female body was considered ‘particularly susceptible to pollution’ because women engaged in childbirth and experienced menstruation (Bendlin 2007: 182; Shapiro 1991: 635 cited by Stears 1998: 93). Some types of pollution were conceptualised as the 39  On a neck amphora sold at Sotheby’s Market in London: BAPD 9018295. 40 In prothesis scenes on kraters in Athens (Third Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities: Rombos (1988) No. 75; National Archaeological Museum 802) and in New York (Metropolitan Museum of Art 14.130.14). In the former the child is held over the corpse by a female mourner. A child is on the lap of an adult female in the scenes on the vessels in the National Archaeological Museum and in New York. 41  All members of the deceased’s close household were considered temporarily polluted by their death (Bendlin 2007: 180).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  61

Figure 3.8  Geometric krater showing a procession scene: an older girl—characterised by her smaller stature and bun hairstyle—stands at the head of a procession of women. Source: drawing from Xagorari-Gleissner 2005: 138; Kat. Nr. 1 Inv. 1.161, reproduced with permission of J. H. Röll Verlag.

antithesis of fertility and the opposite of pollution generally was normality, rather than necessarily purity (Bendlin 2007: 178; Towneley Parker 2012). In that way, consistent depictions of women with children in funerary rites could have been used to make statements about the management of pollution and the fertility of the deceased’s lineage, even in the face of their death. The presence of children in

62 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens particular could have been used to normalise the death of the deceased and provide reassurance that the death of the deceased did not mean the end of their lineage. Twenty-three Geometric scenes show a child, or children, in a prothesis motif (Figure 3.9). All of those scenes adorn kraters or amphorae (Figure 3.10).42

23

Prothesis

Ekphora

3

Ritual

1

Procession

1

Figure 3.9  Scene types including children in Geometric iconography. Source: the author.

17

Krater Belly-handled Amphora

4

Neck-handled Amphora

6

Amphora

Cup

2

1

Figure 3.10  Pottery shapes with Geometric iconography including children. Source: the author. 42 Geometric prothesis scenes usually decorate amphorae and kraters: they are unusual, though known, on oinochoai (Garland 2001: 28). Belly-handled amphorae were not used after the LG I period, instead the popularity of neck-handled shapes increased (Rombos 1988: 87).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  63 Three ekphora scenes decorate two LG I kraters and a contemporary belly-handled amphora.43 A LG I cup is the canvas for an indeterminate ritual scene, whilst the  neck of a smaller LG II krater is decorated with procession iconography (Figure 3.7; Figure 3.8). The gender of the corpse is often indistinct in Geometric funerary iconography, but previous research has established that belly-handled amphorae were used as markers for the graves of a female deceased, whilst neckhandled amphorae and kraters denoted male graves (Whitley 1996; Langdon 2015a: 219). Following this, amphorae were typically decorated with prothesis scenes, and more rarely, ekphora scenes. Kraters were adorned with battle scenes, showing combat both on land and at sea (Langdon 2015a: 219). The fact children are most commonly depicted in prothesis scenes that decorate vessels that com­ mem­or­ated a male deceased (kraters and neck-handled amphorae) is noteworthy, though paralleled by the fact children are most often depicted with male adults if in single-sex scenes. It suggests that children were not included in Geometric icon­og­raphy on painted pottery with the primary motive being to communicate sentimentality or to directly represent the relationships between the deceased and their closest relatives, because younger children in particular probably had the closest relationships with female caregivers. Instead, even as early as the Geometric period, the iconographic evidence suggests children were prized for their roles in ensuring continuity. Children were given public roles paying homage to the deceased to show that, although a prominent member of the community had died, their lineage would continue through the next generation; the children that were, in a sense, on display during funerary rituals.44 This was seemingly the key social role of children, as demonstrated by the frequency of their inclusion within prothesis scenes, and especially by their incorporation into scenes that commemorated a male deceased over and above those that com­mem­ or­ated a female deceased, whom, in life, would probably have had a closer relationship with her juvenile relations. In sum, from the mid-eighth century a fundamental role of children in Attic society was to celebrate continuity and the perpetuation of lineage. All three extant Geometric ekphora scenes contain a depiction of a child. The prevalence of children in the scene type presumably evidences their frequent participation in ekphora rituals. This further suggests that children were given a public role in funerary ritual in eighth-century Attica; the ekphora was a public event even more so than the prothesis, given it was a procession to a public place of burial. The sense of movement in ekphora scenes is conveyed by swastika motifs (Figure 3.4; following Ahlberg 1971: 157, 233). Their outdoor setting is demonstrated

43  One is only a krater fragment (in the Akademisches Kunstmuseum, Bonn: 16), showing the bier on a wheeled chariot, with a small figure directly to the left. 44  The physical setting of prothesis scenes is unclear, though the scale of them as suggested in icon­ og­raphy indicates they took place outdoors (following Boardman 1955: 55).

64 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens by abstract landscape features including standing triangles, ‘M’ motifs, chevrons, and circular patterning, as well as by the birds and horses included in the scenes (Figure 3.4; Ahlberg 1971: 234–235). Children are shown in two other scene types in Geometric iconography, in each case on only one occasion. In one scene, dated 750–740 bce, a child stands between two figures that clasp hands above the juvenile’s head (Figure 3.7).45 In the other, dated 735–700 bce, a young girl is depicted at the forefront of a procession (Figure 3.8). In each case, it is difficult to interpret the full narrative of the scene and to assess the significance of the depiction of the child because of a lack of comparanda. Both scenes though do intimate the introduction of juveniles into society; the child on the cup may be preparing for a promise of marriage, as suggested by the garlands she holds (following Langdon 2008: 259–260). The child leading the procession on the krater is possibly being introduced to the rank of the women that follow her, who are more mature figures according to their hairstyles. Therefore, these isolated examples hint that children were introduced to society through participation in certain maturation rites, as well as through being encouraged to participate in funerary ritual practices, in Geometric Attica. All of the Geometric pots showing children are Late Geometric vessels produced between 760 and 700 bce (Figure 3.11). Juvenile figures were an iconographic type developed at the beginning of the figural movement and it was in the subsequent two decades that depictions of children were most common. Nineteen vessels were produced in the LG I, whilst only nine were LG II pieces. This may suggest a waning interest in the social importance of children after an

18

760–735

750–740

735–700

1

9

Figure 3.11  Date attributions for pottery with Geometric iconography including children. Source: the author. 45  Ahlberg-Cornell (1987: 66–67) interprets the iconography as a dancing scene.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  65 Dipylon Workshop

10

Hirschfeld Workshop

3

Painter of Athens 894 Workshop Painter of Athens National Museum 806 Painter of New York Metropolitan Museum of Art 34.11.2

2 2 1

Thorikos Workshop

1

Trachones Painter

1

Philadelphia Painter

1

Figure 3.12  Painter attributions for pottery with Geometric iconography including children. Source: the author.

initial impetus, but it could also be resultant of the eccentricities of different artists. A disproportionate number of the LG I vessels were produced by a single group; the Dipylon Workshop (Figure 3.12). The Dipylon Painter, often termed the Dipylon Master, was the preeminent LG I artist and is considered the pioneer of Late Geometric iconography (Brann 1962: 4; Coldstream 1977: 110). His Workshop specialised in producing large funerary vases and brought consistency to scene types that adorned them, including prothesis and battle scenes (Coldstream 1968: 33, 37–38). The Painter of New York MMA 34.11.2 was a predecessor of the Dipylon Master and was one of the earliest artists to create extended figural scenes (Coldstream 1991: 46). The figural compositions of the Hirschfeld Workshop demonstrate a distinct character, though they are lower-quality compositions than the work of the Dipylon artists; Hirschfeld iconography retained some traditions of the Middle Geometric, despite the fact it post-dated work from the Dipylon Workshop, which did not (Coldstream 1968: 43–44). The LG II Workshop of the Painter of Athens 894 produced inconsistent work in which human figures were only roughly sketched (Coldstream 1968: 62). The Philadelphia Painter, whose work demonstrates some similarities with the Painter of Athens 894’s icon­og­ raphy, was a LG II specialist in producing funerary procession scenes, in which the gender of the mourners was carefully distinguished (Coldstream 1968: 61). In short, each artist that illustrated a child (or children) on a Late Geometric pot had a distinct style. Given a number of unconnected artists and workshops chose to decorate their pottery with scenes incorporating depictions of children throughout the LG I and LG II periods, the inclusion of children in iconography was not a stylistic choice made on the part of a few artists, it was a phenomenon with its impetus in the (changing) social norms of the time.

66 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

3.3  Black-Figure Pottery Following the end of Geometric pottery production around 700 bce, the predominant pottery outputs of Attica were vessels produced in the Subgeometric and more elaborate Protoattic styles. Both are severely limited in what they can reveal about juvenile social identities in contemporary Athens because children are not characterised on extant Protoattic pottery and Subgeometric wares are not decorated with figural scenes.46 The black-figure style was subsequently invented in Corinth during the seventh century, before being developed in Athens around 630 bce (Robertson 1975: 49; Boardman 1974: 9; 1998: 177; Sparkes 1991: 19).47 The late seventh- and early sixth-century work of artists including the Painter of Berlin A34—also known as the Woman Painter—evidences the transition from the Protoattic style to Athenian black-figure (Boardman 1974: 14–15). The popularity of black-figure endured until the development of red-figure around 530 bce, and even after that certain vessels including lekythoi, Panathenaic amphorae, and funerary plaques continued to be decorated in black-figure, in much reduced quantities, until the third century (Beazley 1951: 2; Boardman 1955; 1974: 150; Sparkes 1991: 96). The acme of Attic black-figure production was between 560 and 525 bce (Boardman 1974: 52). The black-figure technique involves the painting of figures in black silhouette onto the light surface of the pot. Linear features are incised into the clay, while further detail can be added through the application of paint in colours including white, red, and purple. This is done before the pot is fired (Beazley 1951; Boardman 1974; Robertson 1975; Bérard et al. 1989).48 The same technique was used to produce terra­cotta funerary plaques in the black-figure style (Boardman 1955). Black-figure, like red-figure, imagery has been described as ‘synoptic’ and taken to convey its iconographic messages in formulaic terms (Boardman 1991: 83). As a result, ­scholars look to interpret black- and red-figure iconographies similarly, though the earlier style is a more restrictive one that makes it difficult to depict certain elem­ ents effectively (Boardman 1974: 103; Osborne 2018: 13–14). For example, the conventions of black-figure prohibit the rendering of depth and foreshortening and make it difficult to portray expressions (Boardman 1974: 37). Black-figure scenes are thereby significantly less ‘life like’ than some later iconography. Gender is often emphasised in Attic black-figure, with women’s flesh typically detailed in white (Beazley 1951: 1; Boardman 1974: 197). Female figures are also distinguished from males by the shape of their eyes; the former are usually shown 46  Protoattic iconography is dominated by plant-derived motifs and depictions of animals. Figural scenes illustrate fighting and charioteering, depictions of women are negligible (Whitley 1994). 47  Early pieces of Attic black-figure are very similar to Corinthian wares (Robertson 1975: 124). Attic black-figure is characterised by its preoccupation with scenes illustrating human action (Sparkes 1991: 96; 1996: 11; Osborne 1998: 87). 48 Incision could also be done after firing, to remove the glaze to detail elements (Osborne 1998: 46).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  67 with almond-shaped eyes, whilst male figures’ eyes are round (Boardman 1974: 198). Expression of emotion also differentiates the sexes in some black-figure imagery. Especially in prothesis scenes, women often demonstrate overt emotion whilst men are more restrained (Seifert 2006a: 73). This was, perhaps, a legacy of Geometric artistic conventions and social norms. Age is also sometimes highlighted in black-figure. For example, old figures—typically men—can be shown with white hair, sometimes leaning on walking sticks (Boardman 1974: 198). Children are characterised as smaller figures with adult physicality (Boardman 1974: 198; Beaumont 2003a: 108; 2012: 26; Seifert 2006a: 72; 2010: 120). The ages of juveniles can only really be ascertained relatively when multiple children are depicted, or at times can be estimated for individual children based upon their actions; for example, carried infants are probably younger than 2 or 3 years old (Figure 3.13;  Figure 3.14; Vollkommer 2000; Seifert 2010). Beaumont (2003a; 2003b) and Seifert (2006a; 2006b; 2010) have suggested children and youths— denoted by their diminished stature and un-bearded state—were depicted in black-figure to celebrate their roles as perpetuators of society. Black-figure was indubitably preoccupied with heroic and mythological themes. Scenes of ‘daily life’, lacking overt mythical overtones, were more popular from the mid-sixth century, but were never as prevalent as in red-figure (Rühfel 1984a; Vollkommer 2000: 371; Oakley 2013: 150). Some later black-figure scenes illustrate schooling, ritual practices, and daily tasks including water collection. Children were depicted more frequently after such scenes gained popularity, though they arguably continued to lack true characterisation as children until they appeared in red-figure in the fifth century (Rühfel 1984a: 45–53; Vollkommer 2000: 378; Oakley 2013: 155).49 For example, children do not crawl and rarely play in black-figure. This makes a full analysis of late Archaic and early Classical Attic childhood as a developmental stage problematic, drawing entirely on blackfigure pottery, but does not prohibit consideration of some facets of the social identities of children. Scenes selected to decorate pottery vessels and plaques in the black-figure style reflect the contemporary interests of artists and foci of public demand, and therefore how, and how often, children were incorporated into those scenes can inform upon ideas about juveniles and their social identities when the vessels were produced. Greek vases—especially those decorated with black- and red-figure iconography— have become as much works of art as archaeological artefacts; they have become ‘greatly desired objects’, though they were probably only everyday ones in an­tiquity (Nørskov 2002: 11).50 The question of value is one raised by Vickers and 49  The black-figure technique was generally slow to develop how anatomy was portrayed; poses and gestures remained unchanged throughout decades of production (Boardman 1974: 199). 50  Approaches such as Beazley’s, grounded in connoisseurship and derived from approaches investigating Renaissance art, may have distorted conceptualisations of the value of pots in antiquity (Elsner 1990: 952).

68 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 3.13  Black-figure amphora showing a departure scene: two infants are carried by women whilst an older male child stands under the horses. Source: photo from the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge GR1.1889, photograph © The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge. Credit Line: Newcastle University School of History, Classics and Archaeology Research Committee Funding.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  69

Figure 3.14  Black-figure amphora showing a domestic(?) scene: an older male child walks towards a woman (right) and a younger male child reaches up to another woman (left). Source: photo from the Landesmuseum Württemberg © P. Frankenstein/H. Zwietasch; Arch 65/1, reproduced with permission of Landesmuseum Württemberg.

Gill  (1994) in particular, who consider vases cheaper versions of metal vessels that have not been preserved. The monetary value of painted pottery in antiquity is also considered by Dyfri Williams (for example 1996) and Mark StansburyO’Donnell (especially 2011) amongst others, many of whom are critical of Vickers

70 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens and Gill’s conclusions.51 It is an important issue to deliberate because understanding the comparative value of the material considered informs upon the strata of society under consideration; much of what can be said about an individual’s social identity depends upon their place and standing within a societal web. Here, painted pots are considered as vessels used in everyday life in ancient Greece; more expensive versions of plain-glazed wares, but still objects in common circulation amongst social groups with some disposable income. Early scholarship treated black-figure pottery and its iconography in much the same way as red-figure; because vases decorated in both styles were, in the first instance, considered art, much effort was put into classifying them and attributing their decorative schemes to specific artists. This was largely the legacy of Beazley who, extending the pioneering methodology he had previously applied to red-figure, produced The Development of Attic Black-Figure in 1951 and Attic Black-Figure Vase Painters in 1956.52 Beazley was a pioneer and his ongoing influence is significant. His painter attribution methodology led the charge in treating painted pottery like art throughout the earlier twentieth century. His methods were rooted in connoisseurship that resulted from eighteenth- and nineteenthcentury tendencies to collect vases. Beazley was an Oxford University academic and a noted collector. He published his first article, on painted pottery in Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, in 1908. It was largely descriptive and focused upon detailing the iconography on vases in the collection. Beazley’s publications started to explore his painter attribution methodology shortly afterwards: his 1910 article ‘Kleophrades’ listed a number of vases Beazley attributed to the artist. Using methods derived from contemporary approaches to investigating Renaissance art, Beazley focused upon close analyses of decorative elements and figural features to identify the hands of specific painters.53 His key work on red-figure vases, Attic Red-Figure Vase Painters, was published in three volumes in 1942.54 Beazley continued to publish work on a number of painters he identified using his methodology throughout his career,55 and other scholars have since furthered his work.56 Some scholars have questioned the utility of painter attributions, especially

51  Questions of value have also been related to analyses of the trading of Greek vases in antiquity (see Tsingarida and Viviers 2008). 52  Scholars have since built upon Beazley’s work and there are now more than thirty established painters and significantly more painter groups (Williams and Burn 1991; see Burn 1987 on the Meidias Painter and the Kerameus volumes). Resultantly, Attic black-figure is the most studied and best-classified type of Archaic Greek pottery, with the closest established chronology (Sparkes 1996: 15; Brijder 2003). 53  See Kurtz (1985) on Beazley’s work and methods. See Robertson and Beard (1991) on critiques of his approach. 54  See Beazley (1945) on vase painters and potters in ancient Athens. 55  For example, Beazley (1930) on the Berlin Painter, (1931) on the Pan Painter, and (1933) on the Kleophrades Painter. 56  Attribution information has also been used to further research not on iconography, for example to investigate the organisation of the pottery trade in Athens (Robertson and Beard 1991).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  71 when investigating painted pottery to inform upon social issues (especially Elsner 1990), but they are useful for understanding how far the choice to characterise certain elements, like children, in painted pottery iconography was likely one made on the part of the artists, or one driven by consumer demand and distinct social impetuses. Other early publications on Greek vases focused upon one, or a small collection, comparing and contrasting their iconography after detailed descriptions of the scenes upon them.57 The research typically included little interpretation of the social significance of vases; they were treated as pieces of figural art, rather than once-functional artefacts. Many earlier works on black-figure painted pottery were largely descriptive (for example, Beazley 1951). They outlined the technique, and its development in Athens from the Corinthian style, before providing illustrative syntheses of vases on a painter-by-painter basis (for example, Boardman 1974). Considerations of chronology and shapes, and thematic evaluation of decorative styles, were more apparent from Boardman onwards. An interest in analysing black-figure scenes for what they could reveal about society and lives in Archaic and early Classical Greece emerged as a result of the structuralist approach made popular by the Paris School in the last decades of the twentieth century (see especially Bérard et al. 1989). A key tenet of the Paris School’s approach, explored in works such as A City of Images, is that iconography on Greek painted pottery constitutes a collection of components that are combined in certain configurations, within each image, on each vase and across genres, to convey messages. Bérard and Durand (1989: 25) propose that through ‘analyzing the rules that structure the composition we may gradually arrive at the meaning of the scene’. They also argue ‘an isolated image will most likely remain mute’ and ‘it is always the combination of elements that is significant’ (1989: 26). The Paris School’s is therefore a semiotic approach that requires images to be considered contextually. It is a methodology that continues to be used broadly (for example, see Oakley 2008), and it is employed here to consider attributes included with children in scenes of various types, and to evaluate the configurations of elements in those scene types to investigate what they suggest about the social identities of children and the material culture associated with juveniles in sixth- to fourthcentury Attica. The idea of ‘looking’ at art (for example, see Rasmussen and Spivey 1991), and moving beyond it to ‘reading’ art and iconography was prevalent in late twentiethcentury scholarship (see Bérard and Durand 1989; Robertson and Beard 1991; Sourvinou-Inwood 1991). Subsequently, Joan Mertens’ (2010) How to Read Greek  Vases, one volume in series on ‘reading’ collections in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, explored the idea that Greek vases can, in the first instance, 57  See Boardman (1966) on a sample of Geometric vase scenes; various articles by Richter on vases in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

72 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens be looked at and appreciated for their visual appeal, but that viewers can also go beyond that to ‘read’ the iconography and interpret the messages it is imbued with. Bérard and Durand (1989) and Robertson and Beard (1991) consider ‘reading’ ancient images something that requires training; something for which the contextual background must be understood to produce truly reflective in­ter­pret­ ations. François Lissarrague (1991; 1992), a founder of the Paris School, contends the context of viewing must be considered when attempts are made to ‘read’ and interpret iconography. Bérard and Durand (1989: 23) emphasise, however, that modern viewers must be mindful that they are disassociated from original contexts of viewing when attempting to ‘read’ ancient iconography. Lissarrague (1991; 1992), Stansbury-O’Donnell (1999), and Sheramy Bundrick (2019) have explored that interpretations of painted pottery iconography were also variable in antiquity, for example when vessels were exported, as were a number with iconography incorporating juveniles. The focus here is upon the messages black-figure ­iconography was intended to communicate to audiences in Attica, where it was produced. Art critic John Berger, in his 1972 monograph Ways of Seeing, made a distinction between looking at, and reading, a piece of art—an image—and seeing it. This is important in the study of Greek vases because it emphasises the point that iconography on painted pottery, which is art, was a product of the society in which it was made, and thereby imbued with the values and norms of that ­society.58 Those norms and values can be inferred from conducting detailed study of the iconography; thus the social value of children in late Archaic and early Classical Attic society can be inferred from systematic analysis of how they are characterised on contemporary Athenian black-figure pottery. Black-figure has long been analysed, and continues to be so, to inform upon the development of red-figure (most recently, see Osborne 2018). The analyses predominantly focus upon comparing scene types evident across the two styles and identifying vessel shapes associated with each. When black-figure has been evaluated on its own merit, it has often been to investigate particular subjects; for example, Boardman has scrutinised black-figure funerary plaques to investigate prothesis funerary rites (1955).59 One of the key debates with which Boardman and other scholars have engaged is the extent to which black-figure iconographies are primarily depictions of mythical scenes, rather than tableaux reflective of daily or real life. Boardman (1991) argues there is no clear distinction between mythic and non-mythical scenes; rather that scenes that recall mythical stories and events were still underpinned by the social norms and values of con­tem­por­ ary Greek life. Other scholars maintain more distinction between the two themes, 58  As explored in papers in Moon’s seminal edited volume (1983). 59  Boardman has written extensively on black-figure pottery, including to produce subject introductions (1991) and more substantial handbooks (1974; 1998).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  73 the mythic and the mortal (Osborne 1998). Rainer Vollkommer (2000) argues depictions of mythical scenes evolved into iconographies of daily life. In particular, he suggests the impetus to depict mortal children from the later sixth century was a response to the inclusion of divine juveniles in earlier iconography, apparently dismissing the fact apparently non-mythical children had been characterised in iconography from the mid-eighth century. Michaela Stark (2012: 221) and Räuchle (2017: 253) have recently demonstrated that the treatment of mythical or heroic children in iconography was not representative of social ideas about and norms relative to mortal juveniles. Thus, distinctions between mythical and mortal tableaux are maintained here: figures clearly characterised as specific individuals from particular mythological allegories are limited in what they can reveal about the norms of (mortal) Athenian childhood, so pottery depicting them warrants little consideration.60 Beyond passing references to them, children have rarely been considered in analyses of black-figure iconography, especially in Anglo-American scholarship. The specialist on the subject is Seifert, producing work in German, who has developed a methodology for identifying and categorising juvenile figures in black-figure iconography (2006a; 2006b). She investigates how children’s social roles were defined in Archaic and early Classical imagery (2010; 2011). Seifert’s particular focus, following Hilde Rühfel’s (1984a; 1984b), is on children’s participation in social rituals and rites of passage. Her approach leaves significant room for understanding childhood as it was experienced in non-ritual—not least domestic—contexts and for exploring the material record of children, as demonstrated by black-figure pottery but also as demonstrated comparatively when contrasted with earlier and subsequent iconography to inform upon the changing identities of children as they developed before, throughout and after the period in which black-figure was produced.

3.4  Children on Black-Figure Pottery Iconography on two of the earliest Athenian black-figure vessels, produced circa 600 bce, incorporated depictions of children, and children were consistently included in black-figure scenes until the end of the fifth century.61 Juveniles were depicted on around 0.23% of black-figure painted pottery.62 Ninety-six vessels with iconography incorporating a depiction of a child are available for analysis. The children are differentiated as smaller figures that evidence a different 60  Certain scenes are discernibly mythical because the characters are named by inscriptions or because the scene is clearly an event from a specific mythical allegory (Rühfel 1984a). 61  Plaques in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens (12352) produced 625–575 bce and in the collection of the Eberhard-Karls Universität, Tübingen (1153) produced circa 600 bce. 62 The BAPD records 41,313 ‘Athenian black-figure’ vessels.

74 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens ­habitus63 to adults; they demonstrate a physical reliance on other figures, wear different clothing, and/or act in ways that suggest they are not adhering to adult norms. Smaller figures that are carried can be categorised as infants by default (for example, Figure 3.13); children that demonstrate more autonomy can be classified as toddlers,64 younger children, or older children (Figure 3.14), depending upon their actions and style of dress. The gender of children can sometimes be ascertained in accordance with their hairstyles and clothing, the colour used to detail their skin and the shape of their eyes, in correlation with established adult norms.65 Vessels with iconography depicting at least one child can be analysed to explore the actions and placement of children in scenes, their ages and attributes associated with them, as well as their relationships with other figures, to investigate what can be said about the social roles and identities of children in later Archaic and earlier Classical Attic society. The scene types children are shown in and which vessel shapes those scenes decorate can also usefully inform upon the probable function of vases decorated with iconography depicting juveniles, and the extent to which they are likely to have been objects made for children. Chronology and painter attribution information indicates how far diachronic change was apparent in the characterisation of children. Finds context information is more readily available for black-figure pottery, compared to Geometric vessels; it usefully demonstrates that products of Attica were widely distributed, including to Italy, Rhodes, and Sicily.66 This suggests the audience for the icon­og­ raphy was scattered throughout the Greek world. The fact the pots were produced in Attica, however, means they reflect Athenian social norms in the first instance, regardless of if they were ultimately exported. A concentration of examples found in Etruria could be suggestive of the importance of children in society throughout the Greek world and beyond but could, at the same time, be significantly skewed by preservation biases; most well-preserved black- and red-figure vessels have been found in tombs in Italy, rather than in Greece. Provenance information is therefore limited in what it can reveal about the social identities of children in later Archaic and earlier Classical Attica, in addition to what is suggested by analyses of the iconography and chronology. One thing it does indicate is that iconography incorporating depictions of juveniles was considered appropriate 63  The habitus concept originated in Bourdieu (1977; 1990). In Bourdieu’s terms, habitus comprises ‘doxa’, which are the social norms—the implicit knowledge of how to act in appropriate ways— instilled in individuals during socialisation; they are shared throughout a social group but are not always expressed directly (Robb 2010: 500). 64  See an unusual black-figure chous in the Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich (S57). For an image of the chous, see Vierneisel and Kaesar (1990) figure 81.21. 65  On occasion, boys were shown with white skin—characteristic of females—probably to indicate their lack of full maturity and thereby citizen status, which likened them to women in Greek thought. 66 Of forty-eight provenanced vessels, eleven were found in Athens, a further three in Attica, another in Greece, three in Rhodes, and two in Sicily. Almost half of the sample were found in Italy (t=28), and there was a particular concentration at Vulci in Etruria (n=11).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  75 for generalised distribution, suggesting the visibility and importance of children in sixth- and fifth-century Attic society was something to be celebrated. Seifert (2010: 120) suggests children did not appear as active figures in Attic iconography before the mid-fifth century. This is debatable. Sixth- and earlier fifth-century iconography suggests some active roles for children, for example in prothesis scenes, wherein children could have clear roles (Figure 3.15). Older male and female children actively engage in mourning in twelve prothesis scenes produced throughout the period 600–475 bce (Figure 3.16).67 Another four children mourn in general funerary scenes.68 Children do not interact with the corpse, as younger juveniles did in Geometric iconography; rather they usually stand amongst the adult mourners and pull at their hair (mimicking the actions of women) or salute (copying the adult males), depending upon their age and gender. Instances of children being included in ritual scenes, and the fact of the children having defined roles to play within them, suggests a public role for

Figure 3.15  Black-figure plaque showing a prothesis scene: an older male child sits to the far right, holding his hand to his head in imitation of the women’s actions. Source: photo from the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art; Terracotta funerary plaque 54.11.5, public domain.

67  Seven boys; five girls.

68  Three older boys; one older girl.

76 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Carried Stood Before Horses Mourning Stood in Group Playing Being Punished Running Playing Music In Education ? Riding Horse Collecting Water Seated on Floor Holding Offering Fitted for Shoe

1 1 1

2 2

3 3 3 3

4

6

9

16 16

26

Figure 3.16  Children’s actions in black-figure iconography. Source: the author.

children in Archaic and early Classical Athens. The prevalence of children in funerary iconography demonstrates the role was intertwined with demonstrating the social identity of their family, because they were almost always depicted within family groups. Children continued to be important in constituting the ideal family unit in the sixth and fifth centuries, as they were in the Late Geometric. Children do adopt passive roles in a number of black-figure scenes, probably in line with their age; within ninety-six scenes, twenty-four infants and two toddlers are carried by an adult figure, typically a woman who could be identified as their mother. After older children, infants are the age group most frequently depicted (Figure 3.17). In all other scenes in which they are depicted, however, children arguably take on active roles simply by being included in the icon­og­ raphy. Sixteen male children stand before horses, essentially leading processions, in warrior departure and wedding scenes. An older boy holds an offering in a probable wedding scene.69 In nine further scenes, children stand amongst groups in those and other scene types. Therein, they clearly constitute one of the key members of the social—probably familial—group. They are not always active, per se, but children are actively depicted as figures with roles to play in defining col­ lect­ive identities in Athens from the early sixth century. Elsewhere in black-figure children participate in quintessentially juvenile activities. They are shown in what could be considered ‘daily life’ tableaux. Male children play games and perform music: children of various ages beyond infancy play with toys and animals, whilst older boys play pipes in music contests. In three instances, children are shown in education, both formal and more casual. Children learn the skills of writing and (gender-appropriate) athletics, as well as 69  On a hydria in the Musée du Louvre, Paris: S1257.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  77

Older Child

58

Younger Child

17

Toddler

3

Infant

?

24

1

Figure 3.17  Ages of children in black-figure iconography. Source: the author.

some of the household tasks of the Athenian woman; a unique black-figure plaque, probably a special commission, shows a girl sitting at the feet of her working mother (Figure 3.18; Rühfel 1984a; Beaumont 2003a: 108). Two younger boys accompany groups of females—probably their mothers and/or household slaves—attending to household chores; they collect water at the fountain house.70 Four children are disciplined by a parent; fathers beat boys with a sandal, in some cases whilst female figures—probably the child’s mother—stand by.71 One boy visits the shoemaker with a man, presumably his father.72 These scenes suggest children engaged with the day-to-day activities of the oikos and that they spent time with both parents, going to public places with both their mothers and fathers. It is worth noting, however, that only male children appear in scenes set in public contexts within the black-figure repertoire. Male children are by far the gender best represented overall; the child’s gender is perceptible in seventy-three instances across ninety-six scenes, and sixty-five of those juveniles are male, whilst only eight are female. More enigmatically, three younger boys run in scenes of an indeterminate type, one possibly illustrating a battle.73 One younger74 and one older75 boy ride horses, the younger in a possible hunting scene. These ­figures

70 On hydriai in the Museo Archeologico di Santa Scolastica, Bari (3083) and the Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid (10924). 71 On a lekythos in the Museo Civico Archeologico di Bologna (PU204), a pyxis in the Kunsthistoriches Museum Wien (318), on an amphora in the Schloss Fasanerie, Eichenzell (130) and on an olpe in the Antikensammlung Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (3230). Mothers stand by on the lekythos in Bologna and the amphora in Eichenzell. 72  On a pelike in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford: G247. 73  On a neck amphora in the V. Mignot Collection, Brussels: 9. 74  On a cup in the Musée du Louvre, Paris: F84BIS. 75  On an amphora in the Kannert Art Museum, Champaign: 70.9.3.

78 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 3.18  Black-figure plaque showing a domestic scene: an older female child sits on the floor behind a woman working at a table. Source: Hellenic National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Inv. Nr. NAM Akr. 1.2525 © Hellenic Ministry of Culture/Hellenic Organization of Cultural Resources Development. Credit Line: Newcastle University School of History, Classics and Archaeology Research Committee Funding.

could be rare black-figure depictions of slaves, characterised as juveniles, or could be considered youths. Their actions were atypical of those demonstrated by children generally, but their characterisation conforms to norms evident overall in depictions of children in black-figure iconography. Overall, children are often aspects of scenes in the black-figure repertoire, rather than foci of the iconography. That is not to say, contrary to Seifert (especially 2010), that children, especially those beyond infancy, are not sometimes active figures. They demonstrably had active roles to play in some rituals, and black-figure—moving beyond Geometric iconography—also begins to suggest the nature of some of their day-to-day activities. Some enigmatic scenes are more difficult to interpret, given their obscure narratives, but they highlight that the experiences of children were variable, and their social identities were not unilateral in Archaic and Classical Attica. Black-figure scenes that incorporate depictions of children include a wide range of attributes and space signifiers (Figure 3.19). Many are used to contextualise scenes, but some make statements about the identities of figures within the iconography. Attributes therefore inform upon the setting of black-figure scenes containing depictions of children and make suggestions about the social

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  79 General Horse Chariot Armour Weaponry Stool Bier Staff Wreath Column Pipes Tree Entablature Hydria Bird Waterspout Platform Sash Basket Sandal Dog Deer Block Kalathos Table Oinochoe Aryballos Swing Vessel Kithara Flower Lyre Headband Ball Krotala Writing Tablet Shoe Sprig Roller Lamp Mirror Discus Tools Bull Altar Cloth Cup Chous Lekythos Coffin Axe Alabastron Tray Torch Fillet Wool Sword Phiale Knife Owl Hare Bag

7

14 12 10 9

6 5 5 4 1 5 4 4 4 3 1 4 3 1 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

27

4

34 31

With Child

40

1

2

Figure 3.19  Attributes in black-figure iconography depicting children. Source: the author.

80 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens identities of individuals, including children, in Archaic and early Classical Athens. Certain attributes are directly associated with children in scenes produced after circa 575 bce, either because they are held by the juveniles, are in physical contact with them or because they are included in scenes showing lone children. Most attributes are only directly associated with a child once, but it is pertinent to note that some attributes only appear when associated with a juvenile figure: a sprig, shoe, writing tablet, krotala, roller, and a headband are only apparent in blackfigure scenes incorporating a child when they are directly associated with the child. All except the roller are associated with older children. Some of the at­tri­ butes could be considered signifiers of the child’s identity. In particular, the roller and headband, are consistent signifiers of children in iconography. The headband is ephemeral beyond iconography, but the roller is a key marker of a juvenile presence with a potential archaeological signature. Beyond this, attributes directly associated with children in black-figure iconography are predominantly indicators of their activities; children proffer wreaths and sprigs in ritual contexts, and they engage in education through learning to write and play musical instruments (the pipes and krotala). Children also interact with animal companions in scenes on black-figure pottery, as they do elsewhere in the broader iconographic repertoire. In black-figure in particular, the most suitable companions for children are dogs and deer. A child shown with a deer is also furnished with a basket and an oinochoe. He wears a headband. The scene, on a later fifth-century chous, prob­ ably shows him preparing for, or celebrating, a ritual. The deer was therefore not necessarily a commonplace companion of children in ancient Athens as dogs demonstrably were, given their wider prevalence in iconography alongside children. Children engage with various attributes with more uncertain connotations in black-figure scenes as well; one younger boy collects water in a hydria, whilst an older boy carries a staff. It is these attributes, and the actions of the children associated with them, that best suggest the possibility of servile children in blackfigure iconographies; the staff in particular was not apparently an appropriate attribute for juveniles, unless they were in possession of it on behalf of an accompanying adult, who could be their master rather than their parent or other relative. In sum, the attributes directly associated with children in black-figure iconographies demonstrate an emergent material culture of children and begin to suggest a spectrum of social identities for juveniles in Archaic and early Classical Athens. The space signifiers suggest the identities were in evidence on both public and private stages. Attributes not associated with children typically serve the purposes of contextualising scenes and making statements about the identities of adult figures in black-figure iconography. Most frequent inclusions, such as armour, weapons, horses, and chariots define the warrior status of adult males that are often the focus of the departure scenes in which those attributes are most common. Other attributes primarily serve to set the scene; the frequency of prothesis and other

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  81 funerary scenes is attested by biers and a coffin. Other attributes, some in scenes with children as many as five times and some as few as once, also primarily serve to facilitate interpretation of the scene but are limited in what they reveal about the social identities of the individuals depicted. Their primary merit is that in conjunction with an analysis of space-signifying attributes, they can inform upon the contexts to which children were permitted access and therein were able to demonstrate and enact their social identities in Archaic and early Classical Attica. A prevalence of stools and tables in black-figure iconography illustrating children is suggestive of children spending a significant amount of time within enclosed—not necessarily indoor—spaces; be that the domestic environment within the oikos or more public locales like the palaistra. Columns and entablatures make similar suggestions;76 they typically denote that the activity depicted takes place outside but in close proximity to a building, probably the house or, in some specific cases, the fountain house, distinguished by its waterspouts. Trees reinforce the outdoor setting of some scenes; they suggest the presence of children at least in the courtyard or grounds of a house, if not in more public arenas. Platforms make clear the public setting of music contests, including one in which a child is being punished—presumably for not performing as expected.77 An altar and bull demonstrate the alternative public setting of rituals, which children could have roles to play in. Conversely, sashes, kalathoi, a mirror, and a lamp evidence the domestic settings in which we would expect the presence of children. Other space-signifying attributes are more enigmatic—for example, blocks in two scenes—or scene specific. Ultimately, space-signifying attributes in black-­ figure iconographies that incorporate depictions of children suggest the majority of the scenes take place out of doors, in indistinct locales. For example, in the open courtyard of houses. This is heavily dependent upon departure scenes taking place outdoors. Subsequently, as expected, children are most frequently found in scenes that are probably set within the house.78 This is somewhat reflective of the fact the prothesis, scenes of which frequently depict children, probably took place within the confines of the oikos. Beyond these two locations, black-figure scenes also place children at the palaistra, the fountain house, and in a shoemaker’s workshop. The overall patterning in attributes suggests juveniles had social iden­ tities in both the public and private spheres in Archaic and early Classical Greece, but that very few objects and spaces were specifically concerned with defining the identity of the child. The notable exception was a roller, which constitutes an early example of a material culture of childhood. Otherwise, children were more defined by their actions, activities, and the situations in which they were

76  Columns indicate prothesis scenes took place in the oikos courtyard (Boardman 1955: 55). 77  On a pyxis in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien: 318. 78  The courtyard was part of the house, though it was an outdoor area not an indoor space.

82 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Child

Child(ren) only

Children

3

With females only

12

3

With males only

16

With males and females

3 31

10

With females and youths 1 With males and youths With males, females and youths

5 6

2

With youths only 1 1 With females, males, Apollo and Hermes 1 With males, Athena and Hermes 1

Figure 3.20  Figural groups including children in black-figure iconography. Source: the author.

depicted—including who they were shown with (Figure 3.20)—than by attributes associated with them in black-figure iconography. The frequency with which children are depicted amongst mixed-sex adult groups in black-figure iconography suggests the importance of the ideal family unit in late Archaic and early Classical Attica; one of the males and one of the females presumably represents the parents of the child or children. The family group is sometimes elaborated through the inclusion of youths. When deities are also included in the scenes, they probably personify elements of the theme of the iconography, for example with Nike characterising victory. Perhaps surprisingly, children are most often shown with male figures, in a range of non-domestic scene types, rather than female figures,79 if they are depicted with adults of only one sex. This is of interest given sources suggest women were the primary care­ givers for, especially young, children in Archaic and Classical Greece, but it mirrors patterning in Geometric iconography. It is possibly reflective of the fact the overwhelmingly majority of juveniles in black-figure iconographies are male; it also accounts for the fact most are older boys, that had ceased to spend most of their time within the oikos with their mothers. Further, men were probably the 79 Children are depicted with female-only adults in fountain house, domestic, and funerary ­ritual scenes.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  83 primary commissioners, consumers, and creators of the vessels and the icon­og­ raphy, meaning the black-figure iconographic repertoire is biased towards portraying their perspectives and experiences. Though black-figure painted pottery was not necessarily reserved for elites in the way that Geometric figural art was, the prevalence of older male children alongside adult males demonstrates that painted pottery iconography was consistently used to make politicised statements about the pre-eminence of men in eighth- to fifth-century patriarchal Attic society, throughout periods of rule by monarchy, tyranny, and emergent democracy. On occasion, children are depicted with youths that are presumably their older siblings in black-figure iconography. An older boy plays with two youths on a chous in Germany,80 and two younger boys play with a youth, possibly enacting a symposion that the youth may be preparing to attend, on another chous in the same collection.81 The boys are characterised as children rather than youths by their comparably smaller stature and lesser musculature, evidencing improved representation of juvenile physiognomies in fifth-century black-figure; the choes were produced in 475–425 and 500–450 bce respectively. A child and youths are shown with a woman on an olpe in Switzerland,82 whilst they accompany adult men in five scenes of various types. When older and younger children are depicted with youths and adult males, it is suggested they are being socialised to their future roles as Athenian citizens through observing their elders—both adults and those closer to the children in age.83 The overall patterning in figures children are shown with in black-figure, demonstrates children were primarily integral components of nuclear family groups in Archaic and early Classical Attica, as they were in the Late Geometric period. The importance of the correct socialisation of male children was an emergent theme, evident in their frequently being depicted amongst groups of youths and adult males. Children were rarely celebrated in their own right in black-figure, but fifth-century iconography was innovative in depicting lone children, probably on vessels intended for juvenile consumers, and in showing them in the company of youths, only a matter of years beyond childhood, from which they were rendered distinct. In that way, even fifth-century black-figure does not demonstrate a true artistic appreciation of the physiognomy of children, but it does illustrate the emergence of an iconography of childhood, beyond the iconography of children established in the late eighth century. Children are depicted in various types of scenes on black-figure pottery (Figure 3.21). This is noteworthy given the relatively low representation of children in black-figure scenes overall. By far most frequently, children are depicted 80  Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich: 6092. 81  Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich: S57. They play with drinking vessels; the youth drinks from a cup whilst the boys hold oinochoai. 82  Antikenmuseum Basel und Sammlung Ludwig: KA411. 83  Infants and toddlers are not depicted in male-only groups.

84 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Departure

33

Prothesis

13

?

9

Domestic

7

Funerary

6

Wedding

5

Play

4

Music Contest

4

Fountain House

4

Punishment

2

Shoe Fitting

1

Procession

1

Hunting

1

Horse Riding

1

Education

1

Dancing

1

Battle

1

Athletics

1

Figure 3.21  Scene types including children in black-figure iconography. Source: the author.

in warrior departures produced 575–400 bce, wherein children of all ages constitute members of family groups that bid ritualised farewells to warriors heading off to war (for example,  Figure 3.13). Children are also frequently included in funerary rituals. This illustrates continuity from the late eighth century; in both Geometric and black-figure iconography children had prominent roles in family rituals performed in public contexts, first in the prothesis and other funerary rites and then also in warrior departures when warfare became more prevalent. The inclusion of children in family group scenes suggests the importance of juveniles in characterising the ideal, fruitful, family unit.84 It also suggests children had significant social roles to play in some of the key rituals in the ancient Greek life course, especially those in which a theme was (at least the prospect of ) death. Children, as evidence of fertility and symbols of perpetuated society, could counteract the instability threatened by the death or absence of a prominent family member. Children also engaged in other ritual activity: one later sixth-century scene incorporating a child is a procession and children are illustrated in five sixthcentury wedding scenes, wherein they, all older boys, typically lead the wedding procession. Children had distinct roles to play in weddings in Archaic Attica, as 84  Departure scenes often illustrate multi-generational groups. Infants are usually with women, to characterise them as wives and fruitful mothers (Massar 1995).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  85 confirmed by their appearance in nuptial iconography: they acted as the pais amphithaleis, a child with two living parents that abided in the house of the bride ahead of the wedding in order to symbolically foreshadow the fertility of the union (Beaumont 2012: 162). The inclusion of children in a broader spectrum of black-figure ritual scenes demonstrates visibility of them in society and evidences their exposure to wider kin groups beyond their own family circles. It demonstrates that, in the sixth century, the identities of children were not only moulded and evidenced within the confines of their oikos, children had social as well as familial identities and social roles, like that of the pais amphithaleis, that were reserved for sub-adults.85 As in the Geometric period, children’s social roles were often interwoven with their status as the future generation and the perpetuators of their society and lineage; unlike in the Geometric period, those social roles were not only celebrated in contexts associated with rites of passage in the sixth and fifth centuries. Domestic scenes are in the minority in the black-figure repertoire. That said, seven scenes incorporating children, produced 575–475 bce, are of a domestic type. They show children86 of various ages playing, being punished, and observing domestic tasks performed by women, presumably their mothers. The scenes adorn vessels usually used by women in domestic contexts. As explored above, daily life for children also involved experiences beyond the confines of the oikos. Juveniles are shown accompanying women collecting water at the fountain house; three younger boys and an infant are characterised in later sixth-century scenes.87 An older boy visits the shoemakers for a new pair of sandals.88 These domestic and daily life-themed scenes reflect day-to-day experiences for children in late Archaic and early Classical Attica, and they illustrate relationships between children and their parents previously unexpressed in Attic iconography. Another component of daily life for certain children in Archaic and early Classical Attica was education: black-figure scenes show an older boy learning to write and an older girl learning to dance, whilst other tableaux show boys89 competing in music contests, presumably to demonstrate their learning. An older boy is depicted in one athletics scene, which could have associations with education (Figure 3.22). He is characterised as an observer rather than as an athlete and could alternatively be the object of pederastic courtship because a man holds out 85  Children’s identities were also affirmed publicly, amongst their peers: black-figure krateriskoi (not treated here because they illustrate ritual taking place beyond the confines of the oikos) show younger and older girls participating in maturation rites (the Arkteia) at Brauron (see above). 86  One older female, one older male, three younger males, and three ungendered infants. 87  Archaeological material and textual evidence attest to the construction of fountain houses in sixth-century Athens (Boardman 1991: 95). This suggests fountain house scenes reflect daily Athenian life at the time they were produced. 88 The boy is not characterised as a child but demonstrates vulnerability holding out a hand towards an adult (Rühfel 1984a). The figure being anything other than a child is impractical given he stands on a table. 89  One younger boy; three older boys.

86 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 3.22  Black-figure ball showing an athletics scene: an older boy stands with a dog (centre) and a man leaning on a staff holds out a flower to him. Source: photo from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Ball depicting palaistra scenes, Greek, Late Archaic Period, about 500 bc, Place of Manufacture: Greece, Attica, Athens, Ceramic, Black-Figure, Overall: 4 × 5.2cm (1 9/16 × 2 1/16 in.), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Helen and Alice Colburn Fund, 63.119, Photograph © 2025 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Credit Line: Institute of Classical Studies.

a flower to him, though this would throw into question the classification of him as a boy rather than a youth, because such activity with a child was prohibited by law in ancient Greece (Aeschines Against Timarchus 9–10). Possible educationthemed scenes characterise juveniles as growing children, learning new skills and participating in new experiences. On other singular occasions younger boys are depicted in possible battle and hunting scenes, and an older boy is shown horse riding. The significance of the scenes is obscure, given a lack of comparanda. Black-figure iconography incorporating juveniles was demonstrably con­sidered appropriate for decorating a range of painted pottery shapes (Figure 3.23). By far most frequently, children were depicted on amphorae produced between 575 and 475 bce. This perhaps reflects that amphorae constituted comparatively large canvases for decoration, allowing artists to integrate more figures into their

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  87 Amphora

25

Plaque

12

Neck Amphora

11

Hydria

10

Pyxis

4

Phormiskos

4

Loutrophoros

4

Lekythos

4

Chous

4

Pelike

3

Panathenaic Amphora

3

Olpe

2

Cup

2

Bail Amphora

1

Skyphos

1

Siana Cup

1

Epinetron

1

Dinos

1

Column Krater

1

Ball

1

Alabastron

1

Figure 3.23  Pottery shapes with black-figure iconography including children. Source: the author.

iconography. Panathenaic amphorae in particular were large vessels compared to other shapes.90 It also accounts for the fact that twenty-three am­phorae were decorated with departure scenes. Hydriai, typically large vessels for carrying water, were frequently decorated with iconography incorporating juveniles, probably for similar reasons. An association between children and hydriai has already been noted because children are depicted in fountain house scenes; the hydriai demonstrate the importance of relationships between children, especially younger children and infants, and their mothers and the place of the child in the ideal family unit. Hydriai were probably highly visible in domestic contexts, given they were used for one of the primary domestic tasks—collecting and/or storing water. Various other vessels adorned with iconography in­corp­or­at­ing depictions of children were also primarily used in domestic contexts; loutrophoroi were used to store water for nuptial baths, an epinetron was a wool working tool, and pyxides were used for storing cosmetics. The prevalence of children in the icon­og­raphy on these shapes suggests the prominence of juveniles in domestic contexts and the importance of family values throughout the sixth and fifth centuries. The frequency with which plaques were adorned with scenes of children is  explained by the prevalence of funerary—particularly prothesis—scenes.91 90  They were commissioned by the state to be prizes in Panhellenic Games, they continued to be decorated in black-figure into the later Classical period (Boardman 1974: 167). 91  Scenes on plaques appear to show daily life rather than illustrate mythology, though vases produced by the same artists focus on mythological subjects (Beazley 1951: 63–72).

88 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Funerary plaques were produced between the late seventh century and circa 530 bce; their characteristics changed little throughout the period and they probably adorned tombs, both as single pieces and as series of multiple plaques (see Boardman 1955). They typically show children amongst groups of mourners, an artistic legacy of Geometric iconographies. Some vessels decorated with scenes incorporating children had more general uses: cups, skyphoi, pelikai, and olpes were for storing, decanting, and drinking wine, or varied functions, for example; lekythoi, phormiskoi, an alabastron, and a dinos. A column krater decorated with a departure scene, was probably intended for use in a symposion context and so is perhaps a surprising vessel to showcase a depiction of a child. However, apparently ‘domestic’ scenes, or depictions of fam­ ilies, were far from absent in sympotic contexts more generally and it is problematic to make assertions based upon a single example. Ultimately, depictions of children adorn a range of black-figure vessels, with little suggestion they were a motif considered appropriate only for certain shapes and particular contexts of use. This establishes an innovatively broad visibility of children, which indicates the impetus to incorporate children into more iconography was evident from the sixth century, not the fifth century, as usually contended. The growing importance of the social identities of children from the Archaic period in Attica is most strongly suggested by four black-figure choes. The production of red-figure choes predominantly decorated with juvenile-centric iconography is a well-explored phenomenon. Black-figure examples evidence its origins almost a century before its height, suggesting the increasing importance of children’s social identities from the beginning of the fifth century. The fact some choes are decorated with lone child scenes—therefore making children the sole focus of the iconography and indicating vessels were produced purposefully for non-adult consumers—confirms it. A terracotta ball decorated with athletics iconography suggests an emerging material culture of childhood (Figure 3.22), though an association between children and the ball, even as a toy, is not secure nor exclusive. Choes, more than the ball, evidence the production of particular material culture to commemorate children celebrating a rite of passage, which suggests the importance of celebrating the (developing) social identity of the child in the late Archaic period in Attica.92 Vessels decorated in the Athenian black-figure style, with scenes incorporating depictions of children, were produced throughout the period 625–400 bce (Figure 3.24). They were by far most popular in the century between 575 and 475 bce, when more than 91% of the ninety-six vessels available for analysis were produced (Figure 3.25). The scarcity of vessels before 575 bce mirrors a decline in the impetus to depict anthropomorphic figures in iconography throughout most 92  Garland (2021: 211) suggests this was just one of four rites of passage children would celebrate when progressing to adulthood: socialisation in the oikos, the peer group, the phratry, and the citizen body or deme.

400

425

450

475

500

525

550

575

600

625

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  89

Figure 3.24  Chronological distribution of date attributions for black-figure iconography including children. Source: the author. 625–575

1

c.600

1

575–525

22

550–500 c.540

42 1

525–475

21

c.520

1

c.500

1

500–450

3

500–400

1

475–425

1

450–400

1

Figure 3.25  Date attributions for pottery with black-figure iconography including children. Source: the author.

of the seventh century. The decline in the quantity of vessels recorded from the fifth century onwards probably reflects a general waning in the production of black-figure in Athens from circa 530 bce, when it was replaced by red-figure as the foremost technique used to decorate painted pottery. Almost half of the blackfigure vessels with scenes including juvenile figures are not attributed to a particular artist.93 This is perhaps reflective of the lesser attention paid to applying 93  Beazley attributed around 75% of known black-figure vessels to a painter (Boardman 1974: 10).

Princeton Painter

7

Swing Painter

4

Sappho Painter

4

Painter of Berlin 1686

4

Group E

3

Exekias

3

Euphiletos Painter

2

AD Painter

2

Towry Whyte Painter

1

Theseus Painter

1

Sandal Painter

1

Priam Painter

1

Painter of Würzburg 252

1

Painter of Würzburg 173

1

Painter of Vatikan E347

1

Painter of the Madrid Fountain

1

Painter of Munich 1410

1

Painter of Louvre F42

1

Painter of London B235

1

Painter of Athens 581

1

Mastos Painter

1

Malibu Painter

1

Lysippides Painter

1

Fat Runner Group

1

Eucharides Painter

1

Emporion Painter

1

Castellani Painter

1

Bucci Painter

1

BMN Painter

1

Antimenes Painter

1

Andokides

1

Affecter

1

Acheloos Painter

1

Figure 3.26  Painter attributions for pottery with black-figure iconography including children. Source: the author.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  91 Beazley’s methodology to black-figure, compared to red-figure, in scholarship. Vessels with attributions are associated with a wide range of painters, most of which produced only one example (Figure 3.26), although some of the artists worked contemporarily and demonstrate associations with one another. The fact children are depicted in comparably few black-figure scenes demonstrates characterising juveniles was not a premier concern for most painted pottery pro­du­ cers in sixth- and fifth-century Athens, but the number of different artists that made the decision to characterise children in a scene suggests a social phe­nom­ enon, rather changes in taste or artistic preference, underpinned the impetus for the re-introduction of juveniles into iconographic schemes from the late seventh century. Seemingly the impetus to depict children was intertwined with sociopolitical upheaval and reform. The period during which most such vessels were produced was one of significant political unrest in Athens, not limited to the tyrannies of the Peisistratids and social discontent resulting in the reforms of Kleisthenes. It was also a period during which Greece was under threat of invasion from the Persian Empire. Thus, patterning in the characterisation of children on black-figure pottery suggest the social identity of the child was heightened when the identity of society as a whole was in flux or unstable.

3.5  Red-Figure Pottery Red-figure is black-figure in reverse. The technique was developed in Athens around 530 bce and was subsequently the foremost technique used to decorate painted pottery until the third century (Sparkes 1991: 19). The more nuanced and ‘life-like’ style of red-figure facilitates the easier identification of figures of both genders and various ages. The expanded spectrum of red-figure scene types facilitates a broader perspective on everyday life in late Archaic and Classical Attica. In antiquity, red-figure vessels, like black-figure wares, were considered products of craftsmen, rather than artists, and were probably objects used in day-today life for the most part; only exceptional vases were works of art (Robertson and Beard 1991: 2–3). Extant quantities of red-figure pottery suggest its value was such that it was relatively accessible within society and used widely, in particular compared to other contemporary media now evaluated as art, including grave stelai (Sparkes 1996: 143; Beaumont 2003b: 75). Essentially, pots decorated with red-figure iconography can be treated as objects in common use by oikoi with disposable income in late Archaic and Classical Attica. Some of the finest examples of Greek painted pottery were produced in fifthcentury red-figure. The focus in the earlier fifth century, as in the later decades of the sixth, was upon innovation and refining the red-figure technique, and the most popular shapes were those used at the symposion; generally larger vessels

92 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens like kraters and bigger cups. In the later fifth century, attention moved to increased production of smaller shapes, often intended for women’s use; including squat lekythoi, pyxides, and lekanides (Williams and Burn 1991: 120). From the mid-century onwards, the lives and activities of women and children were characterised on an unprecedented scale. In red-figure, compared to in black-figure and Geometric iconography, children are characterised as juveniles in different stages of childhood, rather than miniaturised adults.94 Juvenile figures’ actions also demonstrate more naturalism in red-figure, although their range of gestures is restricted compared to those of adults,95 and they are often shown playing with animals or toys, as well as in juvenile groups.96 Dickmann (2006: 468) highlighted that children often mimic some adult behaviours, even when they are depicted in juvenile-only groups; for example, some children set tables as if to prepare for something like a symposion. Children are most realistically rendered in later Classical iconography— their illustrated physiognomies truly reflected reality in art produced from around 430 bce97—though the whole Classical period has been described as the ‘the heyday’ for depicting children, of all ages, in Greek art (Beaumont 2003b: 75; Seifert 2006a: 470; Oakley 2013: 156–158, 168). A perceived increase in the visibility of children in Classical art, particularly in red-figure, owes much to their prevalence in scenes on choes. A chous is a type III oinochoe, a distinct form of jug with a squat body and trefoil mouth, which was popular from the mid-sixth century in Attica (van Hoorn 1951: 15, 53; Hamilton 1992: 63–65).98 The term chous derived from the name of the second day of the Anthesteria festival,99 and the iconography on many red-figure examples has been associated with the celebration.100 Choes were produced in a range of sizes, with decorative schemes that varied in their elaboration, until the early fourth century.101 Small and miniature examples, the majority of which date to the period 94  See Neils and Oakley (2003b: 3) on ‘the Greek miracle’, whereby artists in Classical Greece started to depict what they saw instead of what they knew, and its impact on depicting children. 95  McNiven (2007) argues Athenian vase painting communicated in a ‘language of gestures’. 96  Even toddlers are depicted as active beings, interacting with the other children, adults, and pets around them (Sommer and Sommer 2015: 83). 97  Physiologically accurate depictions of children show them in naturalistic postures with large heads, proportionate to their body size, evident chubbiness, and excess fat (Beaumont 2003a: 109; Golden 2003: 21; Bobou 2018: 355). 98  See Green (1970) and (1971) on the development of the chous shape. 99 The Anthesteria was celebrated across the eleventh to thirteenth days of the month Anthesterion. The second day was the Choes, during which it is suggested children were crowned with garlands and given their first drink of wine from chous jugs (van Hoorn 1951: 15; Stern 1978: 27). Elements of the festival may have taken place in household contexts, with all members of the family in attendance (Beaumont 2012: 75). 100  Scenes on black-figure choes generally demonstrate less association with the Anthesteria (van Hoorn 1951: 53). 101 Some choes were plain black-glazed wares; examples with iconography were produced in black-figure, but most were red-figure vessels. The iconographic schemes on some are highly elab­­ orate, with added colour and gilding, suggesting a hierarchy in their quality and value (van Hoorn 1951: 55–56).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  93 430–400 bce, are almost unilaterally adorned with scenes showing children (Golden 2003: 21).102 They typically characterise children alone, or in juvenileonly groups, interacting with objects that could be considered toys; choic icon­og­ raphy was probably therefore inspired by observation of children’s lives and day-to-day activities. Tableaux on choes innovatively emphasise the carefree sides of childhood, which are typically overlooked in other painted pottery repertoires, and they explored children’s peer relationships on a significant scale for the first time. Small and miniature choes are thereby a foremost source for investigating the lives of juveniles in late Archaic, and especially Classical, Attica.103 Many early publications on red-figure vases considered one, or a small collection of pieces, and focused upon producing comprehensive descriptions of their iconography (for example, Karouzou 1946 on choes). The scholarship usually side-lined contemplation of the usage of vessels, neglecting to consider vases as practical objects that were made and used in social contexts. Fundamentally, until the later twentieth century, red-figure vases, like black-figure wares, were primarily considered as objets d’art, rather than once-functional artefacts. They can, and should, be investigated as both; works of art produced in distinct social settings and thereby viable sources to inform upon social identities in ancient Athens, as well as functional objects that were used in certain contexts, the usage of which can be investigated to inform upon the socialisation of individuals associated with and depicted upon them. Contextualised analyses of painted pottery, which consider examples both as functional vessels as well as canvases for iconography, were brought about by the methodological innovations of the Paris School.104 The School contends icon­og­ raphy must be considered contextually, with comparison across vases adorned with multiple scenes and across scene type compendia, to be best understood and best used to inform upon the society that produced it (see especially Bérard et al. 1989; Lissarrague 1991). Research investigating ideological and social messages communicated by scenes on painted pottery has often evaluated the iconography thematically. Where research like Beazley’s focused almost unilaterally on painted pottery, thematic approaches often evaluate various evidence types, from the broader artistic repertoire, in conjunction (for example, see Shapiro 1991 on mourning; see various papers in Moon 1983). Evaluating multiple evidence types in conjunction helps to generate a more secure understanding of the social iden­ tities of children and a more comprehensive awareness of the material culture associated with them in ancient Attica. Methodologies moulded by the Paris

102  Two of four black-figure choes possibly dated to the same period. 103  Green (1971: 223) argues larger and small, including miniature, choes were used differently, not least because larger choes were very rarely decorated with juvenile-centric iconography. 104  Introductory-style volumes tend to treat painted pottery production, typology, and icon­og­ raphy separately (for example, Hereford 1919; Sparkes 1991; Clark et al. 2002).

94 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens School are at times criticised for failure to consider the impact of chronology.105 A multi-proxy approach facilitates an extended diachronic perspective, which would be inaccessible if only red-figure vases, for example, were evaluated. Investigations of children and childhood in ancient Greece have typically used red-figure pottery as a principal source, not least because of its availability: ana­ lyses of red-figure iconography usually dominate in research that sometimes references other evidence types for comparison (Oakley 2014: 677). Early work focused upon cataloguing and description.106 Anita Klein’s Child Life in Greek Art, published in 1932, was an early consideration of the lives of ancient Greek children as evidenced by painted pottery, terracottas, and stelai. It is heavily descriptive and accompanied by a number of plates cataloguing examples. Klein focused upon childhood and excluded youths and maidens but does not provide a detailed discussion of her distinction between maidens/youths and children.107 More than four decades later, preoccupation with cataloguing remained evident; in 1975 Frederick Beck produced a substantial corpus of iconography and related materials showing children in education and at play. Recent scholarship has developed a more interpretive and critical style; it looks to understand the ex­peri­ ences of children, whilst being mindful of the fact the evidence available for investigation was, for the most part, curated by adults.108 A number of scholars have investigated the lives of children in Archaic and Classical Attica, as evidenced by red-figure pottery in particular. Blundell (2011) analysed 394 red-figure depictions of children, concluding that male children were more important than females in ancient Attica. She focuses upon children below the age of 11 but presents little discussion on how she ascertained that figures meet those criteria, which compromises the arguments she presents given the difficulties involved in ascertaining the ages of children depicted even in comparably ‘life like’ red-figure. Marie-Claire Crelier (2008), publishing in German, has investigated the lives and deaths of children in fifth-century Athens through analysing depictions of them on red-figure and white-ground vases. She suggests the ways in which juveniles of different ages were characterised demonstrates an appreciation of childhood as a period of development, during which individuals had different capabilities at ­different stages: she argues this was an innovation of the Classical period. This is an assertion supported by various scholars, including Oakley (especially 2013),

105  Chronological approaches are typical in general textbooks, which look to provide an overview of the development of vase painting techniques (for example, Osborne 1998; Barringer 2015). 106  Some later sources are also heavily descriptive, drawing upon examples to produce narratives on children’s lives in ancient Greece, with little consideration of their social roles and significance (for example, Jenkins and Bird 1980). 107  Kleijwegt (1991) is one of few sources to consider youth, in large part because of the ambiguous nature of the life stage in ancient Greece. His approach focuses on literary evidence as youth is often indistinct in iconography. 108  See papers in Neils and Oakley (2003a) and Cohen and Rutter (2007).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  95 Ham  (1999; 2006),109 and Beaumont (see below). Oakley suggests the broader range of scene types in which children were depicted in red-figure and the medium’s tendency to depict children in exclusively juvenile tableaux, engaging in quintessentially juvenile activities, demonstrates a new fifth-century interest in childhood as a distinct phase in the life course.110 In recent decades, the foremost scholar on children and childhood in ancient—particularly Archaic and Classical—Attica has been Beaumont (especially 2012). She has created a methodology for ascertaining the ages of children depicted in iconography (especially 1994a) and has investigated the socialisation of children extensively (especially 1998; 2000; 2013), for the most part drawing upon the evidence of red-figure pottery. Beaumont’s methodology forms a substantial foundation for any research on children in ancient Greece, but there remains significant potential in analysing a broader range of evidence types, with a broader chronological focus compared to Beaumont’s, to critique the assertion that meaningful characterisation of children in art was a phenomenon of the late Archaic and Classical periods. Many investigations of children that have used red-figure iconography have analysed choes. The precise relationships between the vessels, children, and the Anthesteria festival have been extensively debated since the mid-twentieth century:111 some scholars have argued choes were given to children to com­mem­ or­ate their taking part in the festival (including Karouzou 1946; van Hoorn 1951; Stern 1978; Sourvinou-Inwood 1988; Ham 1999). Seifert (especially 2006a) argues choes were given to children to celebrate their staged acceptance into social groups, including their oikos and phratry. She has suggested children’s integration into the latter was commemorated by their participation in the Anthesteria and receipt of choes. Some who argue choes primarily functioned in relation to the Anthesteria contend choic iconographic is almost unilaterally preoccupied with illustrating scenes from the festival (for example, van Hoorn 1951). Other scholars suggest choes were offered to juveniles in commiseration when they died before they were able to participate in the Anthesteria (Smith 1943; Green 1971; Bazant 1975; Oakley 2003). Yet others contend choes had more general functions and that the iconography on them is demonstrative of activity in children’s lives beyond the Anthesteria (for example, Metzger 1965). Hamilton (1992) supports this, he argues ‘tableau elements’ he has identified in choic iconography could reference

109  Ham analysed choic iconography to evaluate childhood as a developmental stage in Greece, arguing there was only a well-articulated concept of childhood from the Classical period because clear markers were only used to characterise children in fifth-century iconography. 110  For an argument debating the position see Schlegelmilch (2009). 111  Scholarship on choes gained particular momentum after the publication of van Hoorn’s seminal Choes and Anthesteria in 1951, which catalogued more than one thousand examples, most with ju­ven­ile-centric iconography. Van Hoorn’s corpus has since been added to, including by Green (1961; 1970; 1971).

96 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens the Anthesteria,112 but that does not mean that the functions of choes were unilaterally tied to the festival; they could also function as toys, for example. He suggests the narrow chronological distribution of choes decorated with juvenilecentric iconography calls into question that they were consistently gifted to children to commemorate their engagement with a rite of passage celebrated at the Anthesteria. Smith (1943: 48) and Green (1971: 226) highlight that children depicted on choes are not all the same age—juveniles taking part in the Anthesteria would be in their third year—which makes it questionable that choes were exclusively used to commemorate children’s associations with the festival.113 Ultimately, it remains uncertain whether choes were serviceable objects or commemorative gifts in the first instance, and whether in either case their fifth-century popularity was solely resultant of their being associated with the Anthesteria (Golden 1990: 41–42; Hamilton 1992; Seifert 2008: 96). I suggest, like most pottery in antiquity, choes were multi-purpose objects; children’s possessions—possibly gifted to them to commemorate changes in their citizen status marked by engagement with the Anthesteria—that were repurposed, to accompany juveniles that died in childhood and to be used as toys (following Gooch 2016).114 Their key utility is the fact small and miniature examples were vessels directly associated with juvenile consumers in antiquity. Thus, I suggest their iconography, in its idealised style, depicts scenes that were commonplace in the day-to-day lives of children in late Archaic and Classical Attica; and it can be used to evaluate what the nature of their activities suggests about their social identities then and there. Most foregone scholarship has argued children were depicted more frequently and with more naturalism in fifth-century art, including red-figure, because Kleisthenes’ and Perikles’ reforms on citizenship and inheritance raised the profile of the family unit and because major upheavals including the Peloponnesian War and subsequent plague outbreaks had major impacts on society (see Green 1971: 189; Golden 2003: 21; Seifert 2006a: 471; Blundell 2011: 25). Beaumont (especially 2003a: 108–109; 2012: 74–75) argues the increased visibility of children reflects that they were more prized in the Classical period because of increased infant mortality rates resulting from the Peloponnesian War and plague outbreaks. Oakley (especially 2013: 166) concurs, suggesting general depopulation resultant of wars and plague outbreaks around 430 bce meant the profile of the family unit 112  Hamilton established that amulets, cakes, carts, choes, grapes, dogs, and tables were consistently represented on choes, in different combinations. He termed them ‘tableau elements’. He established four broad scene types but did not identify strong correlations in how the elements were incorporated into scenes of each type, suggesting standardisation of elements in choic iconography, but some personalisation in the execution of scenes. 113  Sourvinou-Inwood (1988: 49) argues the variability could be owed to the fact children could be close to 2 years old, or almost 4. This does not fully account for the variability because some juveniles on choes are almost characterised as youths, whilst others are only crawling infants. 114  See Foxhall (2020) on the meanings and uses of ‘everyday objects’ changing throughout their life cycles, including as they acquire different users and values.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  97 was raised and children were more appreciated for the roles they played in perpetuating society. Sommer and Sommer (2015) conclude their inter-disciplinary research with similar assertions; that children were depicted in iconography more when they were more important to society because society was in crisis. These are not new suggestions: Rühfel argued in 1984(a) that children were depicted more in fifth-century iconography because they were encouraged to participate in social festivals then, in response social pressures. Other scholars including Stern (1978), Raepsaet and Decocq (1997), and Ham (1999) have used similar reasoning to explain the prevalence of children in iconography adorning choes. In short, a significant body of previous scholarship has argued children were depicted more often and more realistically in red-figure, particularly ex­amples dated to the later fifth century, because their social significance changed because of social crises that were triggered by one, or a combination of; the Peloponnesian War, plague outbreaks and citizenship reforms. Those arguments are valid, but they do not adequately account for why society reacted in that particular way to historically attested social crises, nor for the fact that children were depicted in painted pottery iconography from the eighth century. Here, I  explore the idea that depicting children on painted pottery was something that slowly gained momentum across three centuries and as many styles of painted pottery decoration, before reaching its maximum in the fifth century. I also consider why ­children’s social identities were commemorated more frequently at various times when society was in flux.

3.6  Children on Red-Figure Pottery Children were characterised in red-figure from when the technique was first developed in Athens circa 530 bce, and were consistently included in scenes until the late fourth century. They were depicted on around 1.55% of red-figure pottery, which is reduced to a proportion of 0.28% with choes discounted.115 The increased visibility of children in red-figure is often exaggerated in light of how frequently they were depicted on choes, but both with choes counted and discounted, a proportionate increase from black-figure is evident. One hundred and forty vessels with iconography incorporating a depiction of a child are available for analysis, besides an additional 635 choes. Most red-figure scenes are of sufficiently good quality artistry to distinguish children from adults by their size and modified physiognomies. The ages of children can be ascertained in accordance with their actions, state of dress, and/or the nature of their relationships with other figures. As in black-figure, the gender of children is at times determinable in line with

115 The BAPD records 50,073 ‘Athenian red-figure’ vessels.

98 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens their styles of dress and hairstyles. As with Geometric and black-figure pots, red-figure depictions of children can be analysed to investigate the actions and placement of children in tableaux, their ages and attributes associated with them, as well as their relationships with other figures, to explore what can be said about the social roles and identities of children in late Archaic and Classical Attic society. The scene types incorporating children and which vessel shapes are decorated with iconography of juveniles can also be investigated to assess the possible functions of vases decorated with scenes depicting children. Chronology and painter attribution information is useful to understand how far diachronic change was evident in the characterisation of juveniles. Provenance information, where available,116 demonstrates that though vessels were produced in Attica and their primary markets were concentrated in Greece, red-figure pottery with scenes incorporating juveniles were distributed throughout and beyond the Greek world.117 This widespread distribution of choes suggests their functions extended beyond Anthesteria contexts, because there is no suggestion from antiquity that the festival was celebrated outside Attica. The widespread distribution of the findspots recorded for all the red-figure vessels demonstrates that the standing of children in Athenian society was acknowledged far beyond the boundaries of the polis and indeed the Greek world. It also suggests that themes of the iconography resonated far beyond the confines of Attica, especially in Greek-influenced parts of Italy, in the late Archaic and Classical periods. The major innovation of red-figure was its enthusiasm for depicting lone children, or groups of juveniles, engaging in quintessentially juvenile activities. Children play on a range of shapes produced between 530 and 375 bce, including a feeder which was probably made for a child,118 and the majority of choes (Figure 3.27).119 Children play alone, with their peers, with animals, and with both other juveniles and animal playmates. Lone younger children, toddlers, and infants are often characterised as more static figures; many infants crawl, demonstrating a true-to-life posture that was an innovation of red-figure, but a number of younger children and toddlers and a few older children demonstrate little

116  Available for 338 choes and fifty-six other vessels. 117  One hundred and seventy-two choes and twenty other vessels were found in Athens, fifty-eight choes and five other vessels were found elsewhere in Attica, and fifty-one choes and ten other vessels were found in other areas of Greece. Otherwise, findspots for examples were distributed across various locations in Italy (t=30 choes; t=11 other shapes), Sicily (t=2 choes; t=4 other shapes), Russia (t=11 choes; n=1 other shape), Rhodes (t=5 choes; n=1 other shape), Spain (n=1 chous; t=2 other shapes), Libya (t=4 choes), Bulgaria (t=3 choes; n=1 other shape), Crimea (n=1 chous), and Egypt (n=1 non-choic shape). 118  National Archaeological Museum, Athens: 18554. 119  In total 366: 121 play alone, ninety-seven in groups of children, 116 with animals, and thirtytwo with peers and animals. Scenes in which children ride animals (t=7) or ride in carts (n=13) could be examples of them taking part in races or contests. Assertions could be made that they therefore depict activity from the Anthesteria; but because of a lack of space or context signifiers they can be classified as general play scenes.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  99

Figure 3.27  Red-figure feeding cup showing children at play: two younger boys play with a bird. Source: Hellenic National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Inv. Nr. NAM 18554 © Hellenic Ministry of Culture/Hellenic Organization of Cultural Resources Development. Credit Line: Newcastle University School of History, Classics and Archaeology Research Committee Funding.

­ istinct action. Younger children and infants, and to a lesser extent toddlers, are d by far the better represented age groups in red-figure (Figure 3.28; Figure 3.29). This is in direct contrast to on Geometric and black-figure painted pottery, where older children were by-far the best represented. It is a phenomenon in line with red-figure’s greater concern with characterising children as children, rather than adults in preparation, which is likewise suggested by how frequently they are shown playing and engaging with other prototypically juvenile activities. After scenes showing them at play, it is in domestic-themed tableaux that children are most frequently characterised as typically juvenile, but still engaged and active figures, in red-figure. The youngest children are often held or carried by adults, as they often were in black-figure, but two infants are seated in highchairs.120 The infants look directly at, and reach out towards, the women seated or standing across from them. Those more clearly characterised as toddlers crawl on the floor in domestic scenes, whilst younger and older children observe the 120  On a cup in the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels (A890) and on a lekythos in the Antikensammlung Staaliche Museen zu Berlin (F2209).

100 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Older Child

29

Younger Child

31

Toddler

11

Infant

Perinate

68

1

Figure 3.28  Ages of children in red-figure iconography. Source: the author.

Older Child

40

Younger Child

Toddler

Infant

374

95

149

Figure 3.29  Ages of children in red-figure iconography on choes. Source: the author.

adults around them, or engage with their elders, either to share something with them or to learn from them by joining in with their tasks. In some of the scenes, children are included almost as attributes—as they often were in black-figure, to make statements about the adult figures they were associated with—but in most they are characterised as alert figures, cognisant of the activity around them, even if they essentially remain attachments to the adults they accompany. Even when children are not the foci of the iconography in red-figure they are usually active figures within scenes, in ways they had not often been previously. Demonstrating continuity, with elaboration, from black-figure, children are characterised as pupils in red-figure iconography. Older children are most frequently depicted in education-themed scenes, but younger children are also

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  101 included, alongside both older boys and youths. They had not been rendered distinct in black-figure, though literary sources recorded that children could begin their education outside the oikos around the age of 6 to 7. Red-figure evidences that children learned various skills, including to play musical instruments, ride horses, and write. They also occasionally engage in athletics in iconography, which probably constituted part of their curricula activities; physical activities were often prominent in ancient sources’ discussions of lessons and education. Children characterised as pupils in red-figure encapsulate both the overarching identities of the child in ancient Greece, established before in Geometric and black-figure iconography: the child that was distinctly a child, which was emphasised more in red-figure than before, and the child that was preparing for adulthood, which was a fundamental facet of juvenile identities from the eighth century onwards. Evidencing more continuity from black-figure, carried infants were integrated into departure scenes on occasion, wherein they could be used to make ideo­ logic­al statements about the composition of the ideal family unit and the assured continuity of the lineage of the warrior who is leaving for war. Juvenile figures also conceptualise the fruitful family in red-figure wedding scenes: three infants are held by the bride, as paides amphithaleis were in black-figure, and older children—three boys and one girl—join the procession between the houses of the bride and groom. One older child mourns in a rare red-figure prothesis scene,121 evidencing some continuity in the roles of children in funerary practice from the Geometric period throughout the Archaic and down to the mid-fifth century. Children in other ritual scenes set in apparently domestic contexts or depicting juveniles amongst family groups recall other themes apparent from the Geometric period; in many of the scenes, children engage in the practices to learn them from the adults around them. At other times, the children appear to imitate rituals and practices—one older boy apparently emulates dining at a symposion—to practice taking part in them. Once again, when continuity from Geometric and black-­figure iconography is discernible, red-figure characterisations of juveniles amalgamate their identities; in ritual scenes, children are at once symbols of the perpetuation of society—a role distinctly theirs—whilst they are also adults in training, preparing for other roles that could be theirs as they mature. Overall trends in the characterisation of children in red-figure demonstrates significant development, with continuity, from Geometric and black-figure iconography: male children are still by-far better represented, only seventy female children are recorded compared to 434 males. In addition, the iconography consistently evidences that children held social identities that were at least two-fold; concerned with their being the perpetuators of society by virtue of being the 121  On a loutrophoros in the Staaliche Antikensammlungen in Munich: S66. 122

102 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens future generation, and also with their being adults in training. The key innovation of red-figure was its augmented concern with the fundamentally juvenile facets of children’s identities. The red-figure technique took more care to characterise children—of all ages—as juveniles first and foremost, and this is reflected in the preponderance of the youngest juveniles in the sample: red-figure iconography indicates the identities of infants and younger children were brought to the fore in the late sixth and fifth centuries, whereas they were overshadowed by the identities of their older peers in the eighth, seventh, and earlier sixth centuries. A wide range of attributes and elements that act as spatial signifiers are included alongside children in red-figure (Figure 3.30;  Figure 3.31). The range demonstrates an expansion compared to in black-figure that is partly resultant of the increasingly representative style of red-figure, which more frequently makes attempts to contextualise scenes. For example, pieces of furniture and trees, used to make statements about scene settings, are more common in red-figure; a number of the new attributes are spatial signifiers. Some of the attributes communicate red-figure artists’ intentions to present more nuanced illustrations of childhood; many scenes incorporate elements including strings of amulets and rollers or toy carts, which are quintessentially juvenile objects and therefore represent examples of the material culture of childhood. The attributes were rare or entirely absent in the black-figure repertoire and are of particular interest because they make iconological statements specifically about the identities of juveniles in late Archaic and Classical Attica. Children are particularly associated with small oinochoai in red-figure icon­og­ raphy, which are probably iconographic representations of the choes children were so prevalently associated with. Scenes on choes that show children along with an oinochoe have been interpreted as illustrations of the vessels in use at the Anthesteria, during the part of the festival in which juveniles took their first drinks of wine from small jugs (Karouzou 1946: 130). A more general in­ter­pret­ ation of the scenes is likewise supportable; that though the vessels were associated with children’s participation in the festival, the iconography on them is more representative of their daily lives, wherein the oinochoai were iconological statements of the fact the children were around the age to participate in the celebrations and in so doing, possibly mark a rite of passage. The iconography could show that a child’s receipt of a chous was imminent or show them playing with choes they had received as gifts to commemorate their participation, after the festival. There is no reason to believe the vessels were not repurposed as toys after they were received, as they were apparently repurposed as associated funerary objects if children died in childhood. In choic iconography, oinochoai often stand on the floor on the periphery of scenes, if they are not used by the children (Figure 3.32). They are typically associated with infants and younger children, and are only depicted with older children occasionally; supporting the fact that they were more frequently associated with juveniles of an age to participate in the

General Octopus Roller Shield Sword Sandal Parasol Aryballos Strigil Writing Tablet Skyphos Plemochoe Highchair Building Door Herm Rock Dog Fruit Spindle Loutrophoros Oinochoe Horse Mirror Rod Alabastron Phiale Kithara Cart Block Spear Bag Krotala Lyre Torch Bird Tree Pipes Table Altar Wreath Chest Kalathos Sash Sprig Column Headband Ball Staff Chair Amulets

2 2 2 2 11 11 2 2 11 11 2 2 2 2 2 11 3 2 1 3 3 3 2 1 3 4 4 3 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 5 3 2 4 1 1 4 5 4 2 6 7 4 3 3 4 6 2 8 7 1 7 1 9 9 1 11 17 21

29

With Child

39

Figure 3.30  Attributes in red-figure iconography depicting children.122 Source: the author. 122  Attributes in a single scene, with a child: castanets, cockerel, deer, dolphin, duck, fish, food, hoop, knucklebones, ladle, lamp stand, laver, net, rattle, sea, stick, vessel, waves, yoyo. Attributes in a single scene, not with a child: basket, chariot, couch, cup, distaff, donkey, grapes, heron, hydria, krater, lebes, lekythos, loom, object, pipes case, platform, sakkos, scroll, sponge, stele, stylus, tray, wool, writing case.

104 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Oinochoe Amulets Headband Table Roller Cake Ball Dog Cart Grapes Bird Block Sprig Chair Tray Altar Kithara Goat Torch Deer Rod Rattle Tympanon Column Hare Pipes Fruit Cockerel Theatre Mask Duck Wreath Object Staff Bag Cloth Phiale Tripod Horse Knucklebones Kantharos Animal Hoop Incense Burner Chest Window Tree Theatre Costume Swing Swan Strigil Stick Post Monkey Lekythos Krater Goose Flute Writing Case Vessel Turtle Thyrsos Spindle Skyphos Shelf Scroll Sceptre Sash Sandal Pyxis Plough Platform Lyre Leopard Laver Kalathos Highchair Herm Fire Donkey Couch Cage Building Bucket Axe Aryballos

36 29 28 25 22 21 17 15 14 12 11 11 10 9 9 8 8 8 7 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

70 63 52 48

107 100

146 135

252

322

Figure 3.31  Attributes in red-figure iconography on choes depicting children. Source: the author.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  105 Choes day of the Anthesteria, but that was not exclusively the case.123 The ­frequent inclusion of oinochoai—probably choes—in scenes on red-figure vases suggests they had a very important role to play in defining and presenting juvenile identities in late Archaic and Classical Attica. Given choes were also used beyond Anthesteria contexts, small and miniature versions can be taken as diagnostic of children’s presence in domestic spaces;124 because they were overwhelmingly adorned with iconography incorporating children, the scenes often show children interacting with them, and they were buried with some juveniles. They were made from archaeologically robust material, so can be sought in excavation records of ancient Greek domestic contexts, with their findspots scrutinised to identify spaces used by children in late Archaic and Classical oikoi. Children are directly associated with strings of amulets—shown wearing them around their torsos—on choes and various other shapes, demonstrating that they are the attribute most strongly associated with juveniles after small oinochoai. The prevalence of amulets in red-figure iconography demonstrates the im­port­ ance of safe-guarding children in late sixth- to fourth-century Attica. Amulets are most frequently included in scenes on pyxides, skyphoi, and squat lekythoi— therefore, vessels used in domestic contexts. Amulets are an attribute exclusively associated with younger juveniles in the red-figure repertoire and are only worn by two possibly older children, one male and one female. Seifert (2006a: 471; 2008: 94–95) suggests they were used to signify children had been accepted into their phratry. A more general interpretation is suggested by the fact they were depicted on children of various ages, but not consistently depicted in association with children throughout the age groups: they are typically said to have been used as safeguards, worn by children as a protective measure against evil, and would be most needed by younger children as they were the most vulnerable (Bazant 1975: 77; Ham 1999: 206; Dasen 2003: 277; Beaumont 2003b: 72).125 Basileus of Caesarea recorded that amulets worn by children for protection could be made from materials such as wood, for economy (Stern 1978: 30). It is difficult 123  Children are also frequently associated with headbands or wreaths (n=152 on choes; t=19 on other shapes), cakes (n=100 on choes), and grapes (n=48 on choes; n=1 on other shapes). They prob­ ably reference the Anthesteria, given their prevalence on choes and general scarcity on other shapes. Wreaths and flowers were used for decoration, including in the household, during the festival and it is suggested wreathed headbands were used to ritually crown children when they participated (Stern 1978: 31). The grapes could refer to the fact elements of the Anthesteria celebrated the year’s new vintage of wine. Cakes were prizes in Anthesteria drinking competitions or votives offered at the festival (van Hoorn 1951: 20, 41; Neils 2003: 146). The utility of the attributes is limited here because their strong associations with juveniles were only apparently evidenced and emphasised in a few discrete contexts that were not necessarily representative of the day-to-day lives of children, and they do not survive archaeologically. 124 Elements of the Anthesteria, especially the Choes day, were probably celebrated within the household, as the house was decorated as part of the celebrations (Morgan 2010). 125  Aristotle (History of Animals IX.588a.8–10) records that most juvenile deaths occurred before infants were 7 days old. The period when children were weaned was also a particularly dangerous time in pre-modern societies (Parkin 2010).

106  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens to ascertain other materials that could have been used, given iconography is the predominant source, but Veronique Dasen (2003) suggests lunate charms made from bronze, lead, and silver excavated at Olynthus could be protective amulets.126 Some, those used to protect elite children, would undoubtedly have been more expensive examples, but most strings of amulets were probably not made from archaeologically durable materials. Thus, though they were indubitably used to define and demonstrate the identities of young juveniles, they are not often preserved archaeologically—for example they have not been securely identified in burials (Dasen 2003: 280)—and it is difficult to use them as markers of the presence of children, for example in excavated domestic spaces. Besides amulets, children are only infrequently shown alongside quint­es­sen­ tially juvenile paraphernalia in red-figure iconography, more emphatically on choes than on other vessels. One example of such an attribute is the roller or toy cart, also depicted on one black-figure chous (Figure 3.32; Figure 3.33; Figure 3.34; Figure 3.35).127 Children play with rollers or toy carts on general red-figure vessels and choes. Infants and toddlers use rollers, whilst older children play with and ride in carts; some of the children ride in carts whilst other children or animals pull them, ostensibly in races.128 Rollers had the practical function of assisting very young children to walk, whilst more elaborate carts were typically toys for older juveniles. Rollers and small carts are notable because they have an in­dub­it­ able link with juveniles, and only juveniles; they would be secure sig­ni­fiers of their presence in archaeological contexts, though if they were made exclusively from wood, they would be unlikely to be preserved. Even restricted to icon­og­ raphy, however, they evidence the existence of a material culture of childhood in late Archaic and Classical Attica. Children are shown interacting with a range of items classifiable as toys in redfigure iconography, though only infrequently in most cases. The items are of particular significance because they make statements about juvenile identities and activities, but many are not exclusively associated with children in the way that rollers are. For example, women juggle balls in some red-figure iconography and knucklebones were sometimes included as associated funerary objects in adult burials.129 Balls are the most common toy and could be represented arch­aeo­logic­ al­ly depending upon the material they were made from; for example, a terracotta 126  Dasen (2003: 288) suggests amulets may have been used more frequently in response to rising infant mortality rates. 127 An amax could be a walking-aid roller or a cart, depending upon how it was used; often they are simply depicted as a circular wheel with a vertical stick attached and can only be identified as a cart if something is shown within them (following Beaumont 2012: 36). 128  Beaumont (2012: 78) connects the amax with the Anthesteria, but their inclusion in other scene types and their practical functions suggest they were features of children’s everyday lives. 129 They are often considered toys for children, rather than objects primarily associated with adults, because they are more often found in children’s graves (Golden 1990: 54). Games with astragaloi were popular in antiquity, as recorded in literary evidence, as well as being attested to arch­aeo­ logic­al­ly and iconographically (Klein 1932: 18).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  107

Figure 3.32  Red-figure chous showing children at play: two younger boys use amax rollers as small carts, including to transport their choes. Source: photo from the British Museum, London; Chous 1872,0111.11, © The Trustees of the British Museum. Credit Line: Institute of Classical Studies.

108  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 3.33  Red-figure chous showing a group of children at play: younger boys pull another young boy riding in a cart. Source: photo from the British Museum, London; Chous 1910,0615.5, © The Trustees of the British Museum. Credit Line: Institute of Classical Studies.

ball decorated in black-figure with a scene including a child (Figure 3.22). They could therefore be taken as signifiers of juvenile activity, though arguments can be made that they were not necessarily or securely representative of only children’s rather than also adults’ activity. Children are also depicted with rattles, knucklebones, hoops, and a yoyo; the objects are typically in direct association with children, held by them, or in scenes with lone children. Theatre masks and  costumes depicted on choes are also possibly toys in a sense, as musical

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  109

Figure 3.34  Red-figure chous showing a child at play: a male toddler uses an amax cart as a walking aid. Source: photo from the Musée du Louvre, Paris; Oenochoé des Anthestéries, Vers 480–380 av J.-C., Petit garçon poussant un jouet à roulettes et jeune fille tendant une grappe de raisin vers un faon bondissant, CA2961, Localisation: Paris, Musée du Louvre, © GrandPalaisRmn (Musée du Louvre)/ Hervé Lewandowski. Credit Line: Institute of Classical Studies.

instruments could be.130 A variety of instruments are used by children in red-­ figure iconography, including pipes, some with cases, and flutes, krotalas, kitharas, 130  Two writing cases, two writing tablets, two scrolls, and a stylus highlight the place of education in children’s lives. They are typically included in scenes alongside instruments, suggesting learning to play instruments was part of a child’s education in ancient Greece, as was gaining literacy skills.

110  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 3.35  Red-figure chous showing a child at play: a younger boy holds a possible rattle, he interacts with a bird on a table and his roller stands left. Source: photo from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Miniature wine jug (chous) depicting a nude boy with his pet bird, Greek, Classical Period, about 425–420 bc, Place of Manufacture: Greece, Attica, Athens, Ceramic, Red-Figure technique, Height: 9 cm (3 9/16 in.); diameter: 7.1 cm (2 13/16 in.), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Henry Lillie Pierce Fund, 01.8086, Photograph © 2025 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Credit Line: Institute of Classical Studies.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  111 and lyres, tympanons, and castanets. Some of the items have potential to act as archaeological signatures of children, for example knucklebones, balls, yoyos, and rattles of certain types could be preserved archaeologically, but they are objects that require assessment on a case-by-case basis. Regardless of being used to archaeologically trace spaces used by children in domestic contexts, the at­tri­ butes confirm the existence of material cultures of children (used by both children and others) and of childhood (used exclusively by children, or in caring for ju­ ven­ iles) and suggest the playful nature of childhood in late Archaic and Classical Attica, for at least some children. The fact that objects such as rattles were produced and are illustrated in red-figure demonstrates a keener interest in small children from the fifth century onwards, not least because rattles in particular would have had little functional purpose beyond entertaining infants (following Sommer and Sommer 2015: 78). Children are frequently depicted in close, if not direct, association with a var­ iety of animals in red-figure iconography (Figure 3.35; Figure 3.36; Figure 3.37).131 This suggests children often had pets and is illustrative of the fact that animals were features of children’s daily lives in ancient Greece (following Bradley 2013: 26). It also suggests certain things about their socialisation; children would have learned practical and socio-emotional skills through being encouraged to interact with, and take care of, animals (Sommer and Sommer 2015: 132–133, 139). Children are shown to have particular associations with dogs and birds (Figure 3.37; Figure 3.38),132 but are also shown with goats, deer, hares, horses, donkeys, monkeys, octopuses, a dolphin, a fish, a leopard, and a turtle.133 Scenes with animals demonstrate that childhood in ancient Athens was not only experienced within the interior confines of the oikos: animals were frequent companions and playmates of children, and it is highly unlikely that most of their interactions took place inside given the nature of some of the species. Some species could feasibly have been pets, whilst others were used as activity signifiers; for example, the octopuses, fish, and dolphin communicated the concept that the children were at the seaside, and on occasion were fishing. This is confirmed by other features of the scenes, including detail of the sea and waves on a cup134 and a lekythos.135 Horses are used in riding lessons in iconography but could also be modes of transport—as in departure tableaux—like donkeys. Other species are more unexpected playmates for children, and they are probably symbolic or conceptual rather than representative of reality. This is also suggested by some being ­characterised in terracotta votives. For example, deer could have been emblematic 131  See also Beck (1975). 132  Birds (t=42), cockerels (t=9), ducks (t=7), geese (n=2), swans (n=2), and one heron. More species are represented in choic iconography than on other vessel types. 133  Animals on three choes are of indeterminate species. 134  Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: 01.8024. 135  Antikensammlung Staatliche Museen zu Berlin: S66.

112  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 3.36  Red-figure chous showing a child at play: an infant plays with a hare. Source: photo from the Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam; © Allard Pierson—The Collections of the University of Amsterdam 06254.

of the goddess Artemis: on one vase a deer pulls a cart with an older female child riding in it.136 The deer could draw associations between the virginity of the deity and the child approaching maidenhood. Dogs and birds are identified as frequent companions of children in various media; the significance of them is deeper than 136  On a squat lekythos in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien: IV1938.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  113

Figure 3.37  Red-figure chous showing a child at play: a younger boy plays a lyre and plays with a dog and a bird. Source: photo from the British Museum, London; Chous 1864,1007.231, © The Trustees of the British Museum. Credit Line: Institute of Classical Studies.

that of other animals associated with children almost incidentally. Beaumont (2012: 78) argues the consistent repetition of certain elements—including dogs and rollers—in choic iconography in particular is indicative of them having more significance beyond being playmates and playthings. She suggests dogs could be

114  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 3.38  Red-figure oinochoe showing a child at play: an older boy plays with (trains?) a dog, in a domestic context indicated by a table. Source: photo from the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; Oinochoe IV 394, © KHM-Museumsverband. Credit Line: Newcastle University School of History, Classics and Archaeology Research Committee Funding.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  115 embodiments of spirits when shown with children, acting as protectors as well as companions, whilst making reference to the afterlife and underworld (Beaumont 2012: 80). The overall range of species associated with children demonstrates that children played out of doors; they interacted with animals including horses and goats, which were unlikely to live within the house. It is safe to assume, based on red-figure iconography, that children played in the open-air courtyard of the oikos. It is also probable that they had access to more public spaces in the polis, as demonstrated by scenes such as one in which a boy fishes with a rod and nets; an octopus signifies the scene was set by the sea, ac­cess­ible at the coast in Attica. Ultimately, the association between children and animals in red-figure iconography is a strong one, which is all the more emphasised in choic iconography. Animals demonstrably had a key role to play in moulding and defining the identities of children. Associations with dogs and birds in particular warrant further investigation to better understand the lives and social identities of children in late Archaic and Classical Greece. The locales in which red-figure scenes incorporating depictions of children are notionally set are for the most part domestic,137 as indicated by space-signifying attributes including tables, chairs, highchairs, couches, a shelf, and a lamp stand, as well as architectural elements including columns, windows, and doors.138 It is noteworthy that highchairs are significantly, by proportion, more frequent inclusions in non-choic iconography (Figure 3.39). Furniture such as chairs and tables can be taken as signifiers of a general domestic context—though they have been associated specifically with the Anthesteria in some previous scholarship (van Hoorn 1951: 29; cf. Karouzou 1946: 135)—because they were presumably typical of domestic contexts and are prevalent in scenes showing women at work within the oikos, possibly in the gynaikon. A sakkos hanging in the field on one ­alabastron139 makes the suggestion of a domestic locale all the more strongly (following Sutton 2004: 338), as does the inclusion of kalathoi, hanging sashes, mirrors, and looms. All are signifiers of feminine space. The clear implication is that most juvenile activity took place within the confines of the oikos in late Archaic and Classical Attica. The fact children’s lives were not entirely confined to existence within domestic contexts is suggested by their association with spatial signifiers such as altars, tripods, herms, and stelai, which suggest children could have been permitted access to sanctuary contexts. Platforms, lavers, and posts also suggest juvenile activity in the palaistra or a similar setting, whilst more general space signifiers 137  Twenty-nine general scenes are probably set within the household, others are set in the palaistra (n=1) and sanctuary (n=1). One hundred and nine have an indeterminate scene setting. One hundred and twenty-eight scenes on choes are probably set within the household, others are set in the palaistra (n=4). Five hundred and three have an indeterminate scene setting. 138  Stools are catalogued as chairs or tables here, to avoid confusion with (foot) stools. 139  Rhode Island School of Design: 25.088.

116  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 3.39  Red-figure kylix showing a domestic scene: an infant sits in a highchair, interacting with a woman sitting opposite on a chair. Source: photo from the Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels; Red-figure Cup A890, CC BY-RMAH/© ImageStudio Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels.

including trees, blocks, and rocks, the exterior profile of buildings and chariots are strongly indicative of the fact that children were permitted access to more general, possibly public, spaces as well. Ultimately, it is clear that child life in ancient Athens was lived with access to a number of spatial contexts, both public and private. The nature of red-figure iconographic evidence renders identifying these contexts with specificity problematic, but it does suggest that some of the predominant contexts in which children would develop their social identities would be within the domestic environment of their oikos and in more public locales, including sanctuaries and the palaistra. Some attributes in scenes with children, especially on general red-figure shapes, make statements about other figures in the scene and are limited in what they reveal about the children. Most adult men and many male youths depicted alongside children are associated with a staff, a manner of walking stick often used as a symbol of authority or status. The staffs can be taken as a marker of the citizenship status of the mature male figures, which would signify that the children are citizen children. This would be in line with the main consumers of painted pottery being families of some means. Attributes such as spears, shields,

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  117 and swords demonstrate the warrior identities of adult male figures. Attributes including spindles, distaffs, and strands of wool evidence the status of the women. In both cases, and in the cases of other general attributes including a range of vessels,140 the attributes contribute to the overall interpretation of scenes more than they inform understandings of juvenile identities. Most attributes included only incidentally are rarely—if at all—directly associated with the children and therefore do not define juvenile identities. Ultimately, the attributes associated with children in red-figure iconography suggest particularly strong associations between them and a distinct group of objects: oinochoai, strings of amulets, rollers or toy carts, balls, and animals of  various types; as well as headbands and cakes, in specific contexts. Some of these—particularly choes, strings of amulets, rollers/carts, and specific types of toys—are diagnostic of juvenile identities; some also have demonstrable utility in further investigating the social identities of children and their places and roles in domestic contexts in late Archaic and Classical Greece. Others were indubitably intertwined with constructing and illustrating aspects of juvenile identities in antiquity, especially in particular contexts, but are limited in their further utility given the unfeasibility of their archaeological preservation. Spatial signifying attributes associated with children in the red-figure repertoire, both broadly and upon choes in particular, suggest the predominant context in which children were active in antiquity was within their household, but that is not to say that they did not have access to other, outside and more public spaces, and therefore had the opportunity to experience identities in social contexts beyond the confines of their oikos and family circle. Male children had the possibility of doing so much more frequently than female children, mirroring the adult norms of ancient Greek society. Children are most frequently depicted as lone figures in red-figure icon­og­ raphy (Figure 3.40;  Figure 3.41).141 Groups of juveniles, not accompanied by adults, are also very common.142 Only forty-one scenes on choes show a child with an older figure, and in twenty-two instances the non-juveniles are youths, rather than adults. This demonstrates a clear link between children and choes, which reinforces that the vessels can be considered signifiers of juvenile

140  Phialai (t=9), alabastra (n=4), kantharoi (n=4), aryballoi (t=3), kraters (t=3), loutrophoroi (n=3), skyphoi (t=3), lekythoi (t=2), plemochoai (n=2), a cup, a hydria, a lebes, a pyxis, and a vessel of an indistinct type. 141 74.96% of scenes on choes and 45.00% of scenes on general shapes depict lone children. Children are depicted alone with Nike four additional times: the goddess likely represents that they have been successful in their endeavours as the children play musical instruments in the scenes wherein their activities are distinct. 142  18.58% of scenes on choes and 5.00% of scenes on general shapes depict juvenile-only groups.

118  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Child Child(ren) only

63

With females only With males only

Children

30 3

With males and females

7

4

1 6

With females and youths

8

1

With males and youths 2 With males, females and youths With youths only

4 7

With females, males, youths and Eros 1 With female and Nike 1 With males, youths and Nike 1 With Nike only 1

Figure 3.40  Figural groups including children in red-figure iconography. Source: the author.

Child

Child(ren) only

476

Children

118

With females only 7 1 With males only

1

With females and youths

4

With males and youths

2

With youths only 20 2 With indeterminate male/female

1

With Nike only 1 2

Figure 3.41  Figural groups including children in red-figure iconography on choes. Source: the author.

identities, the findspots of which can be scrutinised to inform upon children’s access to spaces in domestic contexts. Groups of children usually engage in play. The depiction of juvenile-only, probably sibling or peer, groups was a novelty of red-figure, which suggests an increased significance of the lives and identities of children and a new interest in illustrating scenes inspired by children’s day-to-day

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  119

Figure 3.42  Red-figure chous showing children at play: a younger girl shakes a rattle whilst a male toddler leans on a table and reaches for the toy. Source: Hellenic National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Inv. Nr. NAM 1268 © Hellenic Ministry of Culture/Hellenic Organization of Cultural Resources Development. Credit Line: Newcastle University School of History, Classics and Archaeology Research Committee Funding.

activities from circa 525 bce onwards (Figure 3.42).143 When children are depicted alongside youths that are possibly their elder siblings, the juveniles—for 143  Little care was taken to illustrate inter-juvenile relationships in iconography before the advent of red-figure. Sibling group scenes, especially those on red-figure choes, evidence positive sibling relationships (Sommer and Sommer 2015: 86). Plato (Laws 7.794a–795a) recorded that children aged 3 to 6 were encouraged to play with other children, and scholars have suggested older children could be caregivers for younger siblings (Sommer and Sommer 2015: 87, 114).

120  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens the most part younger and older children, almost all male—typically play with the youths or learn skills from or alongside them. The extent to which children are focused upon in red-figure iconography that incorporates a depiction of a child or children represents a major innovation from black-figure, wherein lone children were shown only three times, always on vessels produced at the same time as red-figure vases showing the same. It suggests an increased visibility and importance of the identity of the child after 525 bce. From the late sixth century, but especially—based upon the vessels that are more closely dated—from the first quarter of the fifth century, red-figure iconography was specifically commissioned to honour juveniles and certain transitions in their life course with some frequency. The overall frequency with which juveniles are the focus of iconography in red-figure suggests children were considered legitimate subjects to concentrate upon by the producers or commissioners of red-figure in ways they were not previously. The overall impression, suggested by the red- and black-figure iconographic repertoires considered in conjunction, is that the perceived importance of children’s identities changed in the late sixth or early fifth century. When shown with their elders, children are most often depicted in the company of women; presumably their mothers, other female relatives, or household slaves concerned with childcare. This is in opposition to the case in black-figure and Geometric iconography, wherein children were most often depicted alongside men if shown with adults of only one sex. The case in red-figure implies children, especially younger male juveniles and girls up to the age of puberty,144 had the closest bonds with female, rather than male, relatives and caregivers in late Archaic and Classical Attica, which confirms that children would spend much of their time in areas within the oikos predominantly used by women. Most scenes in which children are shown with women are of a domestic type or illustrate rituals that take place in household contexts. The majority of the examples date to the fifth century. The relative frequency with which children are associated with female figures in red-figure iconography suggests the identities of women and younger children at least were closely intertwined in the fifth and fourth centuries, as contemporary literature advocated.145 A child is shown with solely male adults only occasionally, whilst multiple children are shown only with men just once, in which case the man is probably a music tutor.146 Children are likewise depicted with men and youths only rarely, in scenes wherein they learn skills or engage with or observe ritual practices in order to learn the correct procedures from their elders. This suggests that whilst male children were associated with women in domestic contexts on day-to-day bases, the development of their

144  Only four older boys are depicted with adults that are exclusively female. 145 For example, Xenophon (Oeconomicus 7.24) argued men held infants in less regard than women. 146  On a stamnos in the Musée des Beauz-Arts de Lyon: E382.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  121 social identities in more public arenas was put under the jurisdiction of male caretakers, whether they were fathers, paidagōgoi, or other male relations, including older siblings.147 In short, demonstrating continuity from earlier types of painted pottery iconography, children—typically younger or older boys— engaged with older males, usually in ritual scenes, in order to be socialised towards adult male gender norms; the difference in red-figure is that the number of scenes demonstrating that facet of children’s identities is proportionately much reduced. This indicates continuity in the nature of children’s identities from the Geometric and Archaic periods into the Classical era, but a change in focus relative to which aspects of children’s identities were emphasised on the part of the producers or consumers of red-figure pottery. Children are characterised amongst ‘family’ groups—those including both male and female figures that could be considered parents—on twenty-four occasions, much more frequently on general shapes than on choes. The male figures in the scenes are alternately adult men or youths; in comparable proportions, except on choes. In choic iconography, children are depicted only with women and youths, never with women and men;148 this is in line with the fact male adults are only characterised in three scenes on choes overall. Family groups are concentrated in domestic, departure, and wedding scenes, which are often associated with household contexts demonstrating men could, at times at least, access women’s areas in the oikos. They decorate a range of vessel shapes, most that served various functions in domestic contexts.149 Patterning demonstrates some con­ tinu­ity from black-figure, where departure scenes typically included children amongst mixed-sex adult groups. The prevalence of domestic scenes and the overall decline in the number of tableaux depicting ‘family groups’ are revolutions of red-figure, which possibly suggest a reduced emphasis on the ideal family unit comprised of man, wife, and children, especially from circa 475 bce onwards. The fact the identity of the child is rendered so distinct from that of the adult in, especially choic, red-figure iconography suggests a new appreciation of childhood as a distinct life stage from the early fifth century onwards. Patterns apparent in children’s associations with male and female adult figures suggests female relations were primarily concerned with influencing the development of children’s social identities within domestic contexts, whilst male caregivers took charge of boys’ socialisation in education and ritual, in short more public, contexts. This intimates some continuity in the socialisation of juveniles throughout

147  It is often difficult to ascertain whether male adults are pedagogues or fathers (Sommer and Sommer 2015: 48). 148  Shapiro (2003: 102–104) argues fathers were marginal and detached figures on the rare occasions they were depicted in domestic-type scenes. Beaumont (2012: 60) suggests that was because the domesticated father was not an emphasised facet of citizen identities. 149 Sutton (2004: 327) contends family portrait scenes usually decorated vessel shapes used by women.

122  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods. The fact children are so infrequently shown amongst mixed-sex family groups compared to previously makes questionable previous assertions that the increased visibility of children in redfigure was a phenomenon that resulted from an increased social recognition of the importance of the family unit around the time of Perikles’ citizenship reforms (for example, see Beaumont 2012; Oakley 2013).150 The importance of children for their families was recognised in painted pottery from the eighth century; an increased importance of children for the constitution and perpetuation of the family was not a sufficient impetus, on its own, to explain why juveniles were more naturalistically characterised and depicted more frequently in red-figure in the fifth century, though it may have been a factor given the security of society was often under threat in that period. Red-figure’s innovative preoccupation with lone juveniles, groups of children, and children’s interactions with women suggest the impetus to characterise children more realistically and more often was a new interest in the day-to-day lives of children, that possibly resulted from changes in who commissioned the iconography. Women are generally better represented in red-figure iconography produced post-500 bce (Sutton 1981; Bennett 2019), and it is reasonable that they—as children’s main caregivers—would have had more interest in commissioning iconography that characterised juveniles in scenes representative of their activities in daily life and that they would commission more iconography showing the youngest juveniles, who are much better represented in red-figure in the fifth century than they were previously. The infrequency with which children are associated with male adults in red-figure apparently represents that fathers and other adult males were peripheral figures in the lives of, especially the youngest, children in Classical Greece. That could feasibly have been a result of men being preoccupied with warfare and statecraft throughout much of the fifth century, leaving women to take on more household management roles, including the commissioning of painted pottery used in domestic contexts. Children are incorporated into various scene types in red-figure (Figure 3.43; Figure 3.44). The typological range of scenes is generally comparable to in blackfigure, and some consistencies are apparent: children continue to be depicted in education, wedding, departure, and athletics scenes, and their inclusion in domestic and play-themed scenes, evident in black-figure, is significantly augmented in red-figure.151 The major differences between red-figure, black-figure, and Geometric iconography is the almost complete disappearance of prothesis scenes incorporating depictions of juveniles and the significant reduction in the 150  ‘Family group’ configurations of figures are significantly more unusual in red-figure than in black-figure and Geometric iconography; only 3.10% of red-figure scenes depict possible ‘family groups’, whilst 53.13% of black-figure scenes and 60.71% of Geometric scenes did the same. 151  Black-figure scenes produced at the same time as red-figure examples were typically prothesis, departure and play tableaux, as well as a small number of domestic and education scenes.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  123 Domestic

36

Crawling Infant

36

Lone Child

17

Wedding

7

Play (Alone)

6

Departure

6

Play (with Animal) Dancing

5

Play (with Animal)

5

Play (in Group with Animals)

3

Play (in Group)

3

Play (with Animal) Music

3

Education

3

Ritual

2

Athletics

2

Ritual (Procession)

1

Riding on Horse

1

Riding in Cart

1

Education (Riding)

1

Carried Infant

1

?

1

Figure 3.43  Scene types including children in red-figure iconography. Source: the author.

124  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Crawling Infant

126

Play (Alone)

121

Lone Child

112

Play (in Group)

96

Play (with Animal)

90

Play (in Group with Animals)

32

Riding in Cart

13

Ritual

9

Domestic

8

Play (with Animal) Dancing

6

Education (Music)

5

Riding on Deer

4

Komos

3

Riding on Dog

2

Education

2

Athletics

2

Symposion

1

Ritual (Sacrifice)

1

Riding on Horse

1

Play (with Animal) Music

1

Figure 3.44  Scene types including children in red-figure iconography on choes. Source: the author.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  125 proportion of departure scenes that include child figures. The major innovation of red-figure, from the beginning, was its propensity to characterise children and their quintessentially juvenile activities as foci of iconographic schemes. One of the earliest red-figure vessels, a cup by the Ambrosios Painter produced between 530 and 500 bce, illustrates iconography focused upon a child:152 the young boy plays at fishing, using nets and rods, which he lowers into the sea. Another early vessel, a Panathenaic amphora, shows older children engaging in athletics.153 Most of the earliest scenes show juveniles—of all ages—in domestic or play-themed scene types. The range of scene types incorporating children was broadest during the fifth century. The scene types that most often endured into the fourth century were crawling infant, and less regularly, lone child iconographies adorning squat lekythoi in particular. Scenes showing children at play—alone, with peers and with animals—were by far the most frequent types, especially on choes. They were also depicted on cups, lekythoi including squat forms, pelikai and an aryballos, krater, feeder, hydria, amphora, oinochoe, pyxis lid, and stamnos: in short, vessels in general use within households. The scenes demonstrate children most often played alone, including with toys, though children of all ages also played in juvenile groups, with animals, and with both other children and animals. Younger and older children rode in carts or on animals in riding scenes, which are also probably depictions of children at play. The huge increase in the number of scenes showing children at play in red-figure is one of the major innovations of the technique, relative to children. The prevalence of children shown at play demonstrates that at least some juveniles experienced a form of childhood that would be rec­og­nis­ able in modern contexts. It evidences a willingness to produce art that focused on the reality of the day-to-day lives of children and their typically juvenile activities. Play was a facet of children’s private lives that was generally overlooked in earlier iconographies because they focused more on the public facing facets of children’s identities. Red-figure’s willingness to develop and produce scenes showing children at play demonstrates an increased concern with the reality of childhood in late Archaic and Classical Attica. The extent to which this willingness was on the part of the artists, resultant of consumer demand or linked to wider social change can be suggested by painter attributions and vessel types data. Besides in play-themed tableaux children were most frequently characterised in lone child and crawling infant scene types, which overwhelmingly adorned choes and squat lekythoi produced after 475 bce. Similar scenes also decorated other forms of lekythoi and oinochoai, as well as cups, most of which also post-dated 475 bce. Lone children were typically younger children or toddlers. The prevalence of lone child and crawling infant scene types, which characterise children 152  Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: 01.8024. 153  Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia: Beck (1975) No. 205.

126  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens performing little specific purposeful action or serving minimal distinct purpose, demonstrates a new importance of depicting children that was not always pre­ occu­pied with characterising them as active social agents. It suggests an impetus to acclaim children, rather than to necessarily celebrate the nuances of childhood, which could have been a result of the social identities of children transforming or a consequence of changes in the perspectives of consumers with regard to what was important to represent in iconography given the changing socio-political background in the fifth century. Education scenes, including scenes showing children participating in athletics, learning to ride animals, and learning to play musical instruments are illustrated in red-figure having been developed in black-figure. They depict older children for the most part, though some younger boys are shown in scenes alongside their older peers, including youths.154 The scenes were produced between 500 and 375 bce, with a concentrated burst of production 450–400 bce. The earliest examples of red-figure education and athletics scenes were probably contemporary with some black-figure examples. Broad spectrum education-themed scenes and athletics tableaux decorate multiple vessel shapes; they are found on choes, pelikai, an amphora, askos, cup, and column krater. They are generally shapes that could serve multiple functions. The scenes demonstrate that the socialisation of some children—those whose families had the resources to fund their education—took place beyond the oikos and family circle when they entered schoolroom or palaistra contexts, which they were apparently permitted initial access to from when they were young children. This was an innovation of the later fifth century, as a late sixth- or early fifth-century black-figure scene showing education included only an older boy. This patterning is reflective of the fact red-figure generally characterises younger children more often; a pattern which suggests a shift in focus of the perspective conveyed by red-figure iconography. The new perspective is more enlightened as to the activities and experiences of children of all ages and is increasingly concerned with characterising their identities as they were experienced and moulded in day-to-day life. Scenes classified as ‘domestic’ represent a significant proportion, especially of the scenes on general vessel shapes. They decorate choes, lekythoi including squat forms, cups, hydriai, pyxides, alabastra, pelikai, an amphora, krater, and plate. In short, domestic scenes typically adorned vessels used in household contexts, some of them particularly associated with women and children, including pyxides and squat lekythoi and choes. The scenes were produced throughout the period 525–375 bce in red-figure, having been produced in fewer numbers in black-­ figure between 575 and 475 bce. Children of all ages are characterised; they engage in various activities, the nature of which are typically dictated by their ages. 154  Children are difficult to distinguish from youths in athletics contexts generally, they are distinguished here by their notably smaller size and lack of attributes associated with servile figures.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  127 Children are almost always depicted alongside women in domestic scenes whilst men and youths are occasionally added to tableaux, youths more often than men. In two domestic scenes children are depicted only with male adults: a man holds a perinate on an amphora155 and an old man reaches out to take a bird from a boy on the tondo of a cup.156 Both are unusual compositions and can be categorised as domestic scenes because the juveniles are dressed in ways consistent with being in domestic contexts. Previous scholarship has interpreted children as signifiers of domestic settings because they were considered the quintessential evidence of successful marriages and fruitful, perpetuated oikoi (Sutton 2004). This must be avoided when investigating children because using them as signifiers of the contexts in which they are investigated poses a significant risk of producing a cyclical argument. The household setting of most scenes is independently implied by the presence of elements such as furniture, markers of household industry including kalathoi, and signifiers of interior space like columns, doors, and sashes hanging in the field.157 However, it is difficult to ascertain, with security, that scenes are set in particular spaces within the oikos. Identifying discrete spaces that played host to children’s activities in domestic contexts requires archaeological distribution analyses. Considered alone, the iconography again suggests a change in thematic focus in the fifth century; domestic scenes gained popularity post-525 bce and they concentrated upon illustrating tableaux reflective of daily, private life and the experiences and activities of women and children. Ritual scenes, including specifically wedding, departure, komos, and symposion scenes, included children within their iconography to serve varied purposes. Wedding scenes with children, all produced 475–400 bce, adorn lebetes gamikoi, loutrophoroi, a cup, and a bowl; all shapes used in nuptial rituals. They show children—infants or older girls and boys—with women or in mixed-sex groups, depending upon if the scenes depict wedding preparations or parts of the marriage ritual itself. Departure scenes, produced throughout the fifth century, dec­ or­ate calyx kraters, cups, an amphora, and a hydria; all shapes that could be used by men, including in symposion contexts. They unilaterally depict infants that are usually part of mixed-sex groups, demonstrating continuity from black-figure. Komos tableaux and a symposion scene all adorn choes probably produced in the late fifth or early fourth centuries. They show younger or older boys, apparently imitating the actions of adult men, whom would be the expected participants in those revels. I suggest the boys play act at the komos and symposion ritual practices they would engage in when they matured.158 Younger and older children, 155  Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: L1982.27.8. 156  Basseggio Collection, Rome: BAPD 204336. 157  Domestic settings are usually identified on the basis of architectural elements, typically columns, or household equipment, including chairs and tables; domestic tasks, usually spinning or weaving, being demonstrated by figures in the scene; and by the presence of children (Sutton 2004: 331). 158  Ham (1999: 205–207) suggests scenes on choes could show children taking part in proto-symposia or pretend ritual feasts.

128  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens most boys, observe and practice other ritual activities, typically in the company of adults—probably their parents—on choes, a cup, a krater, and a loutrophoros. The scenes were almost universally produced in the period 460–410 bce, suggesting new, or newly emphasised, roles for children in familial ritual practices at that time. As was the case in Geometric iconography and black-figure, red-figure ritual scenes emphasised the roles children played in perpetuating society and stressed the importance of their correct socialisation.159 This continuity suggests children’s social identities developed, from precedent, and were not wholly transformed in the Classical period. It implies the significance of children was augmented, rather than first apparent, in the later fifth century. The con­tinued inclination to depict children in nuptial and festal iconography, with themes of hope, continuity, and fertility, alongside the diminishing propensity for including them in departure scenes, with underlying themes of the risks war posed to society, suggests a new need for positivity that was catered to by depicting juveniles more frequently in painted pottery iconography. Ultimately, children are most frequently depicted in scenes reflective of their daily lives in red-figure. They innovatively become the subjects of focused portrayal. They often engage in activities that are quintessentially juvenile and are frequently shown amongst their peers. The range of scene types exhibited by redfigure choes is broadly parallel to that evidenced by general red-figure icon­og­ raphy, that is the range of scenes decorating the full spectrum of vessel shapes. The distinction of choic iconography, in particular, is the emphasis it places on the prototypically childish aspects of childhood, including play. Chous icon­og­ raphy’s tendency to depict lone children illustrates a significance of their iden­ tities that was not evidenced or explored in black-figure and Geometric iconographies. Comparative analyses of scene types suggests that in some ways, the world of the child contracted between the Archaic and Classical periods, with depictions of them becoming standardised and the range of contexts in which they were depicted narrowing somewhat. That said, a paradox is apparent in that children concurrently came to be more frequently depicted, with a greater focus upon them as legitimate subjects for iconographic focus in their own right. The fact children were not at the same time represented on a significantly inflated proportion of painted pottery, nor in a broader range of scene types suggests that, on a day-to-day basis, the social roles of children were not transformed, so much as developed. The change in the foci of scenes was resultant of a change in the perspective conveyed by painted pottery iconography, which was triggered by socio-political transformation, possibly including change in who commissioned painted pottery at times during the sixth, fifth, and fourth centuries. Vessel type 159 Socialisation could take children beyond the confines of their oikos or the society of their immediate household, though it was probably from their closest relatives that children learned the norms of society.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  129 analyses suggest the extent to which that was the case, informing upon which shapes were popular in certain periods and whether production of vessels usually used by certain demographics was concentrated at particular times. A number of vessel types that had already been decorated with black-figure scenes incorporating children continued to be adorned with red-figure scenes representing at least one juvenile, but a comparable quantity of shapes were dec­ or­ated with scenes showing children for the first time when they were produced in red-figure.160 The number of different vessel types decorated with scenes in­corp­or­at­ing children was numerically comparable, though typologically distinct, across the black- and red-figure repertoires. Some of the red-figure vessels were apparently associated with children in the first instance, whilst others were primarily made to be used by women, men, and for general purposes in household and other contexts (Figure 3.45). The vessel type overwhelmingly associated with iconography incorporating a depiction of a child was demonstrably the chous jug; scenes with juvenile figures on choes outnumber those on other shapes by more than 4:1. This is owing to the shape’s associations with children’s participation in the Anthesteria. Scenes on choes focus upon characterising inter-juvenile interaction and only very rarely show children as individuals active in wider society, interacting with adults; it is scenes on other shapes that show children interacting with adult caregivers. Choes remain a key vessel type for further investigation because they are probable archaeological signatures of juvenile presence in household contexts and the intensive production of them, in black- and red-figure, 475–375 bce represents evidence of an established material culture of childhood at that time. This is also indicated by a red-figure feeder produced for an infantile consumer between 450 and 400 bce. Feeders were produced from the Geometric period—they were included as grave offerings in burials from the ninth century—but were not dec­ or­ated with figural scenes showing children, to confirm that they were for ju­ven­ ile use, until the fifth century. The majority of red-figure scenes depicting children adorned shapes intended for female consumers: squat lekythoi, pyxides, and alabastra, used in day-to-day contexts to store oils, perfumes and cosmetics, and lebetes gamikoi and loutrophoroi, used in nuptial contexts to store water used to bathe the bride and used as gifts to commemorate marriage or death before marriage. This is linked to the fact of children being included in domestic scenes so prevalently; domesticthemed tableaux are generally associated with shapes used by women (Beaumont 2012: 60). The squat lekythoi are decorated with crawling infant, lone children, play, and domestic scenes. Scenes showing children alone are possibly prevalent on the lekythoi because of the restrictive decorative area on the relatively small 160 Feeders, lebetes gamikoi, squat lekythoi, aryballoi, askoi, bowls, plates, stamnoi, oinochoai, and all krater types except column forms.

Squat Lekythos

45

Cup

25

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21

Hydria

8

Pelike

6

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Figure 3.45  Pottery shapes with red-figure iconography including children, excluding choes (additional n=635). Source: the author.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  131 shape. They all date to the period 450–375 bce, constituting some of the latest examples of red-figure pottery illustrating children. The children depicted are overwhelmingly infants, though toddlers and younger girls are also represented on occasion; most are illustrated alone, suggesting the vessels may have been used in childcare. The iconographic schemes of squat lekythoi bear striking similarities to those of choes; the child almost always wears amulets and frequently plays with toys including balls and, once, a rattle (Figure 3.46). Children—infants, a toddler, and a younger boy—are shown with women, some youths, and a man in scenes on pyxides. The scenes are generally domestic. The pyxides were produced 575–425 bce; many of them were manufactured around the same time as black-figure examples likewise predominantly adorned with domestic themed scenes. Alabastra, produced 525–425 bce as were comparable black-figure ex­amples, exhibit domestic scenes wherein younger boys spend time, possibly in the gynaikon, with women and a youth. Nuptial vessels decorated with wedding scenes show infants and younger boys, mostly in the company of women. They were produced between 475 and 400 bce, after black-figure loutrophoroi had been produced from 500 bce. Ultimately, 41.43% of red-figure vessels decorated with scenes including children are shapes predominantly used by women. Their production was distributed across the period 575–375 bce, concentrated in the period 450–375 bce, and the iconography upon them focuses upon illustrating scenes reflective of women’s daily, domestic lives. Children were especially im­port­ant in women’s lives and I suggest the impetus to depict them more in painted pottery iconography at the same time more vessel shapes used by women were produced is indicative of the fact women had more autonomy to commission pieces of painted pottery at times in the sixth, fifth, and fourth centuries when socio-political unrest of various kinds was most prevalent, in particular during the Peloponnesian Wars and in the aftermath of Perikles’ citizenship reforms. At those times, men were preoccupied with state and martial affairs, meaning that it fell to women to manage the household and acquire objects used therein, including vessels decorated with figural iconography. This can be supported through analyses of the iconographic schemes used to decorate general vessels of the same period, and a comparative consideration of vessels that were adorned with scenes incorporating depictions of children that were intended for male consumers. Only aryballoi, used to store oils for cleansing after exercise and part of the athlete’s bundle, and kraters, used to mix wine and water usually in sympotic ­contexts, were vessels intended for male consumers in the first instance. An aryballos dated 450–400 bce shows two younger boys playing with a cockerel perched in a cart.161 The theme of the scene suggests the aryballos may have been the possession of a male child, rather than a man. Red-figure kraters with scenes showing children were all produced in the fifth century; the earliest examples are 161  Sold at the Münzen und Medallen Market in Basel: BAPD 4192.

132  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 3.46  Red-figure squat lekythos showing a crawling infant: the male infant wears amulets, the scene mirrors choic iconography. Source: photo from the British Museum, London; Squat Lekythos 1877,0930.37, © The Trustees of the British Museum. Credit Line: Institute of Classical Studies.

column forms, which were also decorated with scenes incorporating children in later sixth-century black-figure. Demonstrating continuity from black-figure, red-figure krater iconographies depict carried infants in departure scenes. Older children—boys and girls—play, learn riding skills, and participate in a family ­ritual. The children are typically in figural groups, alongside adults of both sexes and youths. Ultimately shapes typically used by men comprise only 5.00% of redfigure vases decorated with a scene including a child, and the iconographic schemes on a number of the vessels are concerned with not particularly masculine themes. The facets of the citizen male’s identity emphasised in the iconographies are not those usually accentuated in earlier painted pottery iconography and ancient literary sources.162 This transformation in the perspective usually adopted 162  Facets typically characterised as contrasting—the public statesman and symposiast, and the domestic family man and father—may have been more in apposition in antiquity than is typically posited.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  133 supports the hypothesis that women could be the commissioners of fifth-century red-figure pottery, whereas men were the primary commissioners of Geometric and black-figure iconography. Many pots would have been used flexibly in ancient Greece, with vessels serving multiple functions in an array of contexts, because fired terracotta was dur­ able and there was a paucity of other materials.163 Various shapes with generalised functions were decorated with scenes that included a child or children.164 Cups and lekythoi were most common, but hydriai and pelikai were also well represented.165 In general, the shapes were ones used in household contexts, in day-to-day life, for storage, consumption, and use of food, drinks, water, and oils. They were ­generally not vessels associated with specific genders or demographics, though they were probably used by adults rather than children for the most part, regardless of the fact their iconographic schemes could focus on children and their activities. Some show lone children, solitary crawling infants, and children at play, though domestic scenes are most common in red-figure. Departure, wedding, education, and athletics scenes were also depicted on multi-purpose vessels. The vessels were produced throughout the period 530 to 400 bce, and possibly as late as 375 bce. Cups, lekythoi, and oinochoai were produced throughout the period, whilst pelikai and hydriai were products only of the fifth century. Amphorae were manufactured between 520 and 450 bce and skyphoi were later products dated 475–375 bce. Children of all ages and both genders were characterised in the scenes; they were depicted in all figural configurations, with women, men, and youths. Ultimately, 52.86% of non-choes vessels were shapes with general functions. The fact their functions are so non-specific renders them limited in how far they can be used to investigate spaces used by children in houses, though therein would lie their primary contexts of use. Analyses of vessels with generalised functions are primarily useful for the fact that they highlight that depictions of juveniles appeared on a range of vessels used by both sexes, which suggests the importance of the family, including its youngest members, was advertised to a multitude of viewers that were both male and female, adult and juvenile. That implies the contexts of viewing for iconography incorporating depictions of children could be multiple and varied, which demonstrates the visi­ bil­ity of juvenile identities in the late sixth, fifth, and fourth centuries in Attica. In summary, depictions of children adorned a range of vessel types in late Archaic and Classical Attica; not only vessels that were used by children themselves, though depictions of children were demonstrably most common on vessels that were intended for younger consumers. Even depictions of lone children, 163  Most vessels are unlikely to have had strictly defined, unilateral functions in their original contexts of use (Bazant 1975: 72; Robertson and Beard 1991: 19). 164 N=3: oinochoai, skyphoi. N=2: neck amphorae, Panathenaic amphorae. N=1: askos, bowl, plate, stamnos. 165  Earlier and contemporary black-figure cups, lekythoi, hydriai, and pelikai were also decorated with iconography incorporating children. Likewise, amphorae and skyphoi.

134  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens wherein juveniles are the focus of the iconography, decorated a range of vessels that could be used in a number of general contexts. This suggests a broad visibility of iconographies of children in late Archaic and Classical Attica, possibly suggestive of a wider visibility of them in society. It certainly suggests a keener interest in, and appreciation of, iconographic schemes incorporating characterisations of childhood; in many cases intended to be appreciated by juveniles themselves, but also to be seen by the adults, both female and male, around them. The fact scenes most often adorn shapes used by children and women indicates women had more agency to commission painted pottery in the fifth century in particular, when men were preoccupied with socio-political upheaval including citizenship reform and warfare. Painted pottery decorated with red-figure iconography was produced from circa 530 bce and then throughout the Classical period until 323 bce. Scenes incorporating depictions of children were produced in all phases of red-figure production (Figure 3.47; Figure 3.48). They became increasingly common over time, and were especially prevalent 450–400 bce, when most choes were also ­produced (Figure 3.49; Figure 3.50). The steady increase in the number of redfigure scenes incorporating juveniles circa 475–450 bce was immediately preceded by a peak in the number of black-figure figure scenes depicting children. The intense popularity of juvenile-centric iconography was apparently a phe­ nom­enon of the fifth century, because the number of scenes incorporating ju­ven­ iles declined once again into the fourth century; they were rare post-400 bce. The impetus for the increased acknowledgement of the social visibility of children, which had been growing since the Geometric period, had a focus between 450 and 400 bce most especially. Given the historical context, the enhanced social visibility of children has typically been ascribed a consequence of key socio-political upheavals including the Peloponnesian Wars (460 to 445 bce and 431 to 404 bce) and subsequent plague outbreaks, as well as Perikles’ social reforms (451 bce). The events correlate well, temporally, with the increased popu­ lar­ity of painted pottery iconography incorporating depictions of children, in red-figure at least, and it is feasible to associate an increased appreciation of children with the impact of depopulation and social uncertainty resultant of conflicts and reforms. However, existing proposals do not clearly explain the gradually increasing popularity of children in iconography from the Geometric period, nor the subsequent decline in depicting children in scenes on painted pottery quite quickly in the early fourth century, despite the fact the Peloponnesian Wars lasted almost until the turn of the century and the after-effects were undoubtedly res­on­ ant in society for a significant period afterwards. Drawing generalised links to specific instances of unrest also fails to explain why juveniles were characterised so much more realistically in red-figure iconography, particularly scenes produced in the fifth century. I have suggested a missing link was that women had more agency to commission painted pottery in the fifth century, especially at

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  135 530–500

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Figure 3.47  Date attributions for pottery with red-figure iconography including children. Source: the author.

136  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Undated (500–300)

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500–475 1 500–450 1 500–400 1 475–450 1 10

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Figure 3.48  Date attributions for choes with red-figure iconography including children. Source: the author.

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390

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E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  137

Figure 3.49  Chronological distribution of date attributions for red-figure iconography including children.

300

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425

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475

500

Source: the author.

Figure 3.50  Chronological distribution of date attributions for red-figure choes with iconography including children. Source: the author.

times between 450 and 400 bce. That hypothesis can be critiqued through consideration of painter attributions, which suggests how far the tendency to depict children more frequently and with greater naturalism was the consequence of changes in consumer demand, rather than stylistic reform. To identify the impetus for the wider inclination to better represent juveniles in iconographic repertoires from the eighth century onwards, an investigation must look beyond the causes already proposed. A diachronic and multi-proxy perspective suggests other, and/or different, impetuses were also at play in provoking the increasing

138  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens visibility of children’s social identities throughout the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods; it was not simply a consequence of discrete, though undoubtedly catastrophic, instances of socio-economic and political upheaval. Andokides, who previously produced work in the black-figure style including scenes depicting children, is the artist most frequently said to have developed the red-figure technique (Williams and Burn 1991: 104). He did not include juvenile figures in any of his extant red-figure scenes, suggesting the choice to depict children was not one made consistently by artists. It was almost an incidental choice, possibly linked to the scene types or vessel shapes they focused upon producing, or to demands of consumers. The suggestion that the choice to depict children was not likely a personal or stylistic one on the part of painters is supported by the fact that few artists demonstrated a prevalent tendency to incorporate ju­ven­ ile figures into their tableaux. Various painters produced red-figure vessels dec­­ orated with scenes incorporating depictions of children.166 Most artists produced only one or two extant examples, and the vast majority of vessels, especially choes, are unattributed (Figure 3.51;  Figure 3.52). One artist whose work evidenced a preoccupation with characterising children was the Meidias Painter. The Meidias, Eretria, and Shuvalov Painters together made up the Chevron Workshop, which was noted for pioneering the decoration of choes (Green 1971: 191). It is interesting that those artists did not demonstrate a regular inclination to include children in their iconographic schemes on other vessel types. The Crawling Boy Workshop, Sydney Chous Class, Kerch artists, Painter of the Copenhagen Choes, and Painter of the Ferrara Choes likewise focused upon producing only type III oinochoai decorated with scenes incorporating juvenile figures. This suggests some artists focused upon producing choes, which were decorated with juvenile-centric scenes almost by default, as a result of their type or function rather than because of aesthetic choices made by the artists that produced them. It implies societal norms, rather than artistic licence, were the key influencing factors in determining the visibility of children in red-figure iconography. That is supported by the fact choic iconography was so formulaic and standardised and that quirks were not the preserve of specific artists: white paint was sometimes used to detail children’s flesh, but not regularly by particular artists nor consistently to characterise something about a child, for example their age (Figure 3.42).167 Thus, the increased visibility of children in painted pottery iconography during the fifth century had its impetus in societal transformation, not in the chan­ ging preferences or artistic foibles of certain artists. The Meidias Painter took particular care in depicting women (Beazley 1963; Burn 1987). The Washing 166  Fifty-six artists produced the seventy-one attributed general vessels; twenty produced the sixty attributed choes. 167  Ham (1999: 208), Smith (2007: 164), and Beaumont (2013: 201) suggest white paint associated young children with women and indoor space, but older children were also shown with white skin on occasion.

Naples Painter Washing Painter Phiale Painter Penthesilea Painter Painter of Munich 2358 Meidias Painter Lewis Painter Foundry Painter Eucharides Painter Dinos Painter Brygos Painter Bowdoin Painter Villa Giulia Painter Veii Painter Splanchnopt Painter Sotades Painter Sabouroff Painter Providence Painter Polygnotos Painter PL Class Pistoxenos Painter Pig Painter Paidikos Alabastron Painter Painter of Vienna 943 Painter of the Oxford Brygos Painter of Orvieto 1047 Painter of Munich 2260 Painter of London E80 Painter of London E633 Painter of Brussels R330 Painter of Bologna 228 Orpheus Painter Orchard Painter Niobid Painter Methyse Painter Mesagne Painter Makron Painter of London E614 LM Painter Leningrad Painter Kleophrades Painter Kassel Painter Group of Palermo 16 Geras Painter Eretria Painter Dwarf Painter Douris Codrus Painter Clio Painter Calliope Painter Boreas Painter Beldam Painter Antimenes Painter Ambrosios Painter Akestorides Painter Aberdeen Painter

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

3

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Figure 3.51  Painter attributions for red-figure pottery with iconography including children. Source: the author.

140  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Meidias Painter

15

Kerch Style

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Eretria Painter

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Shuvalov Painter

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Sydney Chous Class

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Painter of the Ferrara Choes

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Painter of the Copenhagen Chous

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Crawling Boy Workshop

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Washing Painter

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Painter of Boston 10.190

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Painter of Athens 12144

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Class of London E535

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Zannoni Painter

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Penthesilea Painter

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Painter of Munich 8742

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Painter of Munich 2470

1

Aison Painter

1

Painter of Athens 13031

1

Aischines Painter

1

Achilles Painter

1

Figure 3.52  Painter attributions for red-figure choes with iconography including children. Source: the author.

Painter’s output was dominated by small lekythoi, adorned with scenes showing women washing. The Penthesilea Painter was one of the artists that led the charge in depicting everyday life scenes with more frequency (Beazley 1963). The Naples Painter frequently produced vessels used in marriage rituals. The four artists were the painters that habitually produced non-choic iconography that depicted a child, but the overall number of artists that depicted children, many on only incidental bases, suggests that the desire to see children characterised in iconography was consumer driven when red-figure was produced, as it was when black-figure and Geometric iconographies were manufactured. The fact that the artists that most frequently characterised children were painters familiar with producing products for women adds weight to the suggestion that iconography in­corp­or­at­ing depictions of juveniles was created, or produced more often, to cater to demand from female consumers, who were most familiar with children and their activities and thereby most invested in seeing them celebrated iconographically.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  141

3.7  Living through Childhood in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Athens: Children’s Material Culture and Embodied Identities The Early Iron Age was a period of significant social change, with population growth and social stratification prevalent, as communities in ancient Greece transitioned from the palace-centred civilisations of the Bronze Age towards the conglomeration of city-states that the Greek world constituted by the Archaic period. It has often been termed the ancient Greek ‘Dark Age’ because it was preliterate and extant evidence of its material culture is minimal compared to eras that came before and after. One of the key evidence types that did emerge during the period was painted pottery iconography that incorporated human figures in extended figural scenes with underlying narratives. This pottery and its icon­og­ raphy were used to articulate identity and social order (following Crielaard 1999; Langdon 2001; 2006). They are, therefore, a crucial point of reference when investigating Early Iron Age society. Following significant debate, scenes on Geometric pottery have been taken to be idealised representations of life in Early Iron Age Greece, rather than scenes from mythology. They can be analysed for what they can reveal about the social identities of everyday children in the eighth century. This is with a caveat, however. The elite is unquestionably the focus in Geometric iconography; all of the vases representing children were likely special commissions for the wealthiest, probably aristocratic, patrons. Consideration of them therefore constitutes an analysis of the lives and social identities of only very privileged children that belonged to the wealthiest families in Late Geometric Attica. In Geometric iconography depicting children, a single child was most frequently depicted, but up to four children were incorporated into some iconographic schemes. In terms of attributes, only older male children were frequently depicted with any in particular; then, a sword, which was a generalised ideogram of their emergent masculinity, rather than evidence of children’s material culture or a material culture of childhood. The inclusion of children in iconography did not depend upon its scale; they were included in both small scenes and monumental compositions.168 Neither was the decision to depict children a quirk of a few artists or workshops nor a certain period, though juveniles were more common in LG I than in LG II, in part because of the significant number of LG I  Dipylon vases decorated with iconography incorporating depictions of ­children.169 Children were not included in all of the scenes of the types in which 168  Ahlberg (1971: 71) ascertained that the number of mourners in prothesis scenes was primarily determined by the shape and size of the vessel, and thereby the space available. The inclusion of children was not dependent upon this; on occasion, juvenile figures were included even when space was limited. 169  This is probably reflective of the waning popularity of the scene types (prothesis and ekphora) in which depictions of children were most common. LG II iconography evidences an interest in a broader range of themes, many of which are non-funerary.

142  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens they did appear. There was therefore a distinct impetus that resulted in the depiction of children in certain instances. By far most frequently, children were shown in prothesis scenes that adorned kraters used as grave markers. The kraters were specific commissions, yet they demonstrated a consistent choice to include depictions of children in their icon­ og­raphy.170 Geometric painted pottery therefore communicates, in its systematic language, that children had key roles to play in social rituals in Early Iron Age Attica, especially those of a funereal nature. Grave markers adorned with icon­og­ raphy served to reinforce the place of the deceased, and especially their remaining family, within the community (following Boardman 1998: 264; Osborne 2009: 79). Used to showcase wealth and status and to display pride in kinship, the aristocratic funeral and its paraphernalia were key to negotiating the social status of families in the Geometric period (Garland 2001: 21; Langdon 2007: 190). It is therefore probable that children were included in Geometric funerary rituals, as illustrated on painted pottery, because their status needed to be renegotiated, publicly, upon the death of one of their close family members. Prothesis rituals may have been private events, only commemorated publicly through display of scenes of them on monumental grave markers (following Rystedt 2006: 245). Even in this case, however, children were given public roles in funerary rituals because they were prominent in ekphora scenes; the ekphora could be nothing other than public because it was the conveyance of the deceased to a public place of burial. The predominant impetus for including children in prothesis and ekphora scenes was to establish their places as heirs of the deceased and advertise their roles in propagating aristocratic lineages and perpetuating society. This is suggested by older male children being the ones most frequently depicted. It is also implied by their being most frequently depicted on grave markers that commemorated the passing of adult males, the heads of aristocratic families. It is supported by the fact children were placed at the centre of funereal scenes, often in closest proximity to the corpse. Children’s atypical engagement with the corpse was reflective of their liminal status as individuals not fully integrated into society. Children’s public visibility in funerary rituals was a celebration of ascribed status, which was important in the Early Iron Age, as it rarely was again in Attica, following the emergence of democratic ideals. Children were also included in other scene types in Late Geometric icon­og­ raphy, though more rarely. In one scene a child stands at the centre of a handshake, which has been taken as a promise of marriage ritual, and in another the juvenile leads a procession. It is difficult to understand the full significance of the motifs, but they are seemingly evidence of children being socialised; introduced into wider society through participation in maturation rites. The vessels may 170  Ahlberg (1971: 285) concluded Geometric prothesis and ekphora scenes were personalised and therefore tied to a specific individual. This is plausible given they were probably specific commissions.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  143 have commemorated their engagement with rites of passage. They suggest children’s experiences of life course transitions were cause for celebration. In essence these one-off scenes, celebrate children as ‘adults in training’, preparing to take on new roles that will ultimately result in them leaving childhood behind. In summary, Geometric painted pottery decorated with narrative scenes in­corp­or­at­ing juveniles demonstrates the social identities of children were twofold in Early Iron Age Attica. In the first, most common, instance children were active agents in funerary rituals, wherein they had their own, specifically juvenile, roles to play. In such circumstances they embodied the continuity and per­petu­ ation of aristocratic lineages and their society. The evidence also suggests—perhaps more tentatively—that children were ‘adults in training’, who were socialised into society through participation in maturation rituals. Overarchingly, children were included in iconography that memorialised rites of passage—for the most part funerary rituals—but also coming of age celebrations and weddings. The earliest figural iconography, of the mid- to later eighth century, demonstrates that children’s exposure to social rituals used to commemorate transitions between different stages of the life course was fundamental in moulding their social iden­ tities from at least the Late Geometric period. It determines that elite children, even if no others, had a public presence that meant they had established social, rather than just familial, identities from at least the Early Iron Age in Attica. Many innovations of Geometric art disappeared after circa 700 bce with min­ imal legacy (Langdon 1998: 252). Children, however, were consistently included in the artistic record after they first appeared in the mid-eighth century. Prothesis and ekphora scenes also had an enduring legacy, as they continued to be used in black- and red-figure, where they adorned terracotta funerary plaques and loutrophoroi produced in the Archaic and Classical periods (Boardman 1955: 51; Shapiro 1991: 655). The Archaic period witnessed the rise of city-states, which, after they were established in the Late Geometric, sought to consolidate their positions in the Greek world during the subsequent centuries. In Attica, the process of synoikismos and egalitarian values fostered by hoplite warfare produced a desire for rule by democracy, rather than oligarchy or monarchy, and the importance of aristocratic birth declined from the seventh century. Discontent with the hierarchical structure of society and difficulties in developing the democratic system resulted in periods of tyranny and various iterations of politico-legal reform, which cul­ min­ated in Kleisthenes’ reforms extending rights to citizenship in 508/507 bce. As a result, socio-political turmoil was prevalent throughout the later seventh, sixth, and earlier fifth centuries. Towards the end of the Archaic period, conflict with Persia further threatened the stability of Attic society. Black-figure pottery was a foremost product of Archaic Attica. Scholarship generally concurs that scenes on it are stylised, and oftentimes mythological, but are also reflective of contemporary society. In accordance with the approach of

144  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens the Paris School, therefore, the iconography can be read and interpreted to infer the nature of the social identities of figures depicted, depending upon the scen­ arios in which they are shown and the combination of attributes they are associated with. Children were incorporated into the black-figure repertoire from when it was first produced in Athens circa 630 bce, though few depictions of them survive from the first decades of production.171 Black-figure pottery is therefore a key source for investigating children’s social identities in Archaic and early Classical Attica. Black-figure was not reserved for elites, like Geometric pottery, therefore analyses of its iconography constitute consideration of the lives and identities of children from various social strata, including—arguably—slaves. Children could generally be ascertained to be infants, toddlers, younger, or older children in black-figure iconography, but they were incorporated into its iconographic schemes only infrequently. In part, this was probably reflective of black-figure’s preoccupation with masculine activities and mythological al­le­gor­ ies (following Beaumont 2003a: 110). Juveniles, usually a single child but sometimes two children and most frequently older boys, were characterised on only around 0.23% of black-figure pots. This demonstrates that children were in­corp­ or­ated into black-figure tableaux on a significantly reduced scale, compared to in Geometric iconography. Preservation and recording biases are undoubtedly a significant factor, but the reduction was also likely symptomatic of socio-political change suppressing the importance of celebrating aristocratic lineage in later Archaic and Classical Athens. That the reduction did not simply reflect a decline in the social importance and visibility of children is indicated by the fact blackfigure scenes incorporating depictions of children were widely exported, proclaiming the significance of future generations in Attic society to audiences throughout the Greek world and beyond. A growing appreciation for children in Archaic and early Classical Attica was also suggested by the fact the black-figure repertoire hints at the emergence of a specific material culture of childhood; roller toys and chous jugs were identified as early signifiers of children that can be investigated archaeologically to inform upon juvenile identities from the fifth century. Analyses of black-figure pots that depict children suggest a change in the perceived, and evidenced, importance of children from at least the sixth century.172 The range of scene types in which children were depicted increased significantly from circa 575 bce. This, and the variety of vessel shapes that scenes with children adorned, suggested an innovatively broad spectrum of contexts in which 171  In the earliest scenes children were shown amongst family groups in funerary rituals, as they were most commonly in Geometric iconography. 172  Analysing depictions of mythical children, Vollkommer (2000: 374) suggests it was during the sixth century that childhood was recognised as a distinct life stage, but it was only sub-divided into distinct stages with precise terminology later. This is supported by often uncertain distinctions between infants, younger children, older children, and youths or maidens in black-figure.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  145 depictions of children were considered appropriate. Children were not only depicted on painted pottery associated with rites of passage in black-figure, as they were in the Late Geometric, though the earliest depictions of lone juveniles, that present them, their identities, and their activities as the iconographic focus, were on vessels associated with maturation rites. Instead, iconography in­corp­or­ at­ing juveniles decorated vessels used in various public and private contexts. Peaks in the frequency with which children were depicted in black-figure chronologically coincided with historical periods of socio-political unrest and reform. This suggests, after being used similarly on a more micro scale in the Geometric period to proclaim the perpetuation of individual families, juvenile social identities—and the symbolism of them—were evidenced in black-figure to make counteractive statements about the stability and continuity of wider society.173 Evidencing further continuity from the Geometric period, in black-figure from as early as circa 625 bce, children were most commonly depicted in situations whereby they constituted one of a family group performing ritual practice on a public stage. This is indicative of children having played central roles in defining the public identity of the ideal Archaic and Classical Attic family, which children were a fundamental part of because they ensured its perpetuation. It remains true to say that children were not characterised as a physiologically distinct and representative figural type in black-figure iconography—juveniles are little more than miniaturised adults. In black-figure, compared to in Geometric iconography, there was, if anything, an augmented focus on characterising children as developing adults rather than distinct juveniles; for example, children did not evidence atypical engagement with the corpse in black-figure though they were frequently depicted in prothesis and other funerary scenes, instead they consistently mimic the actions of adults. Children were also often shown learning new skills from their elders, including in innovative educationthemed tableaux. New scene types offer an unprecedented glimpse into the dayto-day experience of childhood, providing the earliest artistic evidence for the reality of children’s lives, including their relationships. In black-figure children are shown interacting with their parents and playing with their peers in non-ritual tableaux for the first time. In that way, black-figure innovatively explored the identities of children in various domestic and private, as well as public, contexts in later Archaic and earlier Classical Attica, evidencing an original interest in the quintessentially juvenile experiences of children, in addition to preoccupation with the symbolism of their identities. Previous scholarship has argued children were only truly characterised as active figures in iconography and society when the advent of red-figure resulted in significant change in the range of themes expressed (for example, Seifert 173  As per the arguments of Seifert (2006a; 2006b; 2010) and Beaumont (2003a; 2003b), but they did not appreciate that the phenomenon was an adaptation of a Geometric precedent.

146  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens 2006a; 2006b).174 As Beaumont (2003b: 62) argues, children were often secondary figures in black-figure, included to provide context and define the status of other (adult) figures or groups. Young children—especially infants—were used to make statements about women, defining them as fertile wives, as mothers, or as nurses. Older children were used to demonstrate the importance of proper socialisation towards the ideals of Athenian (male) citizenship. On occasion then, children were essentially attributes, rather than active figures in black-figure. That said, some black-figure iconography demonstrates children were at times characterised as individuals with central roles to play in social rituals from the later seventh century. As well, children could be considered active in a social sense, even when they were not in a physical one: as in Geometric iconography, juveniles were often included in black-figure scenes to be symbolic. Evidently, even if black-figure confirms children were not the focus in iconography until the fifth century, it also demonstrates they were not always passive observers in Athenian society before that. In summary, as in the Geometric period, iconography on black-figure pottery suggests children’s identities were multi-faceted in Archaic and early Classical Attica. Ideologically, juveniles symbolised the continuation of society and were illustrated more often when society was particularly unstable. Beyond that, children also had civic roles to play in a number of rituals, wherein they personified the concept of fertility. On occasion they had specifically juvenile roles to play in commemorating rites of passage; as they had in the Late Geometric, children often took on roles in family rituals performed on a public stage. In addition, children were characterised once again as ‘adults in training’, but in black-figure they were also characterised as children experiencing childhood, engaging in activities like play and education. The overall impression from black-figure iconography is that children were more active and appreciated in Archaic society than in the Late Geometric period, possibly because the emergent democracy celebrated more juveniles, not only elite children. The fact black-figure pottery was more widely available in society, and increasingly used in day-to-day contexts in which children were active, should also not be overlooked. Looking forward into the Classical period, some black-figure was produced into the fifth century, but it is red-figure that must be analysed to provide the clearest impression about how the social identities of children continued to change and develop in the fifth and fourth centuries. The Classical period is typically considered the zenith of Athenian history. It was the era during which the democratic system that has come to define ancient

174  Osborne (2018) ascertained a significant change in subject manner as well as style between black-figure and red-figure. He argues the change reflects change in perspectives, rather than actual transformation; that differences demonstrate ‘how Athenians came to see the world differently’ (Osborne 2018: 256).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  147 Athens was developed into its ultimate form, and the products of its artisans and writings of its authors are the ones that dominate modern scholarship. That said, the period was a tumultuous one in Greek history, because warfare and interpoleis conflict was prevalent. Athens formed and broke alliances with other citystates throughout the Classical period, to support its military endeavours and ultimately form the Athenian Empire. The polis’ fortunes ebbed and flowed as it gained power and wealth as a consequence of victories in the Persian and Corinthian Wars and had its influence curtailed as a result of defeats in the Peloponnesian Wars and against Philip of Macedon. Socio-political strife was also common in Attica; Ephialtes and Perikles implemented reforms that had a significant impact on who could be considered an Athenian citizen and the unrest resulted in rule by demagogues, oligarchs, and tyrants, interspersed with periods in which the democratic system—which gave power to the citizen populace— developed. Attic society was demonstrably unstable throughout the late sixth, fifth, and fourth centuries, all the more so at particular points. One of the foremost products of the Classical period, now considered art but in antiquity probably only an output of craftsmen, was red-figure pottery produced in Attica. Depictions of children were integrated into red-figure icon­og­ raph­ies from when they were first developed in circa 530 bce until the end of the Classical period. They were objects used in daily life; examples decorated with juvenile-centric iconography presented depictions of children that were commonplace illustrations of juvenile identities, as they were conceived in the late Archaic and Classical periods. There is ongoing scholarly debate as to whether painted pottery iconography reflects reality or constitutes idealisation (for ex­ample, see Beaumont 2012; Sommer and Sommer 2015).175 I suggest icon­og­ raphy represented an idealised reality; scenes inspired by the reality of day-to-day life as artists observed it, but coated with a gloss of idealisation because it reflected the lives of only some groups in society—those with disposable income and probably citizen status (following Bradley 1999: 192)—and it placed possibly distorted emphasis on some facets of children’s identities, whilst disregarding others. This was demonstrated, for example, by the formulaic nature of choic icon­og­raphy.176 Accordingly, red-figure—like earlier iconographies—is not to be taken as ‘photographic’ evidence that directly recorded the reality of children’s lives ­

175  Images of women on painted pottery were used to illustrate socially desirable norms, or ideals, of female behaviour; depictions of children were probably likewise idealised (following Robertson and Beard 1991: 21, 27; Beaumont 2012: 11; Sommer and Sommer 2015: 70). For example, childcare was barely represented in iconography on painted pottery, despite the fact it was a mainstay in the daily lives of women and children, whilst women were disproportionately represented in beautification scenes (Waite and Gooch 2023; Blundell 2011: 31). 176  Scenes on choes are distinctly repetitive, in the way of grave stelai iconography (Hamilton 1992; Dickmann 2006: 468; Bradley 2013: 33).

148  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens (Sparkes 1996: 134).177 ‘Vase paintings [were] both less and more than photo­ graphs’ because they also suggested how what was shown was conceptualised in society (Williams and Burn 1991: 127). Scenes on painted pottery were photo­ graphs edited by social norms and attitudes. They can therefore be analysed to indicate societal perceptions of childhood and children’s identities in late Archaic and Classical Attica and the nature of juvenile activities and their contexts of action, as society acknowledged them, because their tableaux were inspired by contemporary life and influenced by the societal norms of the time.178 In short, painted pottery iconography—especially red-figure, with its innovative tendency to depict domestic and day-to-day-themed scenes—has significant potential to inform upon the identities and experiences of children in ancient Attica, but analyses have to avoid uncritically seeing the iconography as directly representative of reality. Red-figure pottery demonstrates children—who can typically be identified as perinates, infants, toddlers, younger, and older children—were incorporated into red-figure iconography more frequently than they were incorporated into blackfigure, but significantly less than they were into Geometric iconography. Juveniles, usually a single child but often two children and up to four, and most frequently infants and younger children, were represented on around 1.55% of vessels dec­­ orated in the red-figure style, and on around 0.28% of general, non-choic, vessels. The increase from black- to red-figure was likely associated with red-figure’s greater focus on characterising domestic and day-to-day life scenes and lesser preoccupation with the masculine perspective.179 It suggested that progressive change, rather than catastrophic and immediate transformation, was the impetus for an increased visibility of children across the Archaic and Classical periods. Some increased appreciation of children when red-figure was produced was evidenced by the medium’s tendency to characterise children naturalistically in a somewhat increased number of scene types on a marginally expanded range of vessel shapes. It was also suggested by the fact analyses of red-figure iconography indicated the material culture of childhood expanded into a material culture of children in the Classical period. Analyses of red-figure iconography intimated a number of objects were sig­ni­ fiers of juveniles, most notably: strings of amulets; rollers or toy carts; toys including balls, knucklebones, and rattles; and smaller oinochoai of a chous type. Some have potential to inform upon the roles of children in domestic contexts, if they can be identified in excavated assemblages. For example, choes were durable 177 Painted pottery iconography was ‘a representation, an intellectual construct’ rather than a photo­graph; thereby ‘a statement about [rather than] a picture of ’ (Robertson and Beard 1991: 20). 178  Beaumont (2003a: 108) describes Attic painted pottery as ‘a darkly reflective mirror of its time, unselfconsciously recording society’s changing attitudes’. 179  Red-figure, in comparison to black-figure, demonstrated an innovative interest in the family and the oikos, and by natural extension the medium characterised children more frequently.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  149 and a number have been excavated in the Athenian Agora amongst household waste deposits, suggesting they were discarded as domestic refuse (following van Hoorn 1951: 49). That suggests they were used, by children, in secular as well as sacred contexts, though they were also found in juvenile graves. Choes can therefore be justifiably considered signifiers of a juvenile presence, if identified in excavated domestic assemblages. Children most often found their identities moulded and enacted in domestic contexts in late Archaic and Classical Attica; this was demonstrated by the scene types in which they were most prevalent. Red-figure iconography did, though, suggest children also had access to other locales and therefore maintained social identities beyond their oikos in the Classical era; identities that they had been acquiring, in public and private contexts, since the Geometric period. Diachronic evaluation revealed the true innovations of red-figure, relative to children, were its tendency to consider juveniles warranting focused portrayal, and its propensity for characterising them in naturalistic attitudes.180 Major differences compared to black-figure and Geometric iconography were that red-­ figure depicted younger children and infants most often, whilst older children were focused upon earlier, and red-figure repeatedly depicted groups of children not in the company of adults. An interest in the relationships between children and women was also discernible on a much-increased scale in red-figure, whereas interactions between male adults and children were centralised in black-figure and Geometric iconography. Shapes used by women and children, and decorated with scenes showing lone children or domestic tableaux, were more prevalent in red-figure, having been in the minority previously. Fundamentally, evaluation of the diachronic patterning apparent indicates a change in the perspective conveyed by red-figure iconography compared to the perspective conveyed by blackfigure and Geometric iconographies.181 Previous scholarship has linked the phenomena of children being depicted more frequently and with more naturalism in red-figure, particularly on choes, with fifth-century warfare and citizenship reform, and those arguments could

180  Until the fifth century, children were most often dependent upon adults in scenes they shared, and they were almost an attribute for those adults rather than figures in their own right; they added pathos to family scenes and emphasised the continuity of family lineages (Blundell 2011: 31; Bobou 2018: 356–357). 181  Some consistency in the face of the change was evident, for example, in the adult-child relationships emphasised throughout Geometric, black-figure, and red-figure iconographies; younger children were consistently associated with women and older boys with men. The ultimate goal of the Athenian citizen’s wife apparently remained the production of a male child; male children continued to far outnumber female children, including in choic iconography (following Robertson and Beard 1991: 24). The fact female children were barely represented on choes has led some scholars to argue only male children participated in the Anthesteria, commemorating a milestone that was only for boys, like the ephebeia (Ham 1999: 202–204). I suggest it was symptomatic of girls’ generally diminished public identities in ancient Attica, where it is argued they were cloistered within the oikos or their immediate neighbourhood (following Foley 2003: 135).

150  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens hold true. There was a peak in the frequency with which children were depicted in red-figure between 450 and 400 bce, which chronologically coincided with the Peloponnesian War and Perikles’ reforms. Though the arguments are valid, they do not properly explicate that there was a broader inclination to better in­corp­­ orate children into iconographic schemes and thereby augment and betteracknowledge their social identities. The inclination was apparent, and not necessarily steadily increasing, from circa 760 bce until the end of the Classical period, absent only when figural pottery was barely, if at all, produced between 700 and 625 bce. Ultimately, some changes in the ways in which children were incorporated into iconographic schemes were reflective of longer-term and broader social transformation, not solely tied to the change consequent of fifthcentury socio-political events. The importance of private, family life was emphasised in more sentimental late fifth-century iconography and literary sources (Humphreys 1977; 1983; Massar 1995). Previous scholarship has typically maintained that that was a consequence of Perikles’ citizenship reforms redefining what constituted a citizen family. That could have been the case, but that that does not explain why children were more naturalistically characterised. Arguments that contend depopulation during wars and plague outbreaks resulted in the augmented importance of children, because they represented the perpetuation of society in the face of threats to its continuity, also fail to explain why red-figure iconography characterised children more nat­ ur­al­is­tic­al­ly. In short, existing explanations can justify why children could have been depicted apparently more often—given they did not consider the evidence of the Geometric iconographic repertoire—and more frequently in domestic or daily life-type scenes, but they fail to explicate why children were also, at the same time, characterised with more naturalism reflective of reality. I suggest the driving force was women, the primary caregivers of children. I contend they had more agency to commission pottery—and in so doing chose to demand more scenes that depicted them and their juvenile charges—in the fifth century when men were preoccupied with war and managing the effects of socio-political change. I argue that could explain why younger children (who would spend most of their time with women) were illustrated more often in red-figure; why children were characterised more naturalistically—because women had the most experience of their day-to-day activities and capabilities at different ages; and why children were depicted more frequently—because a primary concern of women was their welfare and care of them. In short, the commissioners of Classical, particularly late fifth-century, red-figure painted pottery were more willing to advertise and commemorate the distinctly juvenile social identities of children than any of their predecessors, and I argue that was because they were more often women, who understood the nature of those identities best. Ultimately, an extended diachronic approach reveals that there was significant continuity in how and why children were depicted in painted pottery

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  151 icon­og­raphy across the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods. Social norms, which conceived children as the perpetuators of their oikos, lineage, and society, underpinned the fluctuating extent to which children were incorporated into painted pottery iconographies. Societal transformation explained why there was a particular impetus to depict children more naturalistically in the later fifth century, in red-figure iconography. Red-figure, black-figure, and Geometric icon­og­ raphy all commemorated children as the propagators of society, all the more so when the norms of society were under stress. Red-figure, black-figure, and Geometric iconography all celebrated the socialisation of juveniles, each successive repertoire doing so with more frequency. It was only red-figure, however, that truly feted the day-to-day lived realities of children’s identities; only in ­red-figure were juveniles consistently illustrated as children experiencing and enjoying childhood. Experiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens: Material Culture, Iconography, Burials, and Social Identity in the 9th to 4th Centuries bce. Emma Gooch, Oxford University Press. © Emma Gooch 2025. DOI: 10.1093/9780198949152.003.0003

4

Experiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Death

Juveniles that died during childhood in ancient Greece warrant as much ­consideration as those that survived to mature into adulthood. Not simply because they probably represented a majority in antiquity, but also because the treatment of individuals that die whilst still children informs greatly upon how a society conceptualises childhood and the social identities of children. This is evident in the social responses to sub-­adult deaths, which are demonstrated archaeologically by the burial record and by iconography produced to be used in funerary contexts, which characterises deceased children. Burials of children and iconography on grave stelai and white-­ ground painted pottery memorialise ancient Athenian children that died in childhood and also—­like iconography showing live children—­associate those children with material culture. As was the case with living children, the nature of material culture associated directly with deceased children, and how often examples were tied to sub-­adult identities, makes statements about the social identities of children in ancient Greece. In the case of deceased children, the relationships between children and their material culture can inform upon how those social identities were conceptualised throughout the extended life course. The material culture of juveniles that died during childhood can be compared to the material culture associated with children during their lives to understand the nature of children’s disembodied identities—­ those associated with them before birth and after physiological death—­as well as their embodied ones.

4.1  Burials and Identity in Ancient Athens Death, as one of the universal transitions in the life course, can have a wholly transformative effect on identity, but many cultures do believe the deceased retain a form of identity after they die. Ancient Greek eschatology recognised a post-­ mortem endurance of identity. Death was not instantaneous in the ancient Greek psyche; it was a rite of passage with an extended liminal phase during which the spirit of the deceased was initially in flux (Garland 2001: 13). It is therefore likely that the dead in ancient Greece were thought to have post-­mortem identities that

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  153 were transformative, rather than simply reflective of the identities they had in life. In that way, identities changed after death and offerings in burials could have been used to communicate that, as well as to associate the deceased with objects familiar to them from life.1 Funerary practices are sets of rituals societies use to deal with death; they are reflective of societies’ social structures (Morris 1992: 1). Graves, which are often the elements of funerary rituals that leave the strongest archaeological signatures,2 are the results of ‘intentional and structured interactions’ (Ekengren 2013: 176, my emphasis). They are cultural products, imbued with symbolism that is nuanced and variable (Morris 1992: 15; Alexandridou 2016: 335). James Whitley (1991: 10) argues graves should be considered social documents. Like literary sources, they do not produce direct reflections of lived reality in a society: burial records are typically incomplete, either because of preservation biases or because of restrictions originally imposed upon who warranted formal burial. For example, it is recorded both historically and anthropologically that some societies exclude children from the burial record, because individuals are not considered to have sufficiently developed social identities when they die in childhood (Morris 1987: 62). As a result, the burial records of past societies present an idealised social makeup, rather than a representation of lived historical reality (Morris 1987: 44). Burials are, though, products of specific societies and their ethe, so they do have ‘clear and direct’ associations with the societies that produced them (Nilsson Stutz and Tarlow 2013b: 1). In short, burials can be ‘read’ to inform upon the nature of societies and their structures. Analyses of graves and inter-­burial ­variability demonstrate how past societies managed the transformations of death and burial, and how their management strategies adapted to deal with the deaths of different members of society, who had different social identities, in different circumstances. Grave offerings are one of the products of funerary practices that have the most potential to inform upon burial symbolism and social structures:3 they are often visible, frequently variable and—­being multipurpose entities—­are usually used to communicate complex social messages (Figure 4.1). They are also representative of conscious choices and deliberate action; associated funerary objects are not a random sample of contemporary objects but are items con­sidered ne­ces­sary or desirable in funerary contexts at certain times in accordance with the norms and beliefs of certain cultures or societies (Whitley 1991: 10).4 It is therefore generally maintained that grave good assemblages can be investigated

1  Evidence from Homer suggests burials included objects the deceased may have needed in their post-­mortem existence and items that made statements about their status in life (Morris 1987: 47). 2 That said, they were not necessarily the most important parts of funerary rituals (Morris 1992: 202). 3  Dimakis (2016) has recently termed them ‘symbolically invested objects’. 4  Curation of grave good assemblages is impacted by social factors including ideological beliefs; religious obligations; and age, gender, and class roles (Dipla and Paleothodoros 2012: 210).

154  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Treasured possessions

Gifts to the dead

Remnants of ritual

Grave Offerings

Objects to articulate the mourners' status

'Equipment' for the afterlife Objects to articulate the deceased's status

Figure 4.1  The multi-­f unctional nature of associated funerary objects: grey arrows indicate variability in how far factors dictated the nature of grave offerings, with variability influenced by the deceased’s life course stage when they died. Source: the author, after Parker Pearson 1999; Ekengren 2013.

to inform upon the social identities, including gender roles and statuses, of individuals they were associated with (Nilsson Stutz and Tarlow 2013b: 3).5 Funerary practices and grave offering assemblages do not necessarily only reflect the identity of the deceased; they can also showcase and enhance the reputation of their mourners and often demonstrate ascribed rather than achieved status (Gallou 2021: 447). As Mike Parker Pearson has highlighted, ‘the dead do not bury themselves but are treated and disposed of by the living’ (1999: 3). It is mourners that often select associated funerary objects, therefore in the funerary sphere archaeologists typically see how mourners conceptualised the deceased, rather than what the dead thought of themselves;6 in the case of children, 5  Recently, see García-­Moreno et al. (2021) on children’s identity acquisition as demonstrated by associated funerary offerings at El Cementerio in late Prehispanic Mexico. 6 Grave assemblages are usually curated by the deceased’s close—­in ancient Greece, usually female—­relatives (Kurtz and Boardman 1971; Garland 2001; Dipla and Paleothodoros 2012; Dubois 2012; Closterman 2014). Dimakis (2016) has recently suggested that objects are most likely to be offerings from mourners when they are items typically associated with the opposite gender to that of the deceased.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  155 the result is that the identities evidenced are typically the ones the adults around juveniles constructed for them.7 They can also be more reflective of the family’s status, rather than the child’s identity (Perego and Scopacasa 2018: 169; Gallou 2021: 448).8 In that way, burials and grave offering assemblages arguably communicate ‘social personas’ of the dead, rather than direct reflections their iden­tities from life (Alexandridou 2016: 348).9 Nonetheless, burials and associated funerary objects interred within them can viably be used to make inferences about the deceased and to interpret their social identities because burials and grave offering assemblages are results of mortuary practices prescribed by social norms, and many were individualised to communicate certain things about specific individuals. The burial record can and does inform upon social identities—­though the information it makes available may not wholly reflect their lived reality—­because it was deliberately moulded in accordance with them. Burials provide the most consistent evidence from ancient Attica: the city of Athens presents a continuous record of mortuary practices from the eleventh century and burials dated throughout the period 900 to 300 bce have also been excavated in the Attic countryside. Children were buried formally throughout the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods, hence their burials can be used to investigate their identities throughout 900 to 300 bce including to ascertain material culture used to construct juvenile identities. The predominant ancient Greek burial practices, that have left archaeological traces, were inhumation, primary cremation, and secondary cremation. Burial practices varied across Greek poleis (Gallou 2021; Vlachou 2021; see also Dimakis 2016; Christesen 2018). For example, the state apparently had a significant level of control over funerary rituals and practices in Sparta and Argos (Dimakis 2016; Christesen 2018). Thus, the patterns noted here for Attica were variable elsewhere.10 In Attica, primary cremations were generally the most elaborate (Houby-­N ielsen 1996: 42–43). For adults, all were practiced concurrently in the ninth to fourth centuries in Attica; the popularity of each waxed and waned throughout. Cremations were prevalent during the Geometric period, less popular in subsequent centuries and virtually unrepresented by the fourth 7 Parker Pearson (1999: 103) suggests ‘funerary archaeologists . . . only ever see children as ma­nipu­lated entities within an adult world’. 8 Gallou (2021) suggests grave offerings with children often represent the ‘emotional capital’ invested in them and were often used to make conspicuous statements about the wealth and status of the family. 9  ‘Social personas’, being only elements of identities emphasised in certain situations, constitute incomplete representations of identities (Fowler 2013b: 512–513). See also Perego (2021) and Perego et al. (2020) on mortuary rites not reflecting the (personhood) status of the deceased at the time of their death. 10  Christesen (2018) has recently demonstrated that Athens should be considered an outlier in the Greek world, rather than a normative baseline as has typically been the case in scholarship. For ex­ample, he notes significant similarities between Argos, Corinth, and Sparta, which has typically been considered exceptional because of contrast with Athens.

156  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens century (Morris 1995: 48; Garland 2001: 34). Inhumations emerged in the Middle Geometric and generally gained popularity throughout the following periods (Alexandridou 2016: 334). Cremation and inhumation were both practiced in Geometric Attica; cremations were usually secondary interments of cremated remains in cinerary urns, whilst simple shaft graves and rock-­cut or simple earth-­pit inhumations were favoured (Kurtz and Boardman 1971: 51–56). Geometric graves were concentrated in cemeteries around routeways in Athens and dispersed in burial grounds associated with small rural settlements in Attica (Kurtz and Boardman 1971: 50; Whitley 2001: 174). Localised intramural burial was also relatively common in the Early Iron Age, for example in Athens and at Oropos in Attica (Shepherd 2018; Vlachou 2021: 472).11 There was little variability in mortuary practices in the Early and Middle Geometric periods, but significantly more changeability in the late eighth century (Sourvinou-­Inwood 1983; Morris 1987; Alexandridou 2016). Early grave offering assemblages were richer, whilst later examples were more modest: Ian Morris (1995: 70) suggests restrictions were placed upon what could be interred as grave goods in Attica in the later eighth century. Clearer distinctions between settlement areas and burial grounds emerged in the Archaic period; extramural cemeteries became more popular from the seventh century (Kurtz and Boardman 1971: 68; Whitley 2001: 174; Alexandridou 2015: 222). Intramural burial for adults was probably not permitted after circa 500 bce in Athens,12 though children continued to be buried within the city ­limits occasionally (Kurtz and Boardman 1971: 70; Morris 1987: 22; Vlachou 2021: 472).13 There were some major changes in Attic funerary practices around the beginning of the Archaic period: the number of archaeologically recoverable burials declined significantly, suggesting new exclusivity in who was permitted formal burial; there was an increase in the number of primary cremations; and grave good assemblages came to be characterised by their simplicity, especially after circa 650 bce—­ metal offerings were virtually unattested 700–500 bce (Morris 1987: 141; 1995: 46, 70–72; 1998: 22; D’Agostino and D’Onofrio 1993: 50;

11  Vlachou (2021) also notes the practice at Viglatouri and Eretria in Euboea and on Paros and Naxos. At Eretria, distinctions were seemingly made between infants and older children: those younger than one were buried close to settlements whilst older children were typically in separate burial grounds (Blandin 2010). 12  See Christesen (2018) on the continuation of intracommunal (defined as within the community, rather than within the city walls) adult burial—­and its co-­existence with extracommunal burial—­in Greece, especially at Sparta, Argos, Corinth, and Athens. 13  Scholars including Dimakis (2020) have suggested the practice was concerned with keeping young children close after they died. Dimakis (2020: 106) suggests intramural burials may be those of children that died after being accepted into their families, who had not been accepted into wider society at the time when they had died, therefore notionally those juveniles that had participated in the Amphidromia but not in the Anthesteria.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  157 Alexandridou 2016: 353–355).14 The most common Archaic offerings were table wares, lidded containers and lekythoi.15 Moving towards democratic ideals, sixth-­ century burials moved the focus of mortuary practices towards showcasing the deceased’s civic virtues and kinship ties, rather than their personal (material) wealth or status (Alexandridou 2015: 144).16 Inhumation took precedence from around 600 bce, and the number of burials steadily increased towards a max­ imum at the end of the century (Morris 1987: 62): the late Archaic burial record was inclusive and expansive on an unprecedented scale. Continuing in the same vein, the fifth century saw an extreme increase in the number of archaeologically recoverable burials (Morris 1998: 22).17 Classical burials were both inhumations and—­ predominantly secondary—­ cremations, depending upon personal choice or localised norms, until the fourth century when cremation became rare. Almost all burials, in Athens and Attica, were in extramural cemeteries. Burials of various types were often monumentalised with built tombs and burial mounds constructed over the interments; those constructions were frequently elaborated into family burial plot periboloi in the later Classical period (Houby-­Nielsen 1995: 130). The fourth century witnessed a sharp decrease in the number of burials and the elaboration of burial practices, which were ultimately streamlined by Demetrios of Phaleron’s legislation in 317 bce (Beaumont 2012: 88). Moving into the Hellenistic period, both the nature of child burials and the nature of the associated funerary offerings underwent significant change that has been linked to an increased social focus on status and luxury: children were buried in pits rather than pots, more frequently cremated, and usually interred with minimal offerings (Dimakis 2020: 108–110). In sum, various types of burial—­at their core inhumations, primary or secondary cremations—­were used in Attica throughout 900–300 bce; the popularity of specific types increased in certain places and at particular times. There were overall peaks in the number of (recovered) burials per annum in the late eighth, late sixth, and early fifth centuries. Scholarship has associated those peaks with upsurges in Athenian democracy, arguing greater burial record inclusivity signified increased social inclusivity, which was characteristic of democratic governance (Whitley 2001: 185–187 following Morris 1987).18 14  Grave offerings were often interred in Opferinnen in the seventh and early sixth centuries. They may have distinguished elite burials, because they placed emphasis on viewing grave goods (Houby-­ Nielsen 1996: 44–46; Langdon 2008: 37; Alexandridou 2015: 121, 144). Opferinnen were only for adults, with very few exceptions (Houby-­Nielsen 1995: 135). 15  Lekythoi replaced eating and drinking vessels as the preeminent grave gift in the later sixth century; in adult graves from circa 560 bce, in child graves from the end of the century (Houby-­Nielsen 1995: 137, 155). 16 Scholarship suggests fifth-­ century grave stelai emphasised similar ideals (Houby-­ Nielsen 1996: 49). 17  This has been noted at Corinth and Olynthus, besides at Athens (Vlachou 2021: 472). 18  Dimakis (2016) has since noted similar patterns in Classical Argos, which perhaps suggests links with the Athenian adoption of democracy and citizenship reforms need to be re-­evaluated.

158  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Children’s burials were spatially segregated from adults’ as early as the Neolithic (6700/6500–3200 bce) period in Greece.19 Grave offerings for sub-­ adults were also rendered distinct from then (Georgiadis 2011). In the Final Neolithic (4500–3200 bce) enchytrismos burials started to be used almost exclusively for children, especially the youngest juveniles, and the practice endured; enchytrismoi were used consistently for infant burials from the Protogeometric (1050–900 bce) period until the fourth century across Greece, including the Cycladic Islands (Houby-­Nielsen 2000; Beaumont 2012; Alexandridou 2016: 334; Gallou 2021: 445).20 Cremations were by far the rarer type of child burial; across Greece, minimal sub-­adult cremations are known from certain periods and very few have been recorded in Athens (Beaumont 2012: 88; Vlachou 2021: 476).21 In general, Geometric child burials were less numerous, but richer, than earlier counterparts, though their grave good assemblages were not necessarily elaborate (Whitley 1991: 85; Houby-­Nielsen 1995: 140 following Strömberg 1993). Early and Middle Geometric Attic cemeteries often excluded children, and it was not uncommon for them to be buried within settlements until the early eighth century (Houby-­Nielsen 1995: 131; Langdon 2008: 63; Beaumont 2012: 89–90; Dubois 2012: 340; Shepherd 2018: 532).22 Sub-­adults that were formally buried in ninth century cemeteries were typically placed on the periphery or in areas set aside for children, including around the Dipylon Gate in the Kerameikos in Athens (Morris 1987: 20, 47; Gallou 2021: 445).23 Significantly more children were buried formally in the eighth century, with the number of (recoverable) child burials reaching a peak in the late eighth century that was not matched until the end of the sixth century (Whitley 1991: 85–86; Morris 1998: 22). The number of children almost superseded the number of adults interred in Late Geometric II burial grounds (Morris 1987: 61). Very few sub-­adults were buried formally in the early seventh century; they were only well represented in Archaic cemeteries after circa 650 bce. Children were occasionally buried near adult men, or in early child-­specific burial grounds

19  Some scholars (D’Agostino and D’Onofrio 1993; Houby-­Nielsen 1995) suggest children were only truly distinguished as a distinct group from the Sub-­Mycenaean period (1100–1050 bce). 20 Scholars including Vlachou (2021: 474) have suggested the vessels were used to imitate the uterus. 21 Some scholars suggest cremation was generally deemed unsuitable for juveniles (Beaumont 2012: 186). Alexandridou (2016: 349) has suggested only children aged over 7 were cremated. Pliny the Elder (Natural History 7.72) advised children should not be cremated if they died before teething (Oakley 2003: 176). 22  An Early Geometric burial has been found under a house in the Agora (H17:2). Intramural burial of sub-­adults has been interpreted as evidence of their minimal importance and unformed social identities, but Sommer and Sommer (2015) and Dimakis (2020) have recently argued the practice was instead used to keep young children close after death. 23 Late Geometric child-­specific burial grounds have also been found in Boeotia and Thebes (Langdon 2021: 187).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  159 (Lagia 2007; Oakley 2003: 178). Child-­specific areas were established south of the Acropolis, beside the Sacred Way in the Kerameikos,24 around the Eirai Gate leading to the sanctuary of Demeter, and at Eleusis, Marathon, and Phaleron in Attica later in the Archaic period (Houby-­Nielsen 2000; Lagia 2007: 298).25 Like in the Geometric period, infants were typically buried in pots in the seventh and sixth centuries, whilst older children were interred in pits, sometimes in coffins and larnakes (Kurtz and Boardman 1971: 71–72). Juvenile burials mirrored the styles of adult graves but were generally simpler; lone child burials were not usually marked by tumuli or superstructures before the Classical period (Houby-­ Nielsen 1995: 133, 137). Classical child graves were concentrated in cemeteries situated around gates in Athens or placed alongside roads leading from the city to sanctuaries in Attica, often in child-­specific areas established in the late Archaic period (Houby-­Nielsen 2000: 159–161; Dimakis 2020: 104).26 Burials not in juvenile-­specific areas were associated with adult female graves (Oakley 2003: 178). The peak in the number of child burials continued from the late sixth century into the fifth and they became more typologically diverse from circa 500 bce;27 infants were still buried in enchytrismoi, but older children were interred in larnakes, wooden coffins, tile graves, sarcophagi, or pits (Kurtz and Boardman 1971: 97–98; Morris 1987: 22; Houby-­Nielsen 1995: 146; Beaumont 2012: 88–89; see Houby-­Nielsen 2000). From the later fifth century, child graves—­especially those of juveniles beyond infancy—­were often marked by stelai (Houby-­Nielsen 1995: 133, 137). The number of archaeologically recoverable child burials declined significantly post-­430 bce, and sub-­adults, especially infants, continued to be noticeably less visible in the burial record throughout the fourth century (Lagia 2007: 299; Liston and Rotroff 2013: 67). Formally buried juveniles were intermixed with adults in established cemeteries (Lagia 2007: 299). Although they were less well represented in the fourth-­century burial record, children were often commemorated on stelai until circa 317 bce (Beaumont 2012: 89; Sommer and Sommer 2015: 170–171).

24  Children were usually buried apart from adults 700–550 bce in the Kerameikos; they were clustered on the periphery of tumuli or in the north cemetery. Juveniles associated with adults were typ­ic­ al­ly in areas without tumuli or stelai, in ‘poor’ burials. Kerameikos child necropoleis—‘Grabhügel G’ and ‘Südhügel’—were established 560–535 bce (Houby-­Nielsen 1995: 132–133). Shepherd (2007) notes parallels between treatment of children in the Kerameikos and in Sicily. 25  A large child necropolis was established on the hill of Kylindra on the island of Astypalaia in the Geometric period, and was in continuous use until the Roman period. As of 2021, 2,979 burials—­ almost all of juveniles younger than 3 years old and most of perinates in enchytrismoi—­have been excavated. Most of the burials include offerings (Michalaki-­K ollia 2010). 26 Burial beside major routeways was also common in Sparta and Corinth, from the Archaic period (circa 650 bce in Sparta) (Christesen 2018: 335). 27 Child burials first outnumbered adult burials in the early fifth century in the Kerameikos (Houby-­Nielsen 1995: 132–133). Contemporary peaks in child burials are recorded at Olynthus and in Corinth.

160  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Ultimately, like adults, children were best represented in the burial records of the late eighth, the later sixth, and the early fifth centuries. Scholarship suggests children had more important roles in defining the identity of the family in mortuary contexts from 560–535 bce, when they were incorporated into tumuli and treated most similarly to adults (Houby-­Nielsen 1995: 164). The later fourth century witnessed a significant decline in the number of (archaeologically re­cov­er­ able) child burials. Scholarship suggests this was due to a new preoccupation with luxury that moved away from emphasising the ‘woman as mother’ identity (Houby-­Nielsen 2000: 168). Houby-­Nielsen (2000: 161) surmises that children were awarded more prominence in the burial record during periods of social upheaval, when juveniles were prized for their roles in perpetuating society. Morris (1987) likewise proposed impetuses to represent children more or less in the burial record were socially motivated, and that the visibility of child burials from various periods in Greek history is not resultant of accidents of survival and recovery. Keith Bradley (1999: 184) reasoned child deaths were ‘an everyday occurrence in classical antiquity’, but it has often been evidence of non-­normative, catastrophic practices that have been investigated.28 For example, evidence of infanticide is often discussed (Liston and Rotroff 2013; Mays 2000). Those biases of scholarship distort understandings of ancient Greek mortuary practices relative to children, which in turn misrepresents children’s identities and their social significance. In broader surveys of burials in Classical and Hellenistic Attica (2020) and the Peloponnese (2016) Nikolas Dimakis has recently demonstrated the value of focusing on burials as expressions of how individuals and communities experienced living. Dimakis highlights the need for broad-­spectrum comparative approaches and a consideration of an ‘archaeology of emotions’ when dealing with child burials, and this can be useful to avoid privileging evidence of atypical practices in support of arguments for a lack of care about juvenile death, so as to move towards a more contextualised awareness of ‘everyday’ practices. Here, I investigate everyday burials and everyday objects to inform an awareness of the normative social identities of children as they were expressed in everyday contexts; for example, in houses. Careful analyses of funerary contexts can inform interpretations of how identities were constructed and experienced in life as well as death: some material culture interred with children in graves was used by them in life, and so can constitute archaeological signatures of juvenile activities and identities in day-­to-­day, lived-­in contexts. A key early source on infant mortality argued evaluating child burials truly places sub-­adults at the centre of archaeological investigation (Scott 1999; see also 28  See Liston and Rotroff (2013) on disposal of new-­borns in Hellenistic wells; Lindenlauf (2001) on disposing of individuals in rubbish deposits. Scott (1999) disproportionately focused upon infanticide and infant sacrifice, only referring to day-­to-­day child burials for comparison.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  161 Panter-­Brick 1998a).29 Sealed contexts, like burials, associated with children provide some of the securest information about their identities and experiences.30 It is important to remember, however, that children’s burial contexts were constructed not by them, but on their behalf, by their—­probably adult—­mourners. As a result, I present an analysis of Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Attic burials here that acknowledges the fact that though an analysis of children’s burials might centralise sub-­adults in its focus, it does not necessarily centralise their perspective. Archaeologies of child burial have gained momentum over the past decade in particular,31 with the emergence of dedicated conferences and academic publications: Murphy and Le Roy’s recent Children, Death and Burial: Archaeological Discourses originated as papers presented at the Twenty-­First Annual Conference of the European Association of Archaeologists (Squires 2018), the SSCIP made death a theme of their 2017 annual conference32 and 26.5% of research published in the Society’s journal in its first ten years focused upon burial evidence (Murphy 2017 Figure 4). The topicality of the mortuary archaeology of children owes much to advances in bioarchaeology, osteology, paleopathology, and related disciplines (see Halcrow and Tayles 2008; Lewis 2011; Fox 2012), which have generally made investigations of sub-­adults more feasible and informative, but progress in some sub-­disciplines remains slow.33 Only two chapters in Murphy and Le Roy (2017) focus on Greece. No chapters in Schepartz et al. (2009) New Directions in the Skeletal Biology of Greece focus upon material from Attica. Whereas the Classical and Archaic periods and products of Attica are often the foci in considerations of art, analyses of burials often look elsewhere for their evidence.34 Existing scholarship has not considered iconographic and burials evidence in tandem.35 Evaluating both facilitates a broader perspective on the identities of children, as they were constructed in life and death, which is required to understand the nature of children’s identities as they were experienced in underexplored contexts like houses. 29  Children are often most visible in burial contexts, historically, and so ‘[are] more visible to bioarchaeologists than to archaeologists’ (Perry 2005: 89). 30  Mays et al. (2017: 39) argue ‘the most direct way to “access” children in the past is through their skeletal remains’. 31 Earlier bioarchaeological discourse often dismissed children with a few comments on how under-­represented they are in many contexts (Mays et al. 2017: 38), and burial reports often failed to recognise child sub-­cultures or record ages for sub-­adults (Crawford 2000: 170–172). Guides on infantile osteological material have only appeared quite recently; foremost amongst them, Scheuer and Black (2004). 32  Life and Death of Children in the Past; its tenth conference, held in Mexico City. In 2016, the Society sponsored two research events on the osteoarchaeology of children (Murphy 2017: 16). 33  The pace of progress relates to the varied visibility of children in different burial records: see Shepherd (2018) on how far children are represented in ancient Greek mortuary contexts. 34  See Konstanti (2017) on intramural Mycenaean child burials; Calliauw (2017) on how age was categorised socially in early Cretan child burials, both in Murphy and Le Roy (2017). See Fox (2012) on child burials in Graeco-­Roman Greece. 35  Whitley (2001: 366) highlights that osteological analyses of ancient Greek burials are often disparate from social analyses that draw, for example, on iconography (see also Halcrow and Tayles 2008).

162  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Funerary archaeology has a key part to play in rendering the archaeology of childhood interdisciplinary and innovative;36 whilst current research analyses children’s physical remains using a plethora of scientific methods,37 complementary methods investigating children’s burial contexts and grave good assemblages reveal equally as much about different facets of the historical experience of being a child.38 Interdisciplinary approaches provide the best opportunities for understanding how material culture was used to construct juvenile identities in ancient Attica. A multi-­proxy methodology facilitates an extended diachronic focus; where existing research has usually looked only at the Geometric or Archaic/Classical periods and has considered either burials or art, evaluating both burials and art opens up the possibly of exploring the period 900 to 300 bce in its entirety. Analyses of associated funerary objects, which are often interdisciplinary by virtue of investigating a range of materials, take various forms. Many attempt to interpret the social status of individuals associated with certain items.39 Structuralist approaches treat offerings as arbitrary signifiers that communicate consistent symbolic messages, regardless of type (Morris 1995: 52). Here, I reject that dictum with the rationale that if effort was made to create varied grave good assemblages in ancient Greece, individuality played its part. Approaches using direct interpretation contend individuals with few or no associated funerary objects were poor, whilst those with many offerings were rich. That is a problematic assertion, especially relative to children, because a deficit of associated funerary objects could instead reflect that individuals were not socially valuable in ways expressed in burials, though they were materially wealthy, whilst an abundance of offerings could signify only familial, rather than individual, wealth and status (Houby-­Nielsen 1995: 145).40 The ‘richest’ Middle Geometric I graves in the Kerameikos were those of children (Alexandridou 2016: 338):41 it is highly unlikely they were all wealthier than their adult contemporaries, which suggests graves were not simplistic indexes of achieved status in ancient Attica. Direct interpretation also fails to consider that substantial resources could have been expended upon the funerary rites, but that may not be discernible arch­aeo­logic­ al­ly (Kurtz and Boardman 1971: 143). Post-­processualist approaches treat grave offerings as a form of communication, used to construct social relationships rather than just reflect them (Ekengren 2013: 174–176; Fowler 2013a: 76).42 36 Anglo-­Saxon archaeology has pioneered using funerary archaeology to inform upon social structures and identities constructed throughout the extended life course (for example, Gilchrist 2012). 37  See Lally and Moore (2011). See Schepartz et al. (2009) on ancient Greek material. 38  See Lewis (2007). 39  See Crawford (2000) on Anglo-­Saxon England. 40  Morris (1992: 104) argues graves are not ‘simple index[es] of wealth’. 41  Children’s graves being wealthier than contemporary adult graves has also been noted in the Geometric period at Asine (Gallou 2021: 446). Children also often had richer associated funerary offerings in Archaic Sparta, Argos, and Corinth and on Sicily (Christesen 2018: 347; Shepherd 2018). 42 Preceding processual approaches, pioneered by archaeologists influenced by ethnography including Binford and Saxe, conceptualised grave good assemblages as ‘black boxes’ that recorded, rather than played a part in creating, evidence of the ritual procedures associated with death in past

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  163 They facilitate exploration of the hypothesis that grave good assemblages associated with sub-­adults in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Attica were used to construct the identities Athenian society permitted children. Some research in the field of Greek archaeology has previously focused upon grave goods interred with children (Shepherd 2007; Georgiadis 2011; Stroszeck 2012). However, most works only make passing reference to the uses of associated funerary objects in life, and this misses opportunities for using the information gathered to understand, in detail, the nature of children’s identities in various contexts and throughout the extended life course in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Attica. Despite the fact skeletal remains are often poorly preserved in Greece (Fox 2012: 409–410), child burials are comparatively well recorded for Attica because extensive investigations of some cemeteries have taken place and the results have been published at length.43 Rescue excavations are common in the city of Athens in particular and the results are published in journals and on the AiGO database. Analyses of burials are typically treated separately; in syntheses or in focused analyses using some of the cemeteries as case studies. One of the first major syntheses—­ which remains an important work of reference—­ was Kurtz and Boardman (1971). Like most works on Greek mortuary practices, Kurtz and Boardman evaluated burials to understand how death was managed in antiquity. They predominantly refer to children’s burials to compare them to adults’ burials. Analyses of mortuary practices can expand beyond that to inform upon how life, and a possible afterlife, were experienced and perceived because the material culture burials preserve—­which Kurtz and Boardman treat only summarily—­can be evaluated to understand characteristics of the identities of individuals associated with them. Robert Garland (1985) produced a later synthesis of ancient Greek attitudes to death and burial. A precursor to formal considerations of the extended life course, Garland demonstrates a greater focus on how Greek eschatology conceptualised existence beyond death.44 Garland’s approach is important for highlighting the range of materials available for investigating death; he summarises burials, grave offerings, stelai, and some iconography (2001: 82–85), but his references to juveniles are generally cursory. He does not consider what children’s burials suggest about the nature of their social identities in any depth, beyond proposing that children’s deaths provoked minimal social reaction, because they generated less miasma than those of adults (2001: 42). He argues that is evidenced societies (Parker Pearson 1999: 28–30; Ekengren 2013: 174–175; Fowler 2013b: 512). See Chapman (2013) on how interpretation of death and burial was approached in archaeology following 1960s/1970s processualism. 43  Including, the Kerameikos: Kübler (1954); (1959–70); Knigge (1976); (2005); Koenigs et al. (1980); Kovacsovics (1990); Kunze-­Götte et al. (1999). Eleusis: Mylonas (1975). Thorikos: Mussche et al. (1967); (1968); (1969); (1984). Merenda: Xagorari-­Gleissner (2005). 44  Smith (2011) usefully applies the life course approach to investigating child burials from the Early Helladic (3100–2000 bce) Peloponnese. As my methodology does, Smith uses burial evidence to improve interpretations of activity in contexts under-­represented in archaeology.

164  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens by the fact child burials were afforded ‘much less care and expense . . . than those of adults’ (2001: 78). This is a generalisation, because in-­depth analyses suggest individualisation, which indicates juveniles had diverse social identities that were not rendered homogenous by common age. Garland’s implicit suggestion that the extended life course could be a concept that would have resonated in ancient Greek ontology is something that requires further investigation, however; it can be explored with critical consideration of how far individuality was expressed by some child burials. A consideration of ancient Greek burials cannot overlook the work of Ian Morris. His seminal Burial and Ancient Society used burial evidence to understand economic progression and social development in the emergence of the polis system between 1100 and 500 bce.45 Morris enumerated Attic burials in an attempt to quantify the growing population of the polis of Athens throughout the Protogeometric to early Classical periods. His quantitative study was innovative when it was published, and I follow it with the rationale that quantitative analyses facilitate inter-­evidence type comparisons. Morris did not focus upon sub-­adult burials in his study, but he did distinguish them from adult burials and classified some sites by the age profiles of the deceased. Morris followed the Saxe-­Binford approach, arguing increased social complexity results in increased funerary vari­ abil­ity, and that burial practices are fundamentally related to social organisation; he argued access to formal burial rites was primarily dictated by the deceased’s social status (see also Morris 1996). I explore how far that was true for children in particular and what other motivators could have resulted in variability in the how far children were integrated into the formal burial record throughout 900 to 323 bce. James Whitley (1991; 2001) has adopted elements of both Morris’ quantitative focus and Kurtz and Boardman’s synthetic style. He has evaluated Geometric burials to the greatest extent and emphasises the importance of evaluating grave good assemblages (1991); he has established that different pottery styles and variations in funerary practices correlated with the age and sex of the deceased. I investigate how far particular objects and funerary practices were associated with the burials of sub-­adults in particular. Like Morris, Whitley focuses upon wider societal analyses and does not concentrate upon children; both primarily consider children to understand what the mortuary practices used to manage their deaths and burials suggest about their status relative to adults. Though using similar ­methods, I instead focus on children to understand how sub-­adult burials compared to one another. I suggest intra-­juvenile comparisons have the best potential to reveal how far juvenile facets of identity intertwined with other factors of identity

45  For reviews of Morris (1987) see D’Agostino and D’Onofrio (1993); Morris (1998).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  165 including social status to dictate the nature of mortuary practices and funerary contexts associated with individuals in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Attica. Sanne Houby-Nielsen has produced the foremost research on children’s ­burials in ancient Athens. She has evaluated how ancient Greek burial practices communicated social norms (1996; 1997) and produced research on what burial customs communicate about social differentiation (1992), but it is her careful and extensive analyses of burials in the Kerameikos that are most informative on ju­ven­iles.46 Her methodology, detailed in her 1995 chapter and summarised in her chapter in Sofaer-­Derevenski (2000a), establishes a framework for analysing ancient Greek child burials.47 She identifies three sub-­adult age categories,48 which have since been broadly corroborated by Anna Lagia’s (2007) bioarchaeological analyses.49 I sub-­divide Houby-­Nielsen’s older children category into younger and older children, with a notional cut-­off point at 7 years old, for greater parity with iconographic evidence, but record many sub-­adults as indeterminates between two classifications to reflect the comparable treatment of juveniles across sub-­categories. Here, I expand Houby-­Nielsen’s consideration of the types of funerary practices used to treat sub-­adults, testing the applicability of patterning she has identified in wider Attic contexts where she focused on the intra-­site spatial distribution of burials in Athens (especially 2000). Both Houby-­Nielsen (1995: 146–150) and Lagia (2007: 298) concluded there was a significant proportionate increase in the number of formal child burials in the fifth century, and that there was a strongly developed concept of childhood in Attica by that time. Katia Margariti (2021) has recently demonstrated the value of investigating burial evidence more holistically, in conjunction with iconographic evidence. My re-­ evaluation of the iconographic evidence suggests the concept of childhood was acknowledged significantly earlier; thus, the burial evidence requires critical analysis in light of that. Houby-­Nielsen (1995) has also determined that some types of grave offerings had gendered associations with adults (Figure 4.2); she suggests they were increasingly associated with children as they advanced into her Age Groups 2 and 3,

46  Houby-­Nielsen (1995: 131–133) reasons the nature of mortuary practices was foremost dictated by the age and sex of the deceased in Archaic and Classical Attica, rather than by familial status or similar. 47  She evaluated over two thousand burials dated 1100–0 bce/ce, with a focus on burials dated 700–400 bce. 48  Age Group 1: infants aged up to a year, usually buried in pots. Group 2: small children aged up to 3 or 4, buried in fifth-­century larnakes up to 1m long, usually with eating and drinking vessels. Group 3: older children aged up to 12–14, buried in ways that mirror treatments of the adult dead—­ including with gendered grave offerings—­in pits and coffins up to a maximum of 1.5m long, with the skeleton no more than 1.35m. Group 4: adolescents over 12–14, not distinct from adults in the burial record (Houby-­Nielsen 1995: 177–178). 49  Lagia analysed burials from the Kerameikos and Plateia Kotzia cemeteries in Athens; her cut-­off between small and older children was age 5.

166  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Strigil Kline

Lekythos Alabastron

Statuette (Female) Egg(?) Pyxis Basket Soap

Figure 4.2  Object-­gender associations (male, left; female, right; gender neutral, centre) demonstrated by Archaic and Classical Kerameikos burials. Source: the author, after Houby-­Nielsen 1995.

and that younger juveniles were genderless or gender neutral up to a point.50 I explore the extent to which grave offerings, including gendered items, were associated with older children because of ancient Greek eschatological beliefs, rather than just because their socialisation towards adult gender norms had reached a point where gendered objects were their possessions. Houby-­Nielsen raises the possibility that grave goods could be items from adult life that were interred with children though they would never corporeally experience using them; that children’s grave good assemblages could present them as the potential or future citizens they could no longer be, thereby projecting their identities (1995: 148–150). She does not however, explore how far that was a phenomenon demonstrated by ancient Attic child burials: I do so. Probing associated funerary objects associated with children in light of the sociological extended life course concept allows for investigation of how far grave offering assemblages were used to tie deceased children to gendered identities in death that they had not fully acquired in life. Ultimately, most scholarship on children that draws upon burial evidence evaluates children’s burials to adjudge when, or the degree to which, juveniles were fully accepted into adult society. It consistently compares children to adults, rather than considering them just as children. It ignores that whether they were full members of wider society or not, children had identities within more private contexts, including within their oikoi. It also fails to properly consider the impact juvenile deaths could have on oikoi and families, because of its focus on the lesser impacts of juvenile deaths on wider society. Analyses of archaeologically more obscure private contexts like houses fail to realise their potential for informing 50  This phenomenon is recorded historically and anthropologically (Whelan 1991; Houby-­Nielsen 1995: 140).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  167 upon the experiences of juvenile identities in antiquity as a consequence. This is unsustainable given shortcomings in those analyses result in failures to consider the primary contexts in which children lived and died.

4.2  Children’s Burials Burials uniquely facilitate a longue durée perspective on the changing identities of children in Attic society across the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods because children were buried formally throughout 900 to 323 bce in Athens and Attica. Sub-­adults were typically inhumed rather than cremated so are identified relatively easily, though it is difficult to distinguish older children on the cusp of youth or maidenhood from adults on the evidence of skeletal material alone. Generally, following Houby-­Nielsen (1995; 2000) children can be categorised as perinates, infants, toddlers, younger, or older children, but those categorisations are often imprecise in the style ‘younger/older child’. Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Attic child burials typically contain one child, but some are interments of two children or a child with adult(s). The burials can be analysed to investigate if children of different ages were treated differently in mortuary contexts, and if the treatment of juveniles—­and the extent to which they were incorporated into the formal burial record—­changed over time. Subjecting the offerings interred with children to close and comparative analyses identifies objects indubitably—­ though not necessarily exclusively—­associated with children throughout the ninth to fourth centuries, which thereby constituted the material cultures of children and/or childhood across the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods. Graves are sealed contexts wherein objects were associated with children for certain; they provide direct evidence of objects considered appropriate for children and used to construct juvenile identities. Ultimately, diachronic analyses of how children were treated in mortuary practices, including the types of their interments and the objects they were associated with, inform upon the—­possibly transformative—­social identities of juveniles in death. Holistic analyses of the same inform upon the changing identities children experienced in lives impacted by societal transformation. In a sample of 830 Attic child burials dated 900–323 bce, 621 from within the city of Athens compare to 209 distributed across Attica more widely (Figure 4.3). Burials were consistently more numerous within Athens throughout the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods; though discounting the Kerameikos cemetery, the Athenian and Attic quantities were comparable in the Archaic and Classical periods. Nine sites demonstrate ‘key concentrations’: the Athenian Kerameikos, Eleusis, the Athenian Eridanos cemetery, Thorikos, the Athenian Agora, Phaleron, a cemetery on Peiraios Street in Athens, Megara, and Trachones. All of the sites—­except the cemeteries at Megara, in Trachones, and on Peiraios

168  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Skala Oropou

Eleusis Megara

Draphi

Peristeri Nikaia Keratsini Piraeus

Anthousa

Athens

Vari

Merenda Keratea

Anavyssos Thorikos Sounion

PE

LOP

ATTIKI ON N IS O S

Figure 4.3  Sites with child burials in Attica. Source: the author.

Street—­demonstrate sub-­adult burial activity throughout the ninth to fourth centuries (Figure 4.4; Figure 4.5).51 In the city of Athens, 13.25% of burials were not within key concentration (KC) sites; in Attica, 11.00% of burials were not.52 Geometric53 burials across both Athens and Attica were heavily concentrated in established cemeteries, Archaic54 burials were more likely to be within established 51  Analyses indicate some period-­specific use of sites, but the majority of those sites were subject to only small rescue-­type excavations, so the results may be unrepresentative of the burial ground as a whole. 52  In Athens three were undated and others were Geometric (n=15), Geometric/Archaic (n=1), Archaic (n=5), Archaic/Classical (n=19), and Classical (n=43). In Attica they are Geometric (n=4), Archaic (n=10), Archaic/Classical (n=2), and Classical (n=7). 53  KC sites: Athens 78.26%; Attica 77.78%. 54  KC sites: Athens 96.18%; Attica 77.27%.

Kerameikos

Eridanos

Agora

Phaleron

Peiraios St.

Trachones

180

96

75

45 25 13 1 2 Geometric

25 2

5

17

13

1

Geometric/Archaic

Archaic

5

3

Archaic/Classical

Classical

1

Figure 4.4  Periodic use of ‘key concentration’ sites in Athens. Source: the author. Eleusis

Thorikos

Megara

68

44

21

12 9 4

2

1

Geometric

Geometric/Archaic

10 7 1

Archaic

Archaic/Classical

Figure 4.5  Periodic use of ‘key concentration’ sites in Attica. Source: the author.

7

Classical

170  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens burial grounds in urban contexts and, conversely, Classical55 burials were more often in established cemeteries in rural Attica. The patterning demonstrates it was the norm to bury children within formal cemeteries throughout 900 to 323 bce, with the Kerameikos (especially the Südhügel)56 in Athens and the West Necropolis57 at Eleusis being by far, and consistently, the most popular locations. Diachronic increases in the number of burials and the number of burials concentrated in and around the city of Athens reflects a growing population and an increasing focus of inhabitation in the polis’ administrative centre. The fact children were usually interred in established cemeteries indicates their social iden­ tities were publicly acknowledged and commemorated across urban and rural contexts in the Athenian polis throughout the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods. Children of all ages were usually buried alone throughout the Geometric to Classical periods; commemorated for their own sake, as they often were by grave stelai (see below). This further suggests juvenile social identities were publicly acknowledged from the beginning of the ninth century. Typological analyses of burials often provide reliable age categorisations for younger juveniles (Houby-­ Nielsen 1995; 2000); pot burials (enchytrismoi) were principally for infants and toddlers. Cursory osteological evaluation can also serve to sub-­categorise, for example to identify ‘new-­borns’ in the Kerameikos on the basis that their bones are extremely small and fragile (Kübler 1954; 1959–1970). Most of the remains found in ancient Greek child burials have been subject to minimal detailed osteological investigation—­including DNA profiling—­so the sexes are generally indeterminate.58 With only a negligible proportion of the sample having a recorded sex, meaningful analyses of the gendered identities of children, based on burial evidence alone, is unfeasible.59 Age attributions resultant of osteological analyses alone are problematic because the raw data does not account for cultural vari­ation and social specificity (Lewis 2011: 3). For that reason, broader ­categories are generally more useful than concise numerical ages, and age ­category analyses are informative; 93.73% of burials can be assigned an age

55  KC sites: Athens 84.19%; Attica 92.39%. 56  T=112; thirty-­four Archaic, sixteen Archaic/Classical, sixty-­two Classical. 57  T=95; nine Geometric, one Geometric/Archaic, four Archaic, fourteen Archaic/Classical, sixty-­ seven Classical. 58  Detailed osteological analyses are indispensable for ascertaining the sex of sub-­adults; it is difficult to determine whether sub-­adults are male or female, but DNA analyses can confirm biological sex (Mays 2010: 88; Lewis 2011: 5; Tierney and Bird 2015; Buckberry 2018). Analysing skeletal material—­teeth in particular—­informs upon childhood because dentition occurs in infancy; osteological analyses of children’s teeth can even make suggestions about the health and migratory movements of mothers (see Gowland 2015; 2018 on entangled lives). 59  In the sample of 830 burials, twelve juveniles had assigned genders: one male older child and eleven female juveniles of all ages.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  171 Older Child

8

Younger/Older Child

34

Younger Child

18

Toddler/Younger Child Toddler

104 1

Infant/Toddler

214

Infant Perinate

372 17

?

62

Figure 4.6  Ages of children in burials. Source: the author. Older Child

2

Younger/Older Child Younger Child

9 2

Toddler/Younger Child

17

Toddler Infant/Toddler

9

Infant Perinate ?

45 1 2

Figure 4.7  Ages of children in Geometric burials (t=87). Source: the author.

categorisation (Figure 4.6).60 The high number of infants is partly resultant of the  visibility and superior preservation of their distinctive burial types—­ stereotypically pot burials—­and the small number of older children somewhat reflects difficulties in distinguishing older juveniles from youths/maidens and adults. Infants constituted almost half of the Geometric sample (Figure 4.7). Perinate, toddler/younger child, younger/older child, and older child burials were best represented in the period (Figure 4.8). Infants represented significantly 60  Infant: 2 months, n=2. Infant: 6–12 months, n=1; 1 year, n=2; 18 months, n=2. Younger child: 3 years, n=1; 5 years, n=3; 6 years, n=3. Older child: 8–10 years, n=2; 10–15 years, n=2; 12–14 years, n=1.

172  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Perinate Infant Infant/Toddler Toddler Toddler/Younger Child Younger Child Younger/Older Child Older Child

Geometric

Archaic

Classical

Figure 4.8  Diachronic trends in ages of children in burials. Source: the author.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  173 Older Child

1

Younger/Older Child

11

Younger Child

6

Toddler/Younger Child Toddler

11 1

Infant/Toddler

27

Infant

107

Perinate

5

?

6

Figure 4.9  Ages of children in Archaic burials (t=175). Source: the author. Older Child

3

Younger/Older Child Younger Child

14 9

Toddler/Younger Child

51

Toddler Infant/Toddler

131

Infant

129

Perinate ?

8 19

Figure 4.10  Ages of children in Classical burials (t=364). Source: the author.

more than half of the Archaic sample and the infant and infant/toddler totals combined constituted 76.57% of the overall period total (Figure 4.9). Perinate and younger child burials were best represented in the Archaic period. The numbers of infant and infant/toddler Classical burials were comparable; together they made up 71.43% of the Classical total (Figure 4.10). The totals for all of the other age categories—­except toddlers/younger children—­declined, proportionately, in the Classical period. The overall impression is of the consistent importance of infants, and beyond that differentiated demographic foci in different periods: the Geometric was most representative and best acknowledged older juveniles—­both

174  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Geometric

Perinate

Infant

Infant/Toddler

Toddler

Archaic

Classical

Toddler/Younger Younger Child Younger/Older Child Child

Older Child

Figure 4.11  Periodic trends in ages of children in burials. Source: the author.

younger/older and older children—­whilst the focus narrowed steadily across the Archaic and Classical periods, and older juveniles were less well represented, possibly because they were increasingly treated like adults. Ultimately, children of all ages, from the youngest members of society, could warrant formal burial in ancient Attica. Infants were by far best represented, and the number of burials per age category declined with maturity, in all periods (Figure 4.11); this generally mirrors patterning in other pre-­industrial, pre-­medicine societies (Chamberlain 2006). It is unexpected in light of previous scholarship, which argues children acquired stronger social identities (and so more entitlement to formal burial akin to adults) as they aged, but is likely to be, at least in part, a consequence of infant burials being more easily identifiable—­in terms of being rendered distinct from non-­juvenile interments—­than those of older children. The trends could also be con­sidered consequent of women having more autonomy in constructing the formal burial record than they generally had in society, because they were c­ onsidered most appropriate to deal with the miasma that was a consequence of death. Thereby the fluctuating degrees to which different age categories were represented in the Archaic and Classical periods resulted from more freedom of choice about who was formally buried in Attic society governed by democracy rather than by a hereditary aristocracy. Children did not have to be formally recognised after they died—­and were therefore no longer useful for perpetuating their families

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  175 and society—­when the exclusivity of their lineages did not need to be publicly reaffirmed, so the choice to bury sub-­adults of various ages in established burial grounds was a more personal one, which may have been made by women. Children’s grave offering assemblages were meaningfully nuanced; they almost certainly did not just reflect children’s wealth, or status, but rather broader conceptualisations and representations of their identities. Houby-­Nielsen’s (1995) analysis of Kerameikos burials identified interesting patterns, including some object-­gender associations (Figure 4.2). Beyond that, insufficient work has been done on grave good assemblages and patterning across them, especially relative to children. Some scholars suggest there are inadequately strong trends in age-­ objects associations, indicating age was not a key determining factor in selecting burial offerings (Shepherd 2018: 525); this assertion seems to relate to problems with associating certain grave goods with children of specific ages. Yet even if certain offerings cannot be associated with particular age categories, ana­lyses can meaningfully advance attempts to reconstruct and understand broader identities such as that of ‘the child’ generically—­differentiated from ‘the adult’—and beyond that to appreciate diachronic change in how children’s identities were constructed using material culture. The majority of Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Attic child burials contained grave offerings.61 Most juveniles were interred with one to three items,62 but up to seven63 was common and some burials contained more than twenty offerings; one particularly rich assemblage comprised forty-­one objects (Figure 4.12).64 The average number of offerings was 4.8. Considering the burials through direct interpretation briefly, few could be considered exceptionally rich in the way that they contained objects of a precious type.65 Precious-­material items were not concentrated in burials with the most offerings, suggesting quantity and quality of associated funerary objects did not communicate the same messages. Classical burials were more likely to be furnished than Archaic and Geometric burials, but late sixth to early fifth century—­Archaic—­interments usually had the most burial goods, and at least one burial from each period had more than twenty offerings, suggesting the motivations behind more material investment were not entirely periodic. The ages of juveniles interred with the most offerings varied, and they were usually in simple pit graves, suggesting the motivations were not wholly dictated by the deceased’s age nor the elaboration of the burial practices. 61  78.50% of the total. Two hundred and two burials contained no associated funerary objects; five because the graves had been looted. Sixty-­one have no offerings recorded in the source material because there were none originally, because none are preserved, or because the source provides insufficient detail. 62  T=51.59% of furnished. 63  T=81.69% of furnished. 64  Quantities catalogued ‘1+’ and ‘2+’ are tabulated ‘2’ and ‘3’ et cetera. 65  At the most, including bone and glass as ‘precious’ materials: 9.52%; that being 12.58% of the furnished burials. ‘Precious’ materials: bronze (t=26), iron (t=17), glass (t=16), bone (t=2), gold (t=6), lead (t=2), and silver (t=1).

176  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens 202

Unfurnished 99

1 2

105 123

3 74

4 5

46

6

46 31

7 8

17

9

19

10

14

11

8

12

7

13

8

14

2

15

4

16

6

17

4

18

2

19

2 5

20 22 1 23 1 24

1

26 1 27

1

41 1

Figure 4.12  Quantities of associated funerary objects in child burials. Source: the author.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  177 Most bur­ials contained a pot or pots66 and some burials contained other objects,67 often figurines68 (Figure 4.13; Figure 4.14; Figure 4.15). Pottery vessels, of various types, were almost a standard offering. This may have been resultant of their being readily available to a broad range of consumers in antiquity. A few vessels interred with children are diagnostic of them: both choes, in small and miniature forms, and feeders were primarily intended for juvenile consumers, though they could be associated with adults on occasion.69 Choes were included in thirty-­five graves; one in twenty-­nine burials, two in four burials, and four in two graves. Two were in a LG II grave and one was in an early seventh-­century interment, but most were in burials dated post-­525 bce; they were included consistently throughout 490–300 bce. They were offered in both inhumations and a cremation; mostly with infants and toddlers, though one was offered to a perinate, and one was interred with a 10- to 15-­year-­old boy. Choes constituted part of assemblages that comprised, on average, 6.5 items. They were in Athenian and Attic graves. Feeders, or feeding cups, were included in twenty-­eight burials; twice in two burials, but otherwise only singularly. An early example was Geometric, some were dispersed in earlier seventh-­century graves, and most were concentrated in fifth- and fourth-­century Classical interments. They were included in burials of various types, including a cremation and a double-­with-­adult tile grave: they almost unilaterally accompanied infants, toddlers, or—­more infrequently—­ younger children. Feeders were in assemblages of, on average, 5.6 objects. They were predominantly in burials in the Athenian Kerameikos and Eridanos ceme­ ter­ies, though some were also recorded at Eleusis. Choes and feeders are associated with juveniles in iconography and burials, mostly in the Classical but also in the Geometric and Archaic periods: with margin for error, they can be sought archaeologically, for example in houses, as signatures of children and juvenile activity. Various types of terracotta figurines were interred with children; some were arguably signifiers of juvenile identities because they could be considered toys. Many of the statuettes were anthropomorphic: squatting, standing, seated, and reclining figures, many of them female; three were specifically dolls and seven children or toddlers.70 Some were more mythological; silens, sirens, and a com­ edic dwarf. Kore-type female statuettes in particular are often termed votives, but especially when statuettes of juveniles, could be toys. An obvious conclusion is that many were dolls; Langdon (2008: 140 following Reber 1991) postulates they were dolls young girls gave up—­as dedications at sanctuaries—­upon transitioning into adulthood, which were placed in graves with girls that died before 66  T=618: 74.46%; 98.41% of furnished. 67  T=185; 22.29%; 29.46% of furnished. 68  T=72: 8.67%; 11.46% of furnished. 69  Feeders could also be used for invalided non-­juveniles, as attested by artefacts from recent history (see Dubois 2012: 336–338). 70  One figurine was bone, rather than terracotta.

178  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Lekythos Skyphos Bowl Pyxis Cup Olpe Jug Oinochoe Lekanis Aryballos Chous Feeder Amphora Kantharos Alabastron Kotyle Plate Kylix Chytra Phiale Amphoriskos Pitcher Saltcellar Vase Kalathos Lid Kyathos Exaleiptron Askos Hydria Flask Pelike Phialidio Tankard Sherd Lebes Dinos Lydian Plemochoe Rhyton Beehive Kados Stand Louterion Mug Stamnos Krateriskos Kothon

39 35 28 26 26 24 20 17 15 14 13 13 11 11 11 9 7 6 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

65 59 55

77

110

150 145

Figure 4.13  Pottery offerings in child burials. Source: the author.

229

316

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  179 Seated Figure

24

Bird

18

Horse

9

Child/Toddler

7

Horse/Rider

7

Standing Figure

6

Head

5

Female Figure

5

Pig

4

Figure

4

Monkey

4

Animal

4

Standing Female

4

Pomegranate

4

Boar

3

Basket

3

Doll

3

Dog

3

Reclining Figure

2

Silen

2

Tortoise/Turtle

2

Arm

2

Siren

2

Bell

2

Granary

2

Sheep

1

Rider

1

Leg

1

Lioness

1

Dwarf

1

Bull

1

African

1

Half Figure

1

Table

1

Squatting Figure

1

Sheep/Shepherd

1

Figure 4.14  Figurine offerings in child burials. Source: the author.

180  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Astragalos Egg Object Amphora Strigil Pendant Jewellery Bead Needle Arrowhead Loom Weight Chain Knife Hook Earring Spool Clasp Glass Flask Ring Nail Boot Mirror Food Stylus Band Scarab Ball Wedge Toys Tool Snails Pebble Necklace Hammerhead Gorgon Plaque Ear Pick Disk Coin Pin Tablet Bracelet Glass Amphoriskos Animal Bones Glass Alabastron Button Soap Cone Lamp Shell Metal Fragment Seal

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

2 2 2 2 2 2

3 3 3 3 3 3

4 4 4 4

5 5 5

6

7 7

12 12 12

Figure 4.15  Non-­type-­specific offerings in child burials. Source: the author.

19

25

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  181 reaching that milestone. They could thereby be considered markers of female children archaeologically. Anthropomorphic figurines were concentrated in burials 510–375 bce, but are recorded in interments from all periods, the earliest examples—­ two Handmade Incised Ware (HIW) dolls—­were included in a 900–875 bce pit burial. They were offered in burials—­inhumations and cremations—­of various types, across Athens and Attica, with infants, toddlers, and younger children for  the most part. They were usually in assemblages of around 9.9 objects and often part of the largest assemblages recorded. They often accompanied other terracottas, especially animals, suggesting more strongly that fig­ur­ine collections were play sets rather than votives. Categorisation as toys is equally feasible for various animal terracottas included in child burials; monkeys, dogs, turtles, tortoises, and lionesses were not typical votive offerings, but they are paralleled in toy assemblages throughout history, and some are species represented as children’s companions in iconography. Horses, pigs, boars, bulls, and sheep were more typical votives, represented both archaeologically at sanctuaries—­as terracotta and metal models—­and iconographically, but they could likewise be features of daily life, as birds71 were, so it is again reasonable they would be rendered as toy figures. One horse with wheels is all the more likely to have been a toy. Figurines characterising horses with riders and sheep with a shepherd also reinforce that figurines were playthings because those compositions were not used as votives. Animal terracottas were distributed across graves similarly to anthropomorphic figurines, but animals were more frequently associated with older children and were included in Geometric interments more often, though only those post-­770 bce; they were also, on average, part of larger assemblages, of 11.6 objects. Terracotta models of body parts—­heads, arms, and a leg—­were infrequent inclusions in child burials. Body parts of only one type were included, though up to four examples of the type were represented. They were only in post-­500 bce burials but were included in burials of various types that were interments of infants, toddlers, and younger children in Athenian and Attic cemeteries. Model arms, when found in graves, have been associated with funerary rites and gestures used to honour the dead, as shown iconographically (Kurtz and Boardman 1971: 101). Another possibility is that body part models represented injured parts of the deceased’s body; anatomical models were dedicated at sanctuaries to request divine intervention in healing or to give thanks for perceived assistance (Hughes 2008; 2017; 2018; Draycott and Graham 2017). The ritual significance of objects interred with children is otherwise suggested by terracotta pomegranates, baskets, bells, and granaries. Pomegranates were associated with fertility, but also with mortality and may have been food for the dead (Garland 2001: 158).

71  One bird was amber.

182  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens They were concentrated in later eighth-­century graves in the Kerameikos and at  Eleusis, offered to younger/older children. Baskets were used in ritual ­practices, including in tomb visits shown on white-­ground lekythoi (Aristophanes Acharnenses 244; Peace 948 cited by Garland 2001: 108). They were included in late Geometric and late sixth-­century graves in the Kerameikos; they were offered to toddlers, younger, or older children, usually as part of larger assemblages.72 Early pomegranates and baskets had associations with Geometric ‘maiden graves’.73 Bells were interred with two younger juveniles in the Kerameikos in the early fifth century. Alexandra Villing (2002) suggests they were used as amulets for children, but their overall significance is indeterminate. It has also been suggested shells were the remains of amulet strings; it is a tempting interpretation given the prevalence of amulets in iconography and their seeming invisibility in burials, but it is complicated by the fact shells were interred singularly.74 They were included in Athenian and Attic burials 550–400 bce, most often with infants and toddlers in amphorae and larnakes, amongst assemblages of around 7.6 objects. Granaries are also enigmatic. They were interred in one mid-­seventh and one mid-­ sixth-­ century grave, the former in Merenda and the latter in the Kerameikos. The children associated with them were toddlers, younger, or older children. Granaries are typically found in Geometric women’s graves,75 and their ultimate symbolism remains unclear, though they have been associated with demonstrating—­agricultural—­wealth (Kurtz and Boardman 1971: 63; Langdon 2008: 142). With children, they are concentrated in burials with bigger, including the largest, assemblages and were particularly associated with eating and drinking vessels, possibly constituting an item for storing food, or one that was symbolic of provisions offered to the dead. Ultimately, the indeterminate function of a number of terracotta figurines and models raises the possibility they were symbolic or representative; cost-­effective, practical representations of what children wanted to take with them into a post-­mortem existence, or mothers/divinities to protect them on their journey there. They could likewise have been children’s toys from life. It is impossible to know, definitively, without an understanding of their original contexts of use, including the houses in which they would have been used if they were toys. 72  Kalathoi were interred across Attica until 490 bce, with infants as well. 73  Distinct ‘maiden grave’ assemblages—­including HIW dolls, boots, chests, and hair ornaments, later supplemented with terracotta pomegranates and baskets—­are found in Attica and areas under Attic influence, dated 1000–700 bce. The assemblages are with women younger than around 20 and children, but not with men (Langdon 2008: 130–143; 2021: 181–182). A similar phenomenon is also notable on some Aegean islands (Langdon 2021: 187). The graves apparently commemorated the deceased’s lost opportunity to be a bride. Räuchle (2017: 250) suggests this projection of identity for girls that died when they were anticipating being brides was also characterised on stelai, by them being shown with some of the paraphernalia of a married woman. 74  They could be large and were not usually pierced, as would be expected to affix them to amulet strings. Stroszeck (2012) argues shells were age- and gender-­specific gifts; implements used to feed the youngest children or beautification tools. 75  Granaries were found in the Rich Athenian Lady’s tomb (Agora H16:6).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  183 Other items interred with children could also be considered toys, though their functions are not distinct or unilateral. Astragaloi could be included in assemblages in copious amounts.76 Balls and generic ‘toys’ were included on individual bases, with less frequency. Astragaloi were found in burials of all periods, though not represented 730–550 bce. They were associated with children of all ages, interred in burials of various types, but they were only found at Eleusis outside of Athens and then only in one late Classical grave. Balls were found in the same locations, in one Geometric and one Classical burial, with juveniles that are toddlers, younger, or older children. They were part of large assemblages. The ‘toys’, interred with terracotta dolls, accompanied an infant/toddler in a late Classical Athenian sarcophagus. Astragals have typically been interpreted as toys, gaming pieces; a suggestion recently supported by Barbara Carè (2017).77 They were not unilaterally associated with children, however; they are also included in adult burials, though less frequently. Adults, as well as children, played with balls in antiquity, as demonstrated by vase painting. The likelihood is, like many associated funerary objects, astragals’ and balls’ purposes and the meanings with which they were imbued were multiple, but they undoubtedly functioned, on occasion, as children’s toys. This is suggested by their prevalence in sub-­adult burials—­but not negated by their presence in adult graves—­and corroborated by literary sources (Pausanias Description of Greece 10.30.2 cited by Kurtz and Boardman 1971: 208–209; Carè 2017). Some of the objects associated with children had clear functionality; fittings including pins, buttons, clasps, and hooks were presumably part of the deceased’s clothing. Nails were probably components of footwear, as none were in coffin graves. Clay boots included in three burials could be both (theoretically) functional and symbolic; they were common in ‘maiden graves’, and scholarship has associated them with pre-­nuptial footwear and post-­mortem journeys to the underworld (Langdon 2008; Kurtz and Boardman 1971; Haentjens 2002). Boots were always in Geometric interments, in Athens and Attica, that were burials of older girls. Interestingly two of the three burials that contained boots were cremations;78 the outfits of the deceased would have been destroyed so the boots were demonstrably added to the interments later, their symbolic—­rather than pseudo-­practical—­value paramount.79 The fittings were included in all periods, in Athens and Attica, with juveniles of all ages in various burial types; at times they were the only ‘offering’ in the grave. Thirty-­five more decorative items of

76  One burial contains eighty-­one, but most include fewer than five. 77  Previous scholarship suggests astragaloi characterised an individual’s prenuptial status, but they were also associated with—­presumably married—­adults (Carè 2017: 183). 78  Two pairs of boots: Langdon (2008) Table 3.1, No. 18. One pair of boots: Langdon (2008) Table 3.1, No. 26. One boot: Langdon (2008) Table 3.1, No. 27. 79  See Gibson (2010) on cremations presenting a symbolic body.

184  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens adornment—­ pieces of jewellery80—were included in twenty-­ nine burials. Multiple pieces were interred thirteen times. They included gold, silver, bronze, glass, and electron items. Jewellery was uncommon generally in Archaic and Classical Attic burials (Kurtz and Boardman 1971: 61, 75, 101), so it is notable items were included in sub-­adult interments throughout the period under consideration. They were most popular in Geometric burials and some, including bands were only found therein, whilst bracelets were only included in pre-­ Classical interments. Other items were interred in all periods,81 and earrings were only included in burials post-­500 bce. Adornment items were associated with children in all age categories beyond perinates, in a range of burial types. They were concentrated in Athenian graves, possibly reflecting the concentration of wealth in the polis’ administrative centre. They were common in richer burials, though not part of the largest assemblage, but were also interred with few other items on occasion; the average assemblage size that incorporated jewellery was 10.4 objects. The range in assemblage sizes indicated items of jewellery—­ including pieces of the most precious materials82—were not always simplistic indexes of wealth and status relative to children.83 Precious-­material, especially gold and silver, items were most prevalent in well-­f urnished graves, however, and therefore were probably, in the first instance, associated with the wealth-­ascribed status of the deceased child’s family. Adornment items probably communicated the ascribed84 status of juveniles—­given their immaturity and consequent lack of personal social standing—­which demonstrates they were recognised members of their oikos that warranted its conferred status. Jewellery could also be used to project, especially gendered, identities for children that they had not yet achieved at the time when they died in childhood. This is suggested by the fact some rings were of sizes to indicate they were actually made for adult fingers, though they were interred with young juveniles.85 The fact some jewellery was children’s 80 Bands, beads, bracelets, earrings, rings, a chain, pendant, and necklace. Fragments of gold, bronze, and iron may also represent the same. 81  Archaic/Classical: n=9; Classical: n=8. 82  Some more mundane, functional items were also made from precious materials, probably for robustness: knives, a hammerhead, and a wedge were iron, and a tablet was lead. Iron knives are found in adult and child burials (Alexandridou 2016: 351): here they are concentrated in larger assemblages in Geometric inhumations and Classical cremations, all Athenian, that are interments of toddlers or younger/older children. 83  Scholarship (Morris 1987; 1986; Gray 1954) suggests a hierarchy in how highly prized metals were is demonstrated in Homer; gold was the most valuable, followed by silver, bronze, and ultimately iron. The value of silver may have been impacted by its availability, owing to the silver mines at Laurion in Attica. Silver items were more infrequently associated with children than gold, possibly suggesting an incompatibility between juvenile identities and the properties of silver, given the availability of the material in Attica. 84  Age, gender, and ethnicity are recognised facets of identity that impacted burial practices used in ancient Greece, but the part status played is less clear (Shepherd 2013: 553). 85  Diameter measurements were available for five finger-­rings: range 9–24mm. Finger diameter measurements for children aged 3–10 are 9–21mm (Hohendorff et al. 2010). Rings with diameters of 19mm and 24mm were interred with infants: they were clearly intended for older individuals, if not adults.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  185 personal possessions is indicated by one burial in which the child wore bracelets that were of a size consistent with the child’s wrist.86 Whether jewellery represented the lived or projected identities of children probably varied from circumstance to circumstance. Some objects more strongly suggest children’s identities could be projected in mortuary contexts, probably in line with adult gender norms.87 Strigils and tools,88 interred in Athenian burials and graves at Eleusis in the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods, were probably used to project boys’ identities into male adulthood.89 They were typically interred with infants, toddlers, younger children, and only a few older children; in short, many of the objects were probably not used functionally by the children in life: five infants/toddlers were offered strigils and a toddler/younger child was interred with a hammerhead and strigil. Plato (Laws I.643c) advised encouraging children to play with the tools of their future occupations from infancy. The inclusions of strigils and tools in bur­ ials with young juveniles evidence the phenomenon in practice. Likewise, the inclusion of pyxides, spools, mirrors, loom weights, and an ear pick; which—­ besides pyxides, offered across all contexts—­were mostly offered to infants and younger juveniles from the LG II period onwards in Athens and at Megara. The spools and loom weights were cloth-­working paraphernalia that were in­dis­pens­ able in women’s lives, but presumably of minimal practical use to the infants and toddlers they were interred with; they, along with pyxides and mirrors stereo­typ­ ic­al­ly associated with women, apparently projected adult female identities for girls that died in infancy.90 It is clear some objects offered to the youngest ju­ven­ iles were those typically associated with their elders, who attended the gymnasia and for whom spinning and weaving were key occupations. Their inclusion in child burials raises the possibility life courses and identities were extended and projected for juveniles in ancient Attica. Children were most often offered eating, drinking, or subsistence storage vessels; especially bowls and cups.91 Some of the vessels were miniature forms of standard types.92 Patterning in the inclusion of bowls and cups was consistent: 86  Two bracelets in the burial had diameters of 48mm, therefore circumferences of circa 150mm. Children aged around 7 have wrists of that size, based on current measurements used for children’s bangles: the interred was apparently a 6-­year-­old. 87  Beaumont (2012: 89) suggests infants were not associated with gender-­specific items because they were perceived as gender neutral before the age of 3. 88  Including knives, arrowheads, a wedge, and a hammerhead. 89  Langdon (2021) and Gallou (2010) have suggested tools in children’s graves were linked to work they did or helped with in life, but this is usually unlikely for juveniles prior to the younger child age. 90  Foxhall (2012: 197–199) suggests girls would not actively engage with spinning and weaving until they were around 11–12 years old, because of the physical demands of using equipment like looms. 91 Including: kotylai, kylixes and skyphoi. Lebetes, phialai, and phialidios are bowls used in ritual practices. 92 Miniatures are common in child burials but not exclusive to sub-­adult interments (Dubois 2012: 335).

186  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens they were concentrated in Athenian, rather than Attic, burials. They were included in burials of all periods, but the number of inclusions increased steadily from the Geometric to Archaic and more significantly into the Classical period. Kotylai were popular in the Archaic, skyphoi were the most more popular form in the Classical, and kylixes were concentrated in the Classical period at Eleusis. Cups and bowls were buried with sub-­adults of all ages but concentrated in pot burials of infants and toddlers. They were components of all-­sized assemblages. Other vessels for storing or dispensing consumables were also popular; jugs,93 lekanides, amphorae, kantharoi, plates, chytrae, pitchers, saltcellars, exaleiptra/kothon/ plemochoai, kyathoi, askoi, hydriai, flasks, pelikai, tankards, dinoi, a kados, mug, rhyton, and stamnos.94 They were usually standard sizes. Their distribution mirrored that of cups and bowls,95 and they were often interred alongside them. Children were also buried with oil and unguent containers, in particular lekythoi,96 typically used by adults.97 As in adult burials, lekythoi were the singularly most common offering for children by a significant margin; they were rare in the Geometric, more common in the Archaic, and especially popular in the Classical period. They were interred in Athenian and Attic burials and assemblages of most types, with children of all ages. They were used to manage and counteract the pollution of death, which explains their prevalence. That they were repurposed vessels originally produced for adult consumers is suggested by the fact adult-­ themed scenes were not uncommon in their iconography:98 one burial included a black-­figure lekythos depicting an orgy.99 The phenomenon has been more widely explored by Dipla and Paleothodoros (2012), who argue the practice of including such vases in sub-­adult burials referenced the pleasures of (adult) life children were deprived of by their early death; in short, it projected identities for juveniles. This is one possible explanation for the frequent inclusion of adult vases in child burials. Another is that ancient Greek society was not sufficiently concerned with children to furnish them with child-­specific vessels. This is implied by the clear tendency to associate children with adult vessel forms, full-­size or miniatures, in  burial contexts; there are very few child-­specific vase shapes.100 Such an interpretation is contradicted, however, by the prevalence of miniatures, which were 93 Including: oinochoai; olpes. 94  Glass: amphorae, amphoriskoi (n=3); flask (n=2); alabastron (n=1). 95  Exceptions: tankards (only Geometric); pitchers (only Geometric, Archaic); lekanides, chytrae, exaleiptra/kothon/plemochoai, hydriai (only Archaic, Classical); kantharoi (only Geometric, Classical); flasks, pelikai (only Classical); saltcellars (only fifth century); askoi, hydriai (only in Athens). 96  Black-­figure (n=179), red-­figure (n=23), and white-­ground (n=27). 97 Also, alabastra, amphoriskoi, aryballoi, krateriskoi, and lydians. 98  Grahn-­Wilder (2017: 27–28) notes that Plato argues stories with adult themes should be censored for children because juveniles may attempt to follow the inappropriate examples in them. 99  Tomb 1010 at the Kerameikos Station (Parlama and Stampolidis 2001). 100  Langdon (2008: 63) points out some items interred with children would have actually been impractical for children’s hands. They were not, seemingly, their possessions.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  187 essentially adult vases made child-­friendly, and of some arguably child-­specific types including choes and feeders. A range of burial types were considered appropriate for children in Attica throughout the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods (Figure 4.16). Children were inhumed and cremated, the former eleven times more frequently (Figure 4.17). Cremations were primary and secondary types. Whereas adult cremations were the norm in the ninth, fashionable in certain locations in the eighth, common in the seventh, and grew steadily less common from the sixth to fourth centuries, child cremations were most popular in the Archaic and especially the Classical periods. They were concentrated at Eleusis. The age of the deceased was consistently unrecorded or undiscernible. The norm was clearly to inhume children, though cremation was considered appropriate in certain circumstances. Most children were buried alone, with few exceptions: a Geometric pithos in the Agora101 contained two infants and two Archaic/Classical Megaran sarcophagi each contained two toddlers/younger children.102 Two Archaic Athenian pit burials contained a younger child and a perinate alongside an adult. A con­tem­por­ary Megaran sarcophagus was the interment of an infant with an adult.103 A later fifth-­century buried pyre at Eleusis had cremated the remains of an adult and an infant.104 A late fourth-­century tile grave in the Eridanos cemetery also contained an infant with an adult.105 An early fifth-­century Megaran sarcophagus contained three adults and an infant/toddler.106 Multiple burials incorporating children were atypical: the overall impression was that children were only interred with others when it was expedient, probably when multiple members of a family died concurrently; it was perhaps a more prevalent practice in some areas, for example at Megara. Lone children were most often interred in pots, including amphorae,107 pithoi, hydriai, chytrae, kadoi, jars, and a prochous. The burial type was proportionally most popular in the Archaic and significantly less so in the Classical period, with the Geometric standing as a mid-­point. Pots overwhelmingly contained perinates and infants, and occasionally infants/toddlers. Larnax burials, used from circa 550 bce, were common in the Classical period, especially within Athens. They were overwhelmingly used for infants/toddlers, and only occasionally for younger children. Alternatively, juveniles—­often older children—­were treated in ways that mimicked funerary practices associated with adults. Pit burials, used across the

101 G12:14. 102  AiGO records 2219 and 4473. 103  AiGO record 2220. 104  Mylonas (1975) Δβ2. 105  Vierneisel-­Schlörb (1966) hS9. 106  AiGO record 4473. 107  Amphorae were used for children’s inhumations and inurned cremations. Analysis of sixty-­ three Kerameikos amphorae dated throughout the period under consideration provides evidence of fourteen different types from various points of origin including Chios, Lesbos, and Samos being used. This indicates convenience was a primary motivator in selecting amphorae rather than ritual significance, and that the receptacles were probably repurposed storage vessels.

188  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Amphora

262 156

Larnax 105

Pit Burial 85

Pithos 39

Inurned Cremation

35

Tile Grave Sarcophagus

29

Pot Burial

26

Buried Cremation Pyre

18

Wooden Coffin

15

Rock-Cut

9

Cremation

9

Hydria

8

Cist

6

Chytra

5

Shaft Grave

4

Kados

3

Pipe Burial 2 Sarcophagus (w/Adults) 2 Pit Burial (w/Adults) 2 Jar 2 Tile Grave (w/Adults) 1 Sarcophagus (w/3 Adults) 1 Sarcophagus (Double) 1 Prochous 1 Pithos (Double) 1 Opferstelle 1 Buried Cremation Pyre (w/Adult) 1 Bienenkorb 1

Figure 4.16  Burial treatment of children, all periods. Source: the author.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  189 67; 8.07%

Inhumation Cremation

763; 91.93%

Figure 4.17  Burial treatment of children: inhumation-­cremation comparison, all periods. Source: the author.

period 900–323 bce in steady quantities, were associated with children of all ages, most often infants/toddlers and older. Tile graves were rare before the fifth century; they typically housed toddlers/younger children. Sarcophagi—­usually marble or stone—­were also more common post-­500 bce, though they were used throughout the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods. They were particularly popular at Megara. They were typically used for toddlers/younger children and older children. Rock-­cut tombs imitated sarcophagi, and they were used similarly, though across Athens and Attica more broadly with more consistent chrono­logic­al popularity. Simpler wooden coffins were used periodically 775–400 bce and were popular in the Kerameikos. They were used for younger/older children and, sometimes, probable toddlers. Cists and comparable shaft graves were used intermittently 750–300 bce across Athens and Attica. Shaft graves were concentrated in the sixth-­century Kerameikos. Cists and shaft graves contained juveniles of all ages, but most often younger/older children. A few other burial types were only incidentally associated with sub-­adults: pipe burials, a bienenkorb beehive burial, and an Opferstelle. They were all Classical and Athenian. They were not particularly rich burials, so their atypicality was not apparently motivated by the children’s particularly high social standing. Those interred were of all ages between toddler and older child. Opferstelle were popular for adults, in earlier periods,

190  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens and beehive burials were more common for adults, but the impetus behind those burials being used for children so rarely, and in the cases recorded, is not now discernible.108 The nonconforming practices were apparently used to mark out atypical children, distinguished as such by a combination of factors rela­tive to their identity; one of the factors may have been their age, but it was not with consistent application and it is highly unlikely it was the only factor at play. There was little correlation between the elaboration of the grave and the grave offering assemblage; pit burials were ostensibly one of the most economic forms of burial, but they often contained the most extensive and/or elaborate assemblages. The burial types used for sub-­adults were apparently primarily dictated by practicality, with elements of personal choice, localised fashion and availability of resources playing a part. The youngest—­and thereby smallest—­juveniles were typically interred in repurposed storage pots, whilst other practices were used for toddlers and older children were sometimes treated more like adults. Patterning was comparable across Athens and Attica, but some trends were more pronounced in the polis’ epicentre or at specific sites. The chronological distribution of child burials demonstrate—­similarly to vase painting analyses—­that children became steadily more visible in the burial record across the Geometric and Archaic to Classical periods (Figure 4.18). There were notable peaks in the number of burials around second half of the eighth, around the turn of the sixth, and in particular in the fifth century, most especially in the decades around 450 bce (Figure 4.19). The peaks are chronologically comparable with when there were also peaks in the average number of adults buried per annum (Whitley 2001: 185–187, especially Figure 8.10 citing Morris 1987: 73, especially Figure 23). Most sites, even small cemeteries, demonstrated multi-­period use; the most continuity was apparent between the Archaic and Classical periods, whilst Geometric burials were more often separate from later burials, and in smaller burial grounds. Burial types were generally consistent, with a few confined to specific periods; for example, larnakes and tile graves were only popular after the mid-­sixth and the turn of the fifth centuries respectively. Larnakes were not used for non-­juveniles, but tile graves were similarly unusual for adults before circa 500 bce. Patterning in how far cremation was used for adults and children was dissimilar in that it was popular for sub-­adults at different times. Some grave offerings were more common in certain periods; for example, jewellery was rarer after the Geometric period. The patterning is comparable to patterning demonstrated by adult burials and the popularity of vessels associated with eating and drinking apparent with children is also apparent in adult interments and may have been linked to libations offered at the graveside to appease the dead. Overall, peaks in how far children were integrated into the burial record his­tor­ic­al­ly coincide with the emergence of the Athenian polis, law code reforms by Draco and 108  Alexandridou (2016: 355) suggests atypical treatments resulted from non-­normative circumstances surrounding the death.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  191 Geometric Geometric/Archaic

87 10

Archaic

175

Archaic/Classical

191

Classical Geometric-Classical

364 9

Figure 4.18  Periodic distribution of child burials. Source: the author.

900 875 850 825 800 775 750 725 700 675 650 625 600 575 550 525 500 475 450 425 400 375 350 325 300

Figure 4.19  Chronological distribution of date attributions for child burials. Source: the author.

192  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Solon, social reforms by Ephialtes and Perikles, and conflicts between Athens and Persia then Sparta. In short, children—­like adults—­were buried formally with more frequency at times of socio-­political unrest.

4.3  Grave Stelai: Memorialising the Dead in Archaic and Classical Athens Attic graves were marked by carved stone—­usually marble—­stelai, kouroi/korai, vessels carved in-­the-­round, and chest-­like structures from the late seventh century, after the practice of using monumental pots ceased at the end of LG II (Richter 1961: 1; Sourvinou-­Inwood 1995: 142–143). Early stelai, few of which are known, demonstrate outstanding workmanship, and are often signed (Johansen 1951: 109). Their inscriptions emphasise values including valour and noble birth: scholars argue they marked elite graves and promoted the aristocratic values of Archaic society (Richter 1961; Sourvinou-­Inwood 1995).109 Classical stelai are of more variable quality. The origins of Archaic stelai are debated; some scholars contend styles evolved in Attica and dispersed outwards (Johansen 1951), whilst others argue for outside influences on Attic craftsmanship (Richter 1961). In either case, elongated shaft-­t ype gravestones found in Attica from the sixth century were paralleled elsewhere in the Greek world (Figure 4.20). Similar markers were used in Attica until the early fifth century; their use continued unabated into the fourth in the wider Greek world (Johansen 1951: 133). Most scholars agree that by the Classical period Athens was the epicentre of carved marble stelai production, and the influence of Attic styles extended across Greece to the Black Sea (Schmaltz 1983). Production of Attic marble stelai ceased in 480 and resumed in 430 bce: it has been suggested death was memorialised more privately and less ostentatiously with wooden grave markers and white-­ ground lekythoi during that hiatus (Barringer 2019). The cessation in production has been associated with democratic reform and sumptuary legislation (Shapiro 1991: 630–631; Oakley 2009: 217; Palagia 2016: 374). The renewal of production circa 430 bce has variously been associated with; depopulation resultant of the Peloponnesian Wars and plague outbreaks, the need to employ sculptors after the Parthenon was completed,110 and changing social attitudes to elitism (Fuchs 1961; Shapiro 1991; Ham 1999; Oakley 2003; 2009; 2013; cf. Robertson 1975; cf. Meyer 1993; Morris 1994). Some 109  Archaic stelai are also termed sēma and mnēma, suggesting preoccupation with preserving memories of the dead, which is reinforced by Archaic epitaphs (Sourvinou-­Inwood 1995: 140, 174–180). 110  Stylistic similarities are noted between 430–420 bce stelai and Parthenon sculptures (Clairmont 1993: 2).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  193

Figure 4.20  Stele (of Megakles) showing siblings: a male youth stands with his sister, a younger girl. Source: photo from the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art; Marble stele (grave marker) with a youth and a little girl, and a capital and finial in the form of a sphinx 11.185a–d, f, g, x, public domain.

scholars argue depopulation placed emphasis on the importance of the family, which was often commemorated iconographically from 430 bce (Whitley 2001). Whilst Archaic stelai arguably served to reinforce elite social values, a primary function of Classical stelai was to present an official face of mourning that advertised family unity (Shapiro 1991: 653). Attic stelai production was ultimately

194  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens curtailed by legal reform, when Demetrios of Phaleron’s sumptuary laws prohibited their use in 317 bce (Oakley 2003: 181).111 Fourth-­century stelai, at least, were mass-­produced; most would have been ‘off-­the-­shelf ’ purchases, with elements of personalisation—­specific details and bespoke epitaphs—­incorporated at additional expense (Johansen 1951; Clairmont 1993; Oakley 2013; Margariti 2016a).112 This resulted in a formulaic iconographic medium in which the same motif-­types were used to commemorate different circumstances (Burnett Grossman 2013: 29).113 For example, the well-­known stele of Ampharete, of a typical mother-­and-­baby type, commemorates a grandmother and grandchild according to the epitaph.114 There is significant debate about how much stelai cost in antiquity, and thereby how accessible they were to different social groups; the overall impression is that they commemorated individuals from relatively wealthy families. Archaic stelai were more likely the preserve of elites that wanted to advertise their status: the stelai were typically placed on prominent display, lining routeways through cemeteries.115 The varied quality of Classical examples suggests they catered to somewhat wider demographics (Burnett Grossman 2013: 13). Significant research has looked to establish the monetary value of stelai in antiquity, to understand their target markets. Heine Nielsen et al. (1989) and Graham Oliver (2000) suggest gravestones could be rela­tively inexpensive and therefore broadly accessible, but the consensus is that stelai were generally prestige items, though they were somewhat more affordable in the Classical, compared to in the Archaic, period (Bobou 2015; Barringer 2019).116 This is supported by the facts; extant quantities of stelai do not correlate with contemporary population sizes, or the number of buried individuals, and stelai often allude to privileged practices, including slave ownership and wearing jewellery. Wendy Closterman (2007) has highlighted that many stelai were displayed in elaborate periboloi within the Kerameikos, which were the preserve of wealthy families with elevated social standing. I suggest, on balance, that stelai are representative of patrons with more disposable income than consumers of painted pottery and those interred in basic, sparsely furnished, burials.

111 See Burnett Grossman (2013: 54–57) for detailed review of trends in stelai morphology 430–317 bce. 112  See Clairmont (1993: 66–72) on the ready-­made, specific commission debate. 113  Prevalent homogeneity across the medium suggests most were not specific commissions. 114  Athens, Kerameikos Museum: P695. 115 Closterman (2007: 633) notes many stelai have rough-­hewn reverses, demonstrating their public-­facing nature compared to in-­the-­round statuary. This further suggests the off-­the-­shelf nature of stelai, compared to more expensive and specifically commissioned statuary. 116  Some scholars suggest stelai could cost 20–30 drachmas and were therefore at a relatively ac­cess­ ible price point (Nielsen et al. 1989; Oliver 2000: 62–68). Other evidence suggests a more typical price range was 100–500, and up to 2,500 drachmas (Oliver 2000: 77–78).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  195 As Classical stelai started to illustrate a broader perspective on family life, a wider range of family members were depicted, including children.117 Juveniles were rarely shown on Archaic grave markers, but they proliferated on Classical tombstones; one-­third incorporated depictions of children, and some specifically commemorated them (Oakley 2003: 189–191).118 Between 430 and 317 bce in particular, sculptors producing grave markers took care to characterise children at various stages of development, from new-­born infancy to adolescence (Burnett Grossman 2007: 310). Carved marble stelai can fruitfully be used to investigate social ideals and family values, as well as the social identities of children—­of all ages—­in later Archaic and Classical Attica. Academic interest in carved marble stelai emerged in the late nineteenth century. Early scholarship, notably Alexander Conze’s substantial corpus published across four volumes from 1893 (also 1900; 1906; 1911–1922), typically focused upon cataloguing examples and describing their iconography.119 A key focus in Germanic, Anglo-, and Franco-­phone scholarship continued to be upon cataloguing, accompanied by detailed description but limited interpretive analysis.120 The seminal work on stelai, Clairmont’s Classical Attic Tombstones is, fundamentally, an extensive catalogue.121 Burnett Grossman catalogued stelai from the Athenian Agora in 2013 and gravestones held by the J. Paul Getty Villa in 2001, whilst Katia Margariti’s recent articles (2016a; 2018a) incorporate significant data sets, demonstrating the still-­current importance of cataloguing. Date attributions in early publications like Conze’s were broad and of limited utility. Consequently, there was a significant focus on stylistic analyses of tombstones, with a view towards ascertaining dates of production, in the earlier twentieth century (see Kjellberg 1926; Diepolder 1931). Research sought to establish a typology, secured to chronological markers; elements of it paralleled approaches Beazley contemporarily applied to investigating painted pottery.122 Date attributions have subsequently been made on the bases of close stylistic analyses and extensive inter-­stelai comparison, as per Clairmont. The availability of date attributions for stelai facilitates critique of stylistic variations in how children were characterised, with reflection upon how that was tied to chronological, besides other, factors. 117  Stelai concurrently started to demonstrate increasing naturalism. See Hirsch-­D yczek (1983) on naturalistic depictions of figures, including children, on tombstones. 118  Vlachou (2021: 479) notes children were often depicted on tombstones in Thessaly as well. In contrast, grave markers (for children and adults) were apparently very rare in the Peloponnese (Christesen 2018: 348). 119  For comprehensive review of approaches to investigating stelai, see Burnett Grossman (2013: 1–7); Clairmont (1993: 191–267). 120  For example, see Richter (1944); Hirsch-­D yczek (1983); Bergemann’s (1998) online database. 121  Published across seven volumes (1993). 122  Frel (1969) attempted to identify the hands of specific sculptors and associate them with distinct workshops; his approach received little endorsement.

196  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Classical, and later Hellenistic and Roman, stelai are the foci in most scholarship; products of Attica receive particular attention. Those temporal and geographic foci are equally apparent in considerations of stelai production (Schmaltz 1983), and iconography (Johansen 1951). Most scholarship comments only briefly on Archaic stelai, presumably because so few are extant and because of the production hiatus between Archaic and Classical examples.123 Gisela Richter (1944; 1961) and Sourvinou-­Inwood (1995) are amongst the few scholars that have evalu­ated Archaic grave markers. Richter produced an illustrated catalogue of stelai produced 610–500 bce, with detailed typological analysis of Attic examples. Sourvinou-­ Inwood, following Richter, analysed the typology of Archaic tombstones—­ evaluating their form and inscriptions, using an approach informed by literary analyses and archaeological investigation—­concluding they were used to advertise the aristocratic values of the deceased and their kin. Both scholars adopt a narrow focus on Archaic stelai, as most others concentrate upon Classical examples. There is a demonstrable need for diachronic evaluation of stelai, left unaddressed in existing scholarship. Grave stelai have been sporadically considered in combination with other evidence types from funerary contexts to consider social issues;124 usually only other types of iconography (Squire 2018: 522).125 They have been evaluated in conjunction with burials only incidentally: Barbara Vierneisel-­Schlörb (1964) produced a rare consideration of two Kerameikos child burials that also detailed their stelai. The full potential of analysing gravestones in their broader contexts of use in mortuary practices alongside burials and funerary iconography on white-­ground lekythoi remains untapped. John Oakley (2003; 2009; 2013) has considered all three evidence types but has provided largely descriptive syntheses before concluding that the primary impetus for depicting children more in Classical icon­og­ raphy was the increased emphasis placed on the importance of the family unit in the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War. Oakley makes insufficient distinction between why children were represented more often in iconography com­mem­or­ at­ing their lives, and contexts lamenting their deaths. It was different to commemorate children once they were no longer valuable for helping society to recover from instances of depopulation, and the fact Oakley’s approach focuses upon society’s impact on children, rather than the significance of children’s roles in society, results in that oversight. Holistic analyses of grave stelai and burials can reveal more about why children—­their lives and deaths—­were celebrated more at certain times in Attic history and can inform on how far children were perceived to have extended life courses in ancient Attica: the grave and stele of

123 Conze catalogued thirty-­ five Archaic, compared to 1,704 Classical and 414 Hellenistic/ Roman, stelai. 124  See Bergemann (1997). 125  For example, see Shapiro (1991) on iconography, including on stelai and funerary vases.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  197 Eupheros, recorded by Vierneisel-­Schlörb (1964), is a noteworthy case study in this respect (Gooch 2024). Most considerations of children represented on stelai have sought to establish age categorisation systems for juveniles, in line with work by Beaumont (1994a) on red-­figure, Sourvinou-­Inwood (1988) on black-­figure, and Houby-­Nielsen (1995) on burials. Systems have been developed by Clairmont, Burnett Grossman, and Bobou.126 Clairmont (1993) and Burnett Grossman (2007; 2013) have produced some of the key research on Attic funerary monuments; their focus upon Classical stelai. Bobou (2006; 2010; 2015; 2018) considers depictions of juveniles, but focuses upon Hellenistic statuary, and thereby the legacy of Classical traditions. Clairmont’s extensive corpus built upon Conze’s, with many additions and significantly more analytical synthesis, but his focus relative to juveniles is upon categorising their ages and he presents minimal interpretation of the significance of how children were characterised. Burnett Grossman has identified children characterised in four predominant attitudes on stelai: as lone children; children with slaves; children within family, including sibling, groups; and as child slaves.127 Her approach is largely descriptive, and does not apply her evaluation of stelai to attempts to understand the daily lives or social identities of children. Drawing upon the age categorisation systems and analyses of Clairmont, Burnett Grossman, and Bobou, with modification to facilitate inter-­evidence-­type ana­ lyses, produces an approach focused less upon description and more upon ana­ lysis, with potential to inform upon how children experienced life in Classical Attica, as well as how they were commemorated in death. Adopting a diachronic focus, which Clairmont, Burnett Grossman, and Bobou did not, facilitates understanding of changes in how children were characterised in funerary contexts, and perceived in society, across the sixth to fourth centuries. Margariti has produced significant recent research on stelai; in particular considering examples commemorating women and maidens (2017; 2018a; 2019a). She has investigated the relationships between juveniles and their mothers in Classical Greece, as evidenced by tombstones commemorating women who died in childbirth (2016a). She has also considered how ideas about premature death, and the especial tragedy of it, were communicated by iconography on grave markers (2017; 2018a; 2019b; 2018/2020). Like much scholarship on stelai, Margariti’s work is heavily descriptive, but her analyses supporting her conclusions that Classical tombstones emphasised the loving bonds between parents

126  Attempts to generate age categorisation systems often compare stelai to other media, including portrait sculpture (Bergemann 2006; 2007) and in-­the-­round statuary or figurines (Bobou 2015). 127  Other scholars sub-­categorise: Barson-­Walter (1988) argues for five categories, Hirsch-­D yczek (1983) 10. Dallas (1987) suggests female children and maidens are attributable to six age-­based cat­ egor­ies, indicated by their costumes. Sub-­categorisations are typically based upon making age-­based distinctions. Categorisation systems with fewer, but better-­defined and clearly demarcated categories are more useful when comparing stelai to other evidence types.

198  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens and their children—­which were generally unacknowledged in other, earlier and contemporary—­ iconographic media are particularly noteworthy, as are her deductions that deaths of older children preparing for marriage were considered particularly tragic. Both conclusions require further investigation to understand their effects on the social identities of children of different ages at different times. There is certainly a possibility to be explored that the bonds between children and their mothers were emphasised in some Classical iconography because women had more agency to commission iconography at certain times. The prospect that projecting an identity for a child was used to manage particularly tragic deaths of juveniles who were in preparation for life course transitions that would transform their social identities also warrants more detailed analysis. Moving beyond Margariti and other work on stelai, the potential of a diachronic focus and a holistic methodology needs to be tested. Here, I look to ascertain what stelai, besides other evidence types associated with funerary contexts, can suggest about children’s identities across the whole, and even possibly extended, life course throughout the Archaic and Classical periods in Attica.

4.4  Children on Grave Stelai Children were depicted on a few late sixth century and more numerous Classical grave markers; they were consistently represented between 430 and 317 bce.128 A  citizen child or children were characterised on around 26.68% of Classical ­stelai.129 Tombstones showing juveniles are of various types but are collectively referred to as stelai here, for ease of reference. Those produced in Attica, and thereby reflective of Athenian social norms, were distributed across the Greek world, demonstrating strong export markets.130 The children depicted on stelai can be categorised as perinates, infants, toddlers, and younger or older children, in accordance with the style of their clothing and their actions (Figure 4.21; Figure 4.22;  Figure 4.23;  Figure 4.24;  Figure 4.25;  Figure 4.26;  Figure 4.27; Figure 4.28). The gender of juveniles can often be ascertained on the basis of their styles of dress. The stelai illustrate up to four children; the juveniles are usually grouped together by sex, but a range of ages can be shown inter-­mingled.131 Analyses of the stelai showing citizen children inform upon the actions and placement of ju­ven­iles in scenes, and their ages, genders, and attributes associated with them. 128  Date attributions extend to 300 bce; 317 bce acknowledges Demetrios of Phaleron’s law. 129  The sample analysed comprises 415 Archaic and Classical stelai produced in Attica. Clairmont (1993) catalogued 2,691 stelai, 718 depicting non-­adults; many were slave children, and some stelai were of non-­Attic manufacture (both not analysed). 130  Findspots recorded: Athens (t=155), Attica (t=58), mainland Greece (t=16), the Greek islands (t=17), Turkey (n=2), Cyprus (n=1) and Egypt (n=1). Un-­provenanced: 165. Concentrations in Piraeus (t=44), the Athenian Dipylon Cemetery (n=10), and on Salamis (n=7). 131  Two juveniles (n=45); three (n=2); four (n=1).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  199

Figure 4.21  Stele showing a lone child: a younger girl is shown holding holding a bird and a possible rattle, a dog jumps towards her. Source: Hellenic National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Inv. Nr. NAM 748 © Hellenic Ministry of Culture/Hellenic Organization of Cultural Resources Development. Credit Line: Newcastle University School of History, Classics and Archaeology Research Committee Funding.

The nature of their interactions with other figures makes suggestions about the social roles and identities of children—­including those that died in childhood—­in Archaic and Classical Attic society. Stelai typology information and chronology attribution data suggest how, and how far, children’s identities changed over time, especially across the Classical period, in Attica. An infant and older girl are depicted on Archaic stelai. An adult, preserved only fragmentarily in profile, apparently gazes lovingly down at the infant on a stele that celebrates their strong bond, commemorating the death of one or both of them (Figure 4.29; Kaltsas 2002: 64). The girl accompanies her brother on his tombstone, dedicated ‘to dear Megakles’ by his parents (Figure 4.20). All the figures on the Archaic stelai are static, executed with little naturalism. The

200  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 4.22  Stele (of Kerkon) showing children: a toddler and a perinate are shown with a bird and a roller. Source: Hellenic National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Inv. Nr. NAM 914 © Hellenic Ministry of Culture/Hellenic Organization of Cultural Resources Development. Credit Line: Newcastle University School of History, Classics and Archaeology Research Committee Funding.

lack of naturalism probably resulted from the relative newness of the medium. It is remarkable that children are included in such early scenes, which apparently depicted anthropomorphic figurines only rarely—­usually adult males (Shapiro 1991: 654)—and typically focused upon the heroic dead, emphasising nobility and elite values. Both Archaic stelai illustrate family-­orientated scenes, demonstrating an often-­unrecognised importance and visibility of family life and—­at least elite—­children in Archaic Attic society.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  201

Figure 4.23  Stele (of Moschion) showing a lone child: a male toddler is shown with a bird and dog. Source: photo from the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu; Grave Stele of Moschion with his Dog 73.AA.117, public domain.

Figure 4.24  Stele (of Mynnia) showing a parent and children: a female toddler is shown with a woman and a maiden. Source: photo from the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu; Grave Stele of Mynnia 71.AA.121, public domain.

202  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 4.25  Stele showing a parent and children: a younger boy is shown holding out a bird towards a seated female figure, probably his mother, who cradles a perinate. Source: photo from the Walters Art Museum 23.176, public domain.

Children of all ages are depicted on Classical stelai (Figure 4.30).132 They are generally characterised as realistically juvenile,133 mobile figures. Younger children are depicted most frequently, and age category representation generally declines with immaturity, though perinates buck the trend because they are often used almost as attributes to define the status of adult females; they are not com­ mem­or­ated for their own sake. One would often assume the adult females are the children’s mothers, but a few notable examples confirm this was not always the

132  Toddlers: 2–3 years (n=2). Younger children: 3–4 (n=8), 3–5 (n=3), 4–6 (n=6), 5–6 (n=2), 5–7, 6–7 (n=1). Older children: 6–8 (n=2), 8–10 (n=1), 10 (n=3), 10–12 (n=6). 133  For the suggestion that children are not truly characterised as children on stelai, and are only commemorated as lost potential adults, see Schlegelmilch (2009).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  203

Figure 4.26  Stele (of Melisto) showing a lone child: a younger girl is shown with a bird, dog, and doll. Source: photo from the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge (MA); Grave Stele of a Young Girl, ‘Melisto’, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Alpheus Hyatt Puchasing and Gifts for Special Uses Fund in memory of Katherine Brewster Taylor, as a tribute to her many years at the Fogg Museum, Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College, 1961.86.

case: the famous stele of Ampharete134 shows a grandmother with her perinate grandchild and a stele in the National Museum in Athens shows a woman com­ mem­or­ated as a wet-­nurse.135 Perinates are overwhelmingly associated with 134  Athens, Kerameikos Museum: P695. 135  Stele of Phanion: Athens, National Archaeological Museum: 10506.

204  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 4.27  Stele (of Diphilos) showing a lone child: an older boy is shown with astragaloi, a bird, and a dog. Source: photo from the Musée Royal de Mariemont, Morlanwelz, © Domaine & Musée Royal de Mariemont.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  205

Figure 4.28  Stele showing a lone child; an older girl is shown with a bird, dog, and doll. Source: Hellenic National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Inv. Nr. NAM 776 © Hellenic Ministry of Culture/Hellenic Organization of Cultural Resources Development. Credit Line: Newcastle University School of History, Classics and Archaeology Research Committee Funding.

women; infants are included amongst various figural groups but are usually with women; toddlers are with women if they are not in juvenile-­only groups; younger and older children are depicted in various figural configurations. The youngest juveniles—­perinates and infants—­are mostly in parent(s) and child(ren) and family scenes, whilst toddlers, younger, and older children are often depicted in lone child tableaux and are shown in all scene types. Most stelai showing younger juveniles dated 400–350 bce, whilst depictions of toddlers were popular throughout the fourth century and younger/older children were characterised across the period when Classical stelai were produced. There was apparently a stronger

206  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 4.29  Stele (from Anavyssos) showing a parent and a child: an adult cradles the head of an infant. Source: Hellenic National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Inv. Nr. NAM 4472 © Hellenic Ministry of Culture/Hellenic Organization of Cultural Resources Development. Photographer: Kostas Xenikakis. Credit Line: Newcastle University School of History, Classics and Archaeology Research Committee Funding.

impetus to commemorate children of all ages in, especially the first half of, the fourth century. On grave stelai, as in no other iconographic type, male and female children were represented roughly equally: male children depicted 187 times, female children 161 times. This suggests stelai may have commemorated different facets of juvenile identities compared to other—­ including contemporary—­ iconographic evidence types.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  207

Older Child

124

Younger Child

Toddler

Infant

Perinate

219

33

23

56

Figure 4.30  Ages of children on stelai. Source: the author.

Stelai associate children with various attributes that were apparently signifiers of them according to other media: rollers/toy carts, balls, dolls, astragaloi, and choes (Figure 4.31). Younger/older girls were also depicted with rattles, only recorded incidentally and usually with younger juveniles in other iconography. Toys were the objects most frequently associated with children, and they are exclusively associated with juvenile figures on stelai. Children are generally associated with more attributes in scenes that show them alone on stelai, whilst parent(s) and child(ren) and sibling scenes associate them with fewer items, and extended family tableaux barely any. Astragaloi and choes are only depicted in lone child scenes (for example, see  Figure 4.27), dolls and rollers are excluded from family scenes, and other toys are occasionally included in all scene types but remain most prevalent on stelai showing children alone. Rollers are the most common inclusion, depicted consistently 430–300 bce, whilst balls were rare before 400 bce, rattles were only depicted 400–350 bce, astragaloi and choes only 400–375 bce, and dolls were concentrated 430–330 bce. Some toys are linked more decisively to certain age categories: rollers—­typically walking aids rather than toy carts—­are predominantly with toddlers because they signify their emergent mobility. They are almost always with boys, and are typically part of ‘bird, dog, roller’ configurations. Boys of all ages play with astragaloi. Dolls, choes, and rattles are exclusively associated with girls; dolls with younger children, choes with girls aged over 4, and rattles with younger and older females. Dolls are often the only attribute. Balls were appropriate for boys and girls, especially those beyond infancy. Overall, a primary concern of iconography on stelai—­especially Classical stelai used to mark juvenile graves—­was commemorating children’s play;

Lone Child Scenes

Scenes with Siblings

Scenes with Parent(s)

Family Scenes

Vase 1 Strigil 3 Stick 1 Step 1 Shield 1 Sash 1 Sakkos 1 1 Roller

20 2 2

Rattle 2 1 Rabbit 1 2 Lekythos

1

Krotala 1 Flower 1 Doll

6

2

Dog Chous

73

6

2

2

Chest 3 2 3 1 Bird Cage 1 Bird

94 11 3

Ball

13

42

14

7 1

Bag 1 1 Astragaloi

2

Aryballos 2 1

Figure 4.31  Attributes on stelai depicting children.136 Source: the author.

136

136­  Attributes in scenes, not associated with children: chair (n=202), stool (n=113), lance (n=7), kalathos (n=5), sword (n=5), horse (n=4), mirror (n=2), helmet (n=2), knife (n=2), wool (n=2), ­petasos/pilos (n=2), basket (n=1), bow (n=1), castanets (n=1), cat (n=1), distaff (n=1), fruit (n=1), hoop (n=1), lagōbolon (n=1), loutrophoros (n=1), pillar (n=1), quiver (n=1), rock (n=1), shoe (n=1), spear (n=1), tomb (n=1)

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  209

Figure 4.32  Stele showing a family: an infant is held on the lap of a woman seated to the right, whilst an older girl stands with a seated female to the left. A maiden and another female stand between the seated figures. Source: Hellenic National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Inv. Nr. NAM 1023 © Hellenic Ministry of Culture/Hellenic Organization of Cultural Resources Development. Credit Line: Newcastle University School of History, Classics and Archaeology Research Committee Funding.

certain objects were considered more appropriate for certain ages and sexes, but toys were generally important for all children old enough to engage with them. They were of key import for defining children’s distinctly juvenile iden­ tities, because they are rarely—­if at all—­associated with adults in stelai iconography. Strong associations are drawn between children and birds and dogs, as well as other animals including rabbits on stelai (for example, see Figure 4.33).137 They are the only attributes associated with children more than toys, and birds and dogs especially are often in scenes in which rollers also appear. Animals are concentrated in lone child scenes, suggesting birds and dogs especially were 137  A cat is shown once, but indirectly associated with the juvenile. Four horses are used as space and theme signifiers, characterising scenes as departure-­type tableaux. Bird cages are depicted, empty, three times; on one occasion an infant reaches towards the bird and cage.

210  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 4.33  Stele (of Simiche) showing parents and children: in the centre, a male toddler holds a rabbit and a dog jumps towards a roller beside him. Source: photo from Ephorate of Antiquities of Piraeus and Islands—­Archaeological Museum of Piraeus, Athens 4535 © courtesy of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture.

children’s playmates or guardians, which were more needed when children lacked the company of family members.138 Animals were associated with juveniles of all ages: birds rarely with perinates and infants, infrequently with toddlers, more often with older and most often with younger children; dogs and rabbits were only associated with juveniles beyond infancy, sometimes with toddlers and equally often with younger and older children. Rabbits and dogs were more often with boys, whilst birds were similarly associated with male and female children. Rabbits were only depicted 420–375 bce, usually alongside other animals. Dogs and birds were consistently illustrated 420–300 bce, and a bird was shown on one stele produced 450–430 bce.139 Birds are held by children or, at times, offered 138  Lone child: bird (n=94), dog (n=73), rabbit (n=1). Child with slave: bird (n=5), dog (n=4). Siblings: bird (n=14). Parent(s) and child(ren): bird (t=42), dog (t=7), rabbit (t=2). Family: bird (n=15), dog (n=3). 139  Athens, National Archaeological Museum: 778.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  211

Figure 4.34  Stele showing a lone child: an older boy presents a bird to a dog, he also holds a lekythos and a strigil. Source: drawing from Conze 1900 Plate CLXXXIX, public domain.

to them by older figures. Children often hold birds peculiarly: they proffer them to dogs in an almost taunting gesture; the motif is especially prevalent in lone child scenes (Figure 4.34).140 Given significant efforts were made to characterise children and animals naturalistically, and children are probably not com­mem­or­ ated in the act of feeding birds to dogs, bird motifs are often symbolic rather than representative. Birds were not pre-­eminent companions of children elsewhere in iconography and were depicted on grave markers from the seventh century (Woysch-­Méautis 1982: 39). Therefore, I suggest birds are representative of the leaving-­taking that took place when the deceased passed away;141 small birds could be iconographic goodbyes, iterations of the dexiōsis between children and

140  An almost exclusively Attic motif (Woysch-­Méautis 1982: 40). Pevnick (2014: 159) suggests the motif could represent canine training. 141  Oakley (2003: 180) suggests birds could be symbolic on stelai; he explored that they could travel beyond death with children. Birds were likened to the souls of the dead in Plato and Euripides and the soul could take avian form in Homer (Woysch-­Méautis 1982: 43).

212  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 4.35  Stele (of Archestrate) showing a parent and a child: a younger boy presents a bird to a seated woman, probably his mother; she reaches into a box proffered by a serving maid. Source: Hellenic National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Inv. Nr. NAM 722 © Hellenic Ministry of Culture/Hellenic Organization of Cultural Resources Development. Photographer: Michalis Zorias. Credit Line: Newcastle University School of History, Classics and Archaeology Research Committee Funding.

their mammalian playmates and family members (Figure 4.35),142 or symbolic departures of the deceased’s soul.143 Larger birds, depicted less frequently, were more likely pets, like dogs and rabbits.144 Dogs shown with children are typically 142  Räuchle (2017: 251) suggests the dexiōsis expressed love and duty in the relationship between children and their parents. 143  See Davies (1985) and Pemberton (1989) on the significance of handshakes. They possibly constituted farewell gestures or represented post-­mortem reunions (Garland 2001: 68; Oakley 2003: 170; 2009: 212). 144 Pet birds are well attested in Greek sources (Gosling 1935; Lazenby 1949; Pollard 1977; Arnott 2007).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  213 small, Maltese terrier-­type breeds.145 That reflects a conscious choice, to associate children with more manageable, smaller animals, that were realistically their pets: dogs may have been given to children to teach them responsibility. When dogs are juxtaposed with emblematic birds; they may function as symbolic ­guardians, but canines were fundamentally frequent playmates of children in ancient Attica, as attested by red-­figure iconography.146 The characterisation of  some animals suggests grave stelai scenes communicated multi-­layered iconographic messages but practically, associations between children, birds, dogs, and rabbits suggest juveniles spent time outdoors, where they played with animal companions. Some attributes incidentally linked to children render their status ambiguous, demanding further investigation: chests, aryballoi, shields, and strigils held by some juveniles may suggest they were slave, not citizen, children because they are attributes usually associated with non-­juvenile and servile figures. When the children holding such objects are depicted alone, categorising them as citizen children is more secure because it is highly unlikely non-­citizen children would be specifically commemorated in a relatively expensive medium. In addition, the children’s appearances do not conform to norms for slaves; they do not have short hair or adopt subordinate poses. Aryballoi, used as part of the athlete’s bundle to characterise youths and younger men as youthful athletes, are proffered to boys by accompanying slaves on occasion; they possibly signify the potential, unfulfilled, future identities of the deceased children (Figure 4.36). Boys could begin engaging in athletics aged around 5 to 7, but did not enter formal athletics training until puberty and were not usually characterised as athletes in icon­og­ raphy until they were youths. Thus, attributes associated with some children on stelai imply that the identities of juveniles that died in certain circumstances could be projected further along a normative life course than the stage the child had reached in an embodied sense when they died. Some attributes shown incidentally with children on stelai are not directly associated with them and instead serve to make statements about other figures in the scene or to contextualise the iconography. Sticks—­particularly walking stick-­type staffs—­always associated with adult males probably functioned as signifiers of citizen status. Other attributes including lances, swords, helmets, a  petasos, pilos, lagōbolon, spear, bow, and quiver commemorate adult males in their prime. Wool, a distaff, and loutrophoros commemorate idealised citizen wives. Attributes including

145  Dogs with non-­juveniles are usually larger breeds, for example hunters’ hounds: adults are rarely shown with smaller, household-­pet-­type breeds though they are known to have been popular domestic pets in Athens (Johnson 1919; Gosling 1935: 110; Lazenby 1949: 245; Vermeule 1972: 57; Trantalidou 2016: 107–108). 146  Oakley (2009: 218) argues dogs were children’s companions from life or deputies for carers separated from children by death.

214  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 4.36  Stele (of Deinias) showing a child with a slave: a younger boy holds a bird and places his hand on the head of a miniaturised slave boy, who holds an aryballos and a strigil. Source: drawing from Conze 1900 Plate CCVII, public domain.

chairs and stools—­the most common inclusions in stelai icon­og­raphy147—primarily signify space and context. Mirrors, kalathoi, hanging sashes and a sakkos signify female—­probably interior—­space, whilst a rock, pillar, and step—­upon which one child rests148—signify general outdoor space; more specifically, a tomb denotes a cemetery context. Such attributes suggest that if scene settings were

147  Chairs—­all seats, both Clairmont’s (1993: 35) klismoi and diphroi—­are in 48.67% of scenes. Stools—­footrests—­are in 27.23% of scenes. 148  Athens, National Archaeological Museum: 869. The boy has been classified as a servant-­boy: I  avoid that interpretation in light of his relaxed stance and apparently close relationship with the youth and older man, and because he is not associated with any typically servile attributes. He is named in the epitaph. See Athens, Epigraphic Museum (9321) for a similar configuration, categorised as ‘siblings’ because the older male is a young man rather than a bearded father figure.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  215 corporeal,149 most scenes on stelai are set within domestic spaces, but some illustrate the outdoors and activity at the tomb. The increase in attributes depicted on Classical, compared to on Archaic, stelai probably resulted from later sculptors’ efforts to render their compositions increasingly naturalistic. Attributes directly associated with children most consistently are toys and animal companions, evidencing the existence of material cultures of children and childhood between 430 and 300 bce. They emphasise the carefree nature of childhood for the children commemorated, who were rela­ tively elite juveniles, given the value of stelai compared to other artistic media. Children are most frequently associated with attributes on stelai that specifically commemorated them. There is a relative absence of attributes directly associated with children in small—­parent(s) and child(ren) scenes—­and extended family scenes, which demonstrates that the primary function of children in family tableaux was to act almost as attributes themselves; to proclaim facets of other figures’ identities and to make statements about the importance of family unity, kinship status, and the perpetuation of Archaic and Classical Attic families and society. Children were integrated into various figural configurations on stelai (Figure 4.37; Figure 4.38). They were commemorated alone but are also almost crammed into scenes with up to six other figures (Figure 4.39). Juveniles were most frequently characterised in family scenes; with one parent,150 both parents and

Lone Child Child with Slave

114 5

Siblings

26

Child with Parent Children with Parent

70 11

Child with Parents Children with Parents

58 18

Family

114

Figure 4.37  Scene types including children on stelai. Source: the author.

149  The physical setting of most scenes is indistinct. 150  Parent(s) and child(ren) are standardisations for ease of reference; some scenes depicted nurses or grandparents, as attested by the Ampharete stele epitaph. See Kosmopoulou (2001).

216  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Child Child(ren) only

114

With females only

77

With males only

8 13

4

31

With males and females With females and maidens

Children

82

19

5

With females and slaves

18

1

With males and youths 1 With males and slaves 1 With males, females and youths 1 With males, females and maidens 3 2 With males, females and slaves With youths only

14

1

6

With maidens

6

With slaves only

5

With indeterminate male/female 1 With indeterminate males/females 2

Figure 4.38  Figural groups including children on stelai. Source: the author.

amongst extended family groups,151 with probable grandparents, other relatives, and slaves. Children were also shown amongst siblings—­typically other children, maidens and youths, or young men and women—­from circa 530 bce (for ex­ample, see Figure 4.40). Children were depicted alone or with only a subservient figure 119 times. Slaves stand on the periphery of scenes or are superimposed over the antae of stelai (Figure 4.36). Most scene types and figural configurations were illustrated throughout 430–300 bce, with increased popularity in the fourth century. Some concentration of parent(s) and child(ren) and family scenes is notable in scenes dated circa 430–390 bce, and early sibling and parent(s) and child(ren) scenes were dated circa 530 bce. Stelai showing lone children with slaves were only produced 375–300 bce, possibly denoting an elevation of juvenile status around the mid-­ fourth century. Only younger and older children, equally male and female, were shown with personal slaves and it is those age categories that are most often depicted in all scene types, in line with the overall totals (Figure 4.30). Perinates and infants were not commemorated by their own stelai, but they were often shown in family scenes, whilst toddlers were more popular in sibling scenes. Male and female children were characterised in roughly equal proportions, except on 151  Extended family scenes are distinguished from parent(s) and child(ren)—small family—­tableaux by an increase in the number of adults depicted, or ambiguity in the figural types represented.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  217

Figure 4.39  Stele (of Phainippe) showing a family: a younger child stands under the handshake and a serving maid leans around the frame (right). Source: drawing from Conze 1900 Plate LXXXIX, public domain.

lone child stelai; on them boys outnumber girls almost 2:1. Children—­marginally more females, with age categories representation conforming to overall patterning (Figure 4.30)—are part of mixed sex groups 125 times. When children are shown with figures of only one sex, they are most often with women rather than men. Male children were more often amongst male-­only groups; female children more often amongst female-­only groups. Stelai are unusual though, because they repeatedly depict female children with only male relatives;152 most juveniles shown with men are younger or older children, though some are infants and toddlers. Perinates are not characterised in male-­only scenes, though they are the

152  Affection between fathers and children was rarely evident in Greek art, but it is represented on stelai (t=17, parent(s) and child(ren) where the parent is male), including on the stele of Xanthippos in the British Museum (1805,0703.183), showing him with his two female children (Oakley 2009: 223).

218  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 4.40  Stele (of Mnesegora) showing siblings: a male toddler is shown with a maiden, probably his older sister, and a bird. Source: Hellenic National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Inv. Nr. NAM 3845 © Hellenic Ministry of Culture/Hellenic Organization of Cultural Resources Development. Photographer: Klaus Valtin von Eickstedt. Credit Line: Newcastle University School of History, Classics and Archaeology Research Committee Funding.

best-­represented age category, after younger children, in female-­only scenes. Older children and infants are also well represented with women, whilst toddlers are shown only infrequently. Ultimately, scene type proportions, itemised in accordance with figures and relationships illustrated, establish the importance of family and the important roles children played in defining the idealised family. They demonstrate the variety of family structures evident and prized in Archaic

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  219 and Classical Attica; each was rendered, to accentuate the ties of affection and shared kinship that bound families together. The fact so many figures are squeezed into some compositions stresses the importance of whole families. The fact a significant proportion of stelai specifically commemorated juveniles—­far more frequently males—­suggests some of children’s importance was concerned with advertising their family’s status, even in the face of death, which prevented them from fulfilling their ultimate roles; maturing and having their own children to perpetuate their lineage and society. Five stelai types were decorated with scenes showing juveniles: standard stelai were produced in the Archaic period and then consistently 430–300 bce, whilst lekythoi were only produced from 420 bce, loutrophoroi153 only 400–350 bce, Panathenaic amphorae154 400–375 bce, and in-­the-­round statues 350–300 bce (Figure 4.41). Most markers showing children are simpler naiskos-type stelai; they are relatively small, with scenes carved in relief within architectural frames. All the lone child and child with slave scenes are on naiskos stelai, as are all but two of the sibling scenes. Most illustrate small and extended family tableaux. Iconography on naiskos stelai illustrate male and female children roughly equally, proportionally representing age categories as in the overall sample (Figure 4.30). Male and female children are also depicted comparably on lekythoi and loutrophoroi; only girls are depicted on amphorae and in statues, but the sample sizes

Stele

334

Lekythos

71

Loutrophoros

7

Panathenaic Amphora

2

Statues 1

Figure 4.41  Stelai types with iconography including children. Source: the author.

153  Often used by brides in nuptial preparations, but also had generalised uses in funerary ­contexts; typically associated with the unmarried dead. Examples catalogued commemorated males and females. 154  Archaeological Museum of Marathon: BE30 and BE31, which were probably specific commissions because both commemorate the same family and were products of the same sculptor.

220  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens are too small to make assertions about the status of female children on that basis. Patterning in age category representation is comparable across different stelai types, whilst the prevalence of family scenes is consistent. The shape of the marker apparently played a part in dictating the elaboration of the iconography: only one scene on a loutrophoros is not an extended family scene and family scenes are proportionately better represented on lekythoi, probably because vessels were carved in-­the-­round, providing more extensive canvases, which facilitate the inclusion of more figures. Ultimately, the type of marker used was apparently dictated by when the marker was produced, and the amount invested. The ­iconography could be tailored to suit the specific canvas, but overall trends were generally consistent across stelai types in terms of how juveniles were represented, excepting the phenomenon that only naiskos-type stelai commemorated juveniles for their own sakes. Like all stelai with figural scenes, markers with iconography incorporating children were produced briefly in the Archaic period before being used consistently circa 430 to 317 bce. Stelai depicting children were particularly popular in the early to mid-­fourth century, when Athenian society was regaining stability in the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War and political strife including the 411/410 bce oligarchic coup and the Regime of the Thirty Tyrants (Figure 4.42; Figure 4.43). Around the point of the peak in the popularity of stelai decorated with depictions

c.530

2

450–430

1

430–420

5

430–400

1

425–400

1

c.420

2

420–410

1

420–400

28

c.400 400–390

3 1

400–375

103

375–350

176

c.370

2

370–360

1

c.360

2

c.350

5

350–325

3

350–300 c.340 400–300 430–300

68 1 3 7

Figure 4.42  Date attributions for stelai with iconography including children. Source: the author.

540 532 524 516 508 500 492 484 476 468 460 452 444 436 428 420 412 404 396 388 380 372 364 356 348 340 332 324 316 308 300

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  221

Figure 4.43  Chronological distribution of date attributions for stelai with iconography including children. Source: the author.

of children, circa 375 bce, Athens was the most powerful polis in the Greek world. Ultimately, patterning in stelai use relative to the historical context upholds that stelai were used to assert identities, to make statements about, and advertise, the status of individuals and families in Athenian society. Statements about the significance of certain demographics—­ notably children—­ were made to other Athenians and to other Greeks because grave markers with Attic motifs were widely exported across the Greek world in the Classical period.

4.5  White-Ground Pottery The white-­ground technique for decorating painted pottery was developed from the late sixth century. To produce it, a white-­wash was applied to the vase surface and the scene was superimposed, originally in black-­figure and then, in the fifth century, in a polychrome, outline version of red-­figure (Williams and Burn 1991: 124). Later polychrome scenes are amongst the most life-­like ancient Athenian iconography; they often illustrate expressions of emotion and affection that are otherwise rare in painted pottery iconography (Fairbanks 1907: 5; Blundell 2011: 35). White-­ ground vases were initially manufactured across Greece, but their ­production concentrated in Athens in the mid-­fifth century (Williams and Burn 1991: 125). Various shapes were produced, including alabastra, amphorae, bobbins, head vases, hydriai, kalathoi, kalpes, kraters, kyathoi, mastoi, oinochoai,

222  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens olpes, plaques, plates, pyxides, and skyphoi.155 The fragility of white-­ground dec­­ or­ation implies vessels decorated in the style were used little in day-­to-­day life: their use was predominantly, and over time became exclusively, funerary (Beazley 1938: 6). Lekythoi—­the production of which was, apparently, an exclusively Athenian phenomenon that primarily supplied target markets in Attica and neighbouring Eretria (Mertens 1977: 94)—were almost exclusively used in funerary contexts, and they were one of few shapes decorated in the white-­ground style in the later fifth century (Beazley 1938: 5; Beaumont 2012: 102–103). Particularly after 460 bce, under the Achilles Painter’s influence, their iconography almost unilaterally illustrated tableaux with underlying funerary themes of grief, loss, and remembrance (Garland 2001: 108).156 They provide commentary on death, funerals, mourning, and ideas about the afterlife in Attica. Most white-­ground lekythoi in the red-­figure outline polychrome style, with funerary scenes, were cylinder or shoulder types produced between 450 and 430 bce. It is unlikely they continued to be used beyond the turn of the fourth century (Fairbanks 1907: 5; Beazley 1938: 5). White-­ground vases are found in significantly fewer graves than their blackand red-­figure counterparts, leading scholars to suggest they were comparatively expensive. They were therefore, arguably, a status symbol. Other scholars have suggested white-­ground vessels were only associated with the ‘special dead’; those that died in exceptional circumstances or were marked out by certain facets of their identity, possibly including their age and/or gender (Pipili 2009). Those suggestions are difficult to substantiate on current evidence, however, because there are not clear associations between the figures depicted in scenes on lekythoi and the individuals they were interred with. For example, those buried with children are not usually adorned with iconography illustrating juveniles: an older boy, Eupheros,157 buried in the Eridanos Cemetery in Athens was accompanied by a lekythos showing a girl running, and examples interred with juveniles in the Kerameikos also have generic iconography (Crelier 2008: 150–152). The lack of correlation between the depicted and the deceased could reflect that it is mourners that are shown or be a consequence of the fact there was insufficient time between death and burial to allow for production of personalised commissions (Beazley 1938: 8). Lekythoi offered at the tomb later had more potential for specificity, but the lack of precise provenance information for lekythoi not found in graves renders isolating examples that were offered at tombs highly problematic. Ultimately, the most secure interpretation is that white-­ground lekythoi were more expensive versions of contemporary red- and black-­figure wares, but their scenes were not usually tailored to the deceased they accompanied.

155  See Mertens (1977) for an extensive catalogue. 156  Around 80% of fifth-­century lekythoi illustrate tomb visit scenes (Oakley 2009: 208). 157  hS202 (Von Freytag 1974).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  223 Children were not common figures in white-­ground iconography, which is all the more notable given early scenes, usually on pyxides, were often domestic-­themed (Mertens 1977: 136–141).158 Juveniles were only represented on Attic white-­ground lekythoi, produced in the fifth century, and were best represented during the period when Athens was engaged in the Peloponnesian War. Children can be depicted as both the deceased—­the foci of scenes—­and mourners, shown honouring others, presumably family members, that had died (Oakley 2003: 167). Even when they are the deceased, children can be characterised in still-­animate attitudes, possibly to project a less brutal image of juvenile death (Beaumont 2012: 202; compare Figure 4.44).159 Some lekythoi memorialise the pain losing a child caused in fifth-­ century Attica; some scenes show grief-­stricken parents watching their children journey to the underworld and others show parents visiting their children’s tombs. The parents enact their grief as per social norms illustrated in other funerary iconography; mothers usually grieve more openly, whilst fathers—­as stereotypical self-­possessed male citizens—­are more restrained (Oakley 2003: 173–174). When children are characterised as mourners they are involved in funerary preparations and burial rites, bidding farewell to the dead or visiting the tomb to honour them, usually in the company of women. The scenes in which children are the foci of the iconography demonstrate that juvenile deaths could warrant significant commemoration in the fifth century. The scenes in which children are mourners demonstrate that juveniles had significant social roles in funerary rituals in Classical Attica. Overall, white-­ground depictions of juveniles, which overwhelmingly situate them in funerary contexts, are generally poignant and moving illustrations of children that evidence levels of detail not often found in other, contemporary, iconographic media (Garland 2001: 86). White-­ground vases have typically been treated similarly to, but in isolation from, black- and red-­figure wares. They are often catalogued alongside con­tem­por­ary red-­figure vessels, but infrequently analysed with them in thematic investigations (Williams and Burn 1991; Moore 1997; Madigan 2008). Focused considerations of white-­ground have been produced since the early twentieth century; many focus upon cataloguing and are predominantly descriptive (Fairbanks 1907; Beazley 1938; Kurtz 1975; Mertens 1977). Scholarship evaluating white-­ground vases in conjunction with other evidence has typically looked to understand funerary practices and attitudes to death in ancient Greece (Vermeule 1979; Arrington 2014). In over-­arching considerations of Greek death, the vases are often employed as

158  Common scene types: mistresses and maids, protheses, tomb visits, and mythological tableaux. Oakley (2003: 167) has concluded only 2% of 2,000 white-­ground scenes incorporated children. 159  Oakley (2013: 162) suggests the child is 10 years old, but his mother carries him easily suggesting he is a younger child.

224  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 4.44  White-­ground lekythos showing a funerary scene: a woman carries a younger child’s corpse. Source: photo from the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Antikensammlung/Johannes Laurentius, CC BY-­S A 4.0, inventory number F 2447.

illustrative examples that warrant little more than detailed description of their iconography (Kurtz and Boardman 1971; Garland 2001). John Oakley produced the seminal work on white-­ground vases in 2004; his close analysis of Attic lekythoi constitutes the major academic consideration of them. He has also, more briefly, considered white-­ground in conjunction with other evidence types (2008), including to investigate children (2003; 2009; 2013). Oakley argues children were only represented in white-­ground, on lekythoi, in the fifth century because there was a greater impetus to mourn children then, when their lost potential for perpetuating society was particularly tragic because

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  225 depopulation was prevalent (2009: 226).160 He suggests children were depicted on few vessels because illustrating juveniles in white-­ground was something that only appealed to some consumers, so the fact of them being depicted more often, but still in only a small sample of cases, in the fifth century was not resultant of children being perceived differently in society (2003: 213). Oakley’s assertion warrants critical evaluation, because the fact children were at first excluded from scenes, of types that would frequently incorporate juveniles, and then were in­corp­or­ated into a number of scene types, including some which specifically commemorated children, does suggest a change in how the identity of the child was conceptualised. Marie-­Claire Crelier (2008) has argued that children’s status did change remarkably in the fifth century, when they were characterised in white-­ground. Further critical analysis of Oakley’s statements is best achieved through analysing white-­ground depictions of children contextually; investigating them in conjunction with other iconography that illustrated children ­contemporarily and with burials. This multi-­proxy approach facilitates a more comprehensive consideration of whether children were perceived differently in society when they were depicted more frequently in iconography produced in line with that society’s norms. White-­ground vases—­almost exclusively lekythoi—­are usually mentioned fleetingly in investigations of children and childhood; sources typically describe their iconography in detail but provide little synthesis or detailed analysis of  their significance (Golden 1990; Sommer and Sommer 2015). Beaumont, in  her sem­inal volume on childhood in ancient Athens, suggests children were  included in four predominant scene types on white-­ground lekythoi (2012: 200). She notes that only male children are depicted as the deceased, and queries the phe­nom­enon given children of both genders were equally commemorated on stelai. The patterning is consistent with the fact male children were specifically com­mem­or­ated on lone child stelai much more frequently than females. Marie-Claire Crelier (2008) analyses white-­ground lekythoi alongside red-­figure vases in her consideration of children in fifth-­century Athens. Her German monograph constitutes the pre-eminent consideration of children presented, in part, as a consideration of white-­ground pottery.161 She identifies three white-­ground motif-­types that incorporated children and concludes children were usually characterised as lively figures in fifth-­century iconography, including white-­ground, to project an ideal. She remarks upon different treatment of very young children, compared to others, in white-­ground in particular. This warrants further investigation and I suggest Crelier’s classifications can be expanded and analysed in more detail, 160  Griffiths (2020: 251) has recently demonstrated that much of the value of children in Classical Greek tragedy was in their potential. 161  Crelier catalogued forty-­six white-­ground lekythoi showing children, maidens, and youths.

226  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens including to investigate objects associated with children, of all ages, and their relationships with others, as indicated by figures they were typically shown with. Ultimately, depictions of children in white-­ground iconography warrant more detailed analysis than they have yet merited, particularly in Anglophone scholarship, because they constitute some of the most naturalistic representations of juveniles from ancient Attica, and their production is a concisely dated, his­tor­ic­ al­ly contextualised phenomenon.

4.6  Children on White-Ground Pottery Children were only illustrated in white-­ground in the fifth century, on around 1.83% of white-­ground pottery.162 Juveniles depicted in white-­ground can typ­ic­ al­ly be assigned to an age category with relative ease, because most depictions of them are highly naturalistic. The ages of children can be ascertained in line with their physiognomies, actions, state of dress, and their relationships with other figures. The gender of children can also often be determined, in accordance with their dress- and hair-­styles. White-­ground scenes illustrate one or two children. Examples can be analysed to investigate children’s status as the deceased or mourners, their actions, and the placement of them in tableaux, their ages and attributes associated with them, as well as their relationships with other figures, to explore what can be said about the social roles and identities of children in late Archaic and Classical Attic society. The scene types containing children and which vessel shapes are decorated with iconography incorporating juveniles indicate how far the vessels were used for entirely funerary purposes. Chronology and painter attribution information suggests whether the decision to depict children was driven by artistic licence or consumer demand. Provenance details indicate the primary markets for white-­ground vessels with iconography incorporating depictions of children were in Greece, particularly in Athens and Attica, and at Euboea in Eretria, but examples have also been found in southern Italy, south Russia, and in a Royal Tomb at Vergina. Despite their predominant use being in funerary contexts, very few are found in children’s graves, in large part because only imprecise provenance information is available for most white-­ground vessels showing juveniles.163 It is often difficult to identify the dead in white-­ground funerary iconography. Some figures are associated with eidōla and others are placed on or beside ­stelai or with the mythical ferryman Charon; they are presumably the deceased (Arrington 2014: 6). Generally, identifying the existential status of figures depends 162  In fifty-­five scenes. The BAPD records 2,998 ‘Athenian red-­figure, white-­ground’ vessels. 163 One lekythos was found in the burial of Eupheros in the Eridanos Cemetery in Athens (hS202). Two lekythoi were found in children’s graves in the Athenian Kerameikos.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  227 upon the reading of the scene. For example, the child walking towards Charon on a lekythos in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York164 is typically identified as the deceased whilst his mother is considered a living mourner bidding him farewell.165 An alternative interpretation is that the mother is dead and the child, already deceased, encourages her to join him on Charon’s boat (Blundell 2011: 34–35). Ambiguity in figures’ status in white-­ground iconography, and on stelai, has been used to suggest the ancient Greek dead continued to exist in a post-­mortem netherworld, opening up the possibility of investigating the extended life course (Williams and Burn 1991: 127). Children are the deceased in scenes on seventeen lekythoi. They often make their journey to the underworld with Charon. Infants, toddlers, younger, and older children either wait for the ferryman’s boat, are led to it by Hermes, are already on board, or are handed over to Charon by their mothers. Younger children do not seemingly comprehend the finality of death; they approach Charon willingly, not understanding they are leaving their loved ones behind. Older children act more like adults when confronted by death; they are more hesitant fa­cing the prospect of departing with Charon, because they apparently understand the ensuing separation (Crelier 2008: 133–134). An adult female is always depicted in the scenes, whilst a man is also added on one lekythos (Figure 4.45). He stands with the woman on the riverbank, and the two are probably the child’s parents. The mother reaches out as her child is ferried away. The father stands behind her. Charon stands between the parents and their child, a barrier both physically and conceptually that characterises the death that has broken up the family. Some mothers hold out offerings, including birds and baskets with fillets. Some children, all toddlers, take possessions with them, typically rollers. The younger boy in Figure 4.45 wears an amulets string, which is noteworthy given he has theoretically transitioned to a place where the protection it affords is redundant; children wore amulets to protect them from the vagaries of life in a society without extensive medical knowledge, in which illnesses were attributed to unknown fates and malign forces. Children’s deaths, therefore, theoretically, removed the need for amulets; they had failed in their purpose to protect and secure the children’s lives. This is supported by the absence of amulets in children’s burials. Crelier (2008: 133) suggests children continued to wear amulets after death for protection on the journey to Hades, but children also wore amulets in domestic and visit to the tomb scenes, indicating illustrating them was not scene-­type specific. The fact children were often shown with objects—­either offerings or possessions—­suggests they moved on to a place where they would

164 09.221.44. 165  In white-­ground generally, mortals bid farewell to the deceased, rather than acting as escorts. Escorts are typically mythological figures including Charon and Hermes.

228  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 4.45  White-­ground lekythos showing a journey to Hades scene: a younger boy stands in Charon’s boat, his parents watch from the riverbank. Source: Hellenic National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Inv. Nr. NAM 16463 © Hellenic Ministry of Culture/Hellenic Organization of Cultural Resources Development. Credit Line: Newcastle University School of History, Classics and Archaeology Research Committee Funding.

want or need them. Children’s deaths apparently marked the end of their lives, not necessarily the end of their existence. Children are also shown, apparently as the deceased, at their stelai. Again, they are often in receipt of offerings and shown with possessions. Most of the children are infants, but a toddler, younger, and older boy are also commemorated. They are sometimes memorialised in conjunction with other figures: a woman and two

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  229

Figure 4.46  White-­ground lekythos showing a tomb visit scene: an infant crawls on a stele decorated with fillets, whilst a woman prepares to add an additional fillet to the stele. Source: Hellenic National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Inv. Nr. NAM 1815 © Hellenic Ministry of Culture/Hellenic Organization of Cultural Resources Development. Credit Line: Newcastle University School of History, Classics and Archaeology Research Committee Funding.

warriors. The juveniles surmount their stelai,166 crouch, crawl, or stand upon it depending upon their level of mobility, and stand beside it (Figure 4.46). The children sometimes watch mourners approach but are often oblivious to them, shown mid-­activity; playing with a stick and hoop, pushing a roller, caring for a pet, or crawling on the stele. Mourners usually approach at the other side of stelai, 166  They could be statues, elements of the monuments, rather than child figures.

230  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens demonstrating the markers could act, like Charon, as barriers between the living and the dead. Mourners are variously women, men, youths, and family groups of multiple women or a man and woman. One male-­female pair, presumably the deceased infant’s parents, demonstrate overt mourning gestures, illustrating the pain losing a child could cause in late fifth-­century Attica.167 Production of scenes showing children at their tombs was concentrated 450–400 bce. It demonstrated the importance of remembering children, and a tendency to remember them in remarkably life-­like attitudes: they often continue to play and be children, even beyond death, either in the memories of their mourners, that were invoked when they visited to tomb, or in the realm of the afterlife in which children were able to  visit their graves and observe their mourners honouring them in line with Athenian social norms.168 More often, children are mourners in white-­ground iconography throughout the fifth century. They—­boys and girls—­visit the tombs of others, typically with women, and their actions are primarily dictated by their age. Infants are carried by women, probably their mothers (Figure 4.47). They often visit stelai to honour men or youths that are probably their fathers, illustrating the ideal fifth-­century family, though one separated by death. Toddlers and older children do the same, but they are usually more active; one toddler clambers on a stele,169 whilst children—­younger and older boys and girls—­often help to decorate markers or proffer offerings. Children older than toddlers could also visit tombs alone, or with other juveniles: two younger boys kneel on a stele,170 a younger girl visits a tomb to honour a youth, probably her older brother,171 and an older boy does the same,172 whilst another older boy actively shakes hands with the deceased.173 In some more unusual scenes, an older boy watches his elder brother embark on his journey with Charon,174 and infants are presented almost as offerings at tombs, including to a mother who is apparently oblivious to the presence of her child.175 Ultimately, children being characterised as mourners demonstrates their access to social identities and to some public arenas in fifth-­century Attica. Burials and tombs were in public areas in Athens and the iconography demonstrates that children were amongst those that visited them. Further, children were not only passive bystanders in the rituals of remembrance that took place at tombs: children that are old enough are depicted as active participants, making their own offerings, 167  On a lekythos in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens: 17521. 168  Correct treatment of the dead was a core value of Athenian citizenship (Garland 2001: 122). Failure to appropriately honour the dead was often used to malign individuals in law court speeches. 169  On a lekythos in the Reiss-­Englehorn Museum, Mannheim: 14. 170  On a lekythos in the National Museums of Scotland: 1938.506. 171  On a lekythos in the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge (MA): 59.221. 172  On a lekythos in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford: G254. 173  On a lekythos in Nelson-­Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City: 41.51. 174  On a lekythos in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien: IV2473. 175 On a lekythos in the British Museum: 1905.7–10.10. See also a lekythos in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford: 1895.76A. See Margariti (2016a) on similar motifs on grave stelai.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  231

Figure 4.47  White-­ground lekythos showing a warrior departure scene: an infant is held by a woman as a man dressed as a warrior—­probably her husband and the child’s father—­prepares to leave for war. Source: photo from the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Antikensammlung/Johannes Laurentius, CC BY-­S A 4.0, inventory number F 2444.

demonstrating juveniles were socialised to appreciate the correct practices used to honour the dead from an early age. Children are otherwise depicted as they would have been in day-­to-­day life in white-­ground iconography and are neither mourners nor the deceased. Most of the scenes illustrating them would be classified as straightforwardly ‘domestic’ if they did not adorn funerary vessels. They were produced 475–400 bce, adorning lekythoi and an oinochoe. One warrior departure scene was much more common in red- and black-­figure: the perinate is included as a symbol of the unified family,

232  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens alongside its parents. Other scenes show children exclusively in the company of women; they are probably set within domestic contexts, as suggested by space signifiers including chairs, mirrors, a stool, sakkos, and column. The children are mostly infants, but on occasion a toddler, infant, and younger boy. The juveniles are variously passed to their mother by maid-­type figures,176 or play with the adults around them; an infant crawls on the floor, a toddler is carried on a girl’s shoulders, and a younger boy watches a bird held by his seated mother. These possible daily-­life scenes explore the ‘child at play’ or the ‘child within the family’ facets of juvenile identities. They suggest children had the strongest bonds with female caregivers in fifth-­century Attica. The status of the child is sometimes indistinct in white-­ground iconography, and it is difficult to interpret the narratives of the scenes they are included in. In some cases, the juveniles appear to be fleeing a pursuer, either seen or unseen. These scenes suggest an ancient Greek desire to avoid death. Acknowledgement of the extended life course may have catered to that desire, rendering death a transformation into another form of being rather than a truncation of existence. Children beyond infancy are typically characterised as active and quintessentially childish figures in white-­ground iconography, even when they are the deceased (except in Figure 4.44). This suggests death was a process that transformed children but did not destroy their identities or reduce them to unrecognisable shades.177 Children of all ages except perinates are depicted in white-­ground icon­og­ raphy, though infants, younger, and older children are the most common subjects (Figure 4.48).178 Around half of the children have a discernible gender, and males are disproportionately illustrated: five girls compare to twenty-­one boys. All children with discernible genders, that are the deceased, are males. This demonstrates that late Archaic and early Classical social ideals that prized males above females, and made the former the more visible sex, held true for children. Ultimately, analyses of patterning in the statuses, ages, and genders of children depicted in white-­ground illustrate that social gender norms were instilled from an early age in fifth-­century Attic society, and they were as important in the face of death as they were throughout life. Children are directly associated with few attributes in white-­ground icon­og­ raphy, predominantly objects already ascertained signifiers of them: rollers; amulet strings; and toys, including a doll and hoop with a stick (Figure 4.49). Rollers were only illustrated 440–410 bce, associated with two toddlers and two younger children, one a girl. Children typically take them on their journeys to Hades (Figure 4.50), or to visit tombs. All of the children associated with rollers are the

176  Mirroring red-­figure iconography. 177  It has been suggested personality, along with agency, was lost at death; one reason why the dead could be illustrated as homogenous eidōla (Bardel 2000; Garland 2001). 178  Mirroring Crelier’s analyses (2008: 149).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  233

Older Child

12

Younger Child

Toddler

13

5

Infant

?

20

5

Figure 4.48  Ages of children in white-­ground iconography. Source: the author.

deceased. At least one child—­a younger boy—­wearing amulets is also deceased, because he journeys to Hades (Figure 4.45). The lekythos on which he is depicted dates to 420 bce. Amulets were only illustrated between 450 and 400 bce on lekythoi; the other children wearing them are infants in domestic and tomb visit scenes. The juveniles wearing amulets are always accompanied by a parent, if not two, demonstrating the strong relationships young children had with their care­ givers. An indistinct toy is used to occupy the infant in one domestic scene; a woman attracts the child’s attention with it as another woman holds the infant. The scene decorates a rare white-­ground oinochoe showing a child.179 An older girl presents a doll at a stele as she accompanies a woman on a tomb visit.180 An older boy plays with the hoop and stick as he visits a tomb: he is apparently the deceased, oblivious to his visiting father.181 An older boy on another lekythos also stands at his tomb, but without mourners (Figure 4.51). He holds a bird. Pets are rare companions of children in white-­ground, but it is appropriate that the single animal directly associated with a child is a bird, given avian mortuary symbolism. Birds are also incorporated as general features in a journey to Hades scene and in domestic tableaux; birds could demonstrably be pets during life and companions or context signifiers after death. In one scene, a mother offers a bird as her son—­a younger boy—­makes his journey to Hades: the bird was intended as a companion for the child or a gesture of farewell. A lyre is similarly offered to a child as they embark on their journey with Charon. Other items are proffered as offerings 179  Sold at Sotheby’s in New York: BAPD 31854. 180  On a lekythos in a Private Collection in New York: BAPD 216386. 181  On a lekythos in the British Museum: 1920.1221.3.

234  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Stele

36

Basket

15

Fillet

12

Spear

8

Boat

8

Staff/Stick

7

Bird

5

Wreath

4

Mirror

4

Alabastron

4

Sakkos

4

Chair

4

Rock

4

Eidolon

3

Helmet

3

Amulets

3

Shield

3

Plemochoe

3

Roller

3

Lyre

2

Phormiskos

2

Aryballos

2

Oinochoe

2

Object

2

Grapes

2

Javelin

1

Sponge

1

Snake

1

Stool

1

Flower

1

Doll

1

Hydria

1

Incense Burner

1

Chest

1

Sword

1

Hoop

1

Palaestra Post

1

Column

1

Figure 4.49  Attributes in white-ground iconography depicting children. Source: the author.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  235

Figure 4.50  White-­ground lekythos showing a journey to Hades scene: a male toddler takes his roller as he journeys to Hades with Charon whilst his mother watches on. Source: photo from the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art; Terracotta lekythos (oil flask) 09.221.44, public domain.

at a tomb, each only on a single occasion. Thus, some offerings apparently had personalised significance for the deceased though they are limited in what they suggest overall about juvenile identities. That said, rollers, amulets and toys remain potential archaeological signifiers of children according to white-­ground iconography. Most attributes in white-­ground scenes make statements about the icon­og­ raphy’s theme or about the spatial or conceptual setting. Eidōla and Charon’s boat situate scenes in the time after death, if not in the underworld. They are only depicted on lekythoi, in journey to Hades and tomb visit tableaux and are usually in scenes wherein children are the deceased. Boats were depicted 500–420 bce, and eidōla 475–425 bce. Eidōla are miniaturised and homogenous, possibly to represent that the deceased are hoi polloi, with minimal individuality and no agency (Bardel 2000: 148–149; Sourvinou-­Inwood 1995: 337). They were

236  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 4.51  White-­ground lekythos showing a tomb visit scene: an older boy, probably the deceased, stands at a stele with a bird and staff. Source: photo from the National Museum of Serbia, Belgrade, inventory number 626/I ©. Credit Line: Newcastle University School of History, Classics and Archaeology Research Committee Funding.

illustrations of the deceased’s spirit or pseudo-­personified representations of mourners’ memories of the dead, which were brought into existence by living mourners remembering the dead at their tombs or imagining them making their journeys to Hades (Bardel 2000: 158). Eidōla cluster around certain figures, children and non-­juveniles, marking them out as the deceased. Associations between them and children highlight the possibility that children’s life courses could be extended in fifth-­century Attica. Stelai are the most common attribute. They were consistently depicted across the fifth century on lekythoi and an oinochoe. They situate scenes in cemeteries, or more generally emphasise the iconography’s funerary themes (Beazley 1938; Arrington 2014). They appear in scenes with children of all ages beyond babyhood (that is, perinates) that are both living mourners and the deceased commemorated by them. Archaeological evidence indicates marble stelai were not used in fifth-­century Attica, but Barringer (2019) suggests wooden imitations were used, and earlier stelai would have remained in the landscape. Depictions of them in white-­ground do not, therefore, preclude that the icon­og­raphy illustrates an iteration of lived reality, but it does suggest scenes were imbued with symbolism and present narratives rather than photographs. Stelai

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  237 are often adorned with wreaths and fillets.182 The latter were taken to cemeteries in kana 475–400 bce.183 As in the wider white-­ground repertoire, baskets are typical of visit to the tomb scenes (Garland 2001: 108, 116). They are also filled with other offerings; food, including grapes, drinks, and gifts that were probably the deceased’s possessions, including lyres and phormiskoi used to store knucklebones. It was important to offer nourishment to the deceased in ancient Greek eschatology, and vessels—­ including alabastra, plemochoai, an aryballos, and hydria—­probably contained libations. Some vases are broken on the steps of stelai. Nathan Arrington (2014) suggests their shattered state signifies motion or expresses the surprise caused by the death commemorated. Oakley (2009) proposes damaged vessels convey the passage of time, demonstrating that mourners returned to tombs to honour the deceased months or years after they died. The fallen, fragmentary hydria on a white-­ground lekythos showing a tomb visit in Munich184 may have been broken by the child climbing on the stele. The vessel could also constitute detritus from the funerary ritual or be symbolic of the presence of the deceased whose life course was fractured by death, because it is unclear which figure, if any, is the deceased in the scene (following Arrington 2014: 8). Other attributes demonstrate the locale of scenes: chairs, mirrors, sakkoi, a column, and stool situate scenes in probable domestic contexts, possibly within feminine space in the house given the prevalence of women in scenes illustrating them. Rocks and trees place iconography outside, including in conceptual spaces on the banks of the River Styx. A final array of attributes make statements about the identities of adult figures. Staffs, spears, helmets, shields, and a sword are the possessions of men depicted in scenes with juveniles. They make statements about the men’s identities, defining them as citizens and warriors. Mirrors and sakkoi similarly make assertions about women’s identities, even as they function as space and context signifiers. All are limited in how pertinent they are to focused investigation of children’s identities in fifth-­century Attica. Some children were depicted alone on lekythoi and a chous produced throughout 500–400 bce, most often around 430 bce. Children older than toddlers were the most likely to be commemorated for their own sakes; a younger girl and older boy both visit stelai, possibly as the deceased. Two younger boys visit a tomb together on a lekythos produced around 450 bce.185 The children are associated with few attributes, predominantly a bird and roller, but their being illustrated alone demonstrates the acknowledged importance of juvenile identities in fifth-­ century Attica; they warranted specific commemoration in a restricted artistic medium that was probably relatively exclusive. Children are otherwise 182  Wreaths were probably products of household industry (Waite and Gooch 2019: 34). 183 A chest is used in lieu of a basket on a lekythos in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens: 1814. 184  Staatliche Antikensammlungen: 2779. 185  In the National Museums of Scotland: 1938.506.

238  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens pre­dom­in­ant­ly associated with women (Figure 4.52). Close relationships between children, of both sexes and all ages, and women were illustrated throughout 475–400 bce, on lekythoi and an oinochoe. Women accompanied children in most journey to Hades and tomb visit scenes; domestic tableaux likewise show only women and children. Women hold children in two funerary scenes, a warrior departure, and an indeterminate scene. They are also closely associated with juveniles in mixed figural groups including men, youths, and Charon and Hermes. The preva­lence of women is representative of them being primarily charged with mortuary practices in Classical Attica; most scenes show tomb visits. Family groups were popular between 475 and 420 bce, and children were depicted with men and youths throughout 500–400 bce, but more sporadically and only on lekythoi. They—­always younger or older children and usually boys—­are typically mourners in tomb visit and journey to Hades scenes. One boy is the deceased and his father visits him. Other children honour their elder brothers at tombs or watch youths journey to Hades. Men and youths are usually characterised as the deceased, reflecting the historical context in which they were often dying in war. Mythological figures Charon and Hermes were depicted as part of various figural groups in journey to Hades scenes on lekythoi throughout 500–420 bce. They were especially popular subjects around 430 bce. The immortals usually escort children to Hades, observed by the juvenile’s family. The juveniles are more often younger or older children and always boys. Charon was a popular subject on white-­ground lekythoi generally and was depicted in two ways; as a stern ferryman anxious to complete his task, or as a kindly transporter of souls that almost expresses sympathy as he removes the dead from the living (Garland 2001: 56). He transported the dead across the River Acheron, River Styx, or Lake Acherusia into Hades (Sourvinou-­Inwood 2012). When shown with children, Charon often waits patiently on his boat, perhaps acknowledging that leaving their loved ones was especially difficult for children. Hermes acts as an additional escort only once, on a lekythos produced 475–450 bce, demonstrating less standardisation of earlier fifth-­century scenes. Ultimately, children are usually accompanied by adults when depicted on white-­ground vases and are only occasionally shown alone. Young children—­particularly infants—­shown in true-­to-­life attitudes, are often held, carried, or passed between adults. They are physically dependent upon other figures. Though older juveniles are not physically supported, children of all ages are typically at least notionally supported by their parents or older siblings as they confront the enormity of death or face the sadness of mourning a loved one. Children’s relationships with women are especially emphasised in white-­ground, as they are on contemporary red-­figure vases, but family relationships were also demonstrably important as evidenced by scenes showing men and women, or women and youths, with children.

Child Child(ren) only

5

1

With females only With males only

18 1

With males and females

6

With females and youths

10

With males, females and youths

2

With youths only

4

With females and Charon

5

With females, Charon and Hermes

1

With males, females and Charon

1

With youths and Charon

1

Figure 4.52  Figural groups including children in white-­ground iconography. Source: the author.

Children

240  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Children are depicted on a minority of vessel shapes in few white-­ground scene types (Figure 4.53;  Figure 4.54).186 They—­fifty-­two lekythoi especially, which constitute 94.55% of the sample—­were overwhelmingly associated with funerary themes and used in mortuary contexts.187 Lekythoi were placed around the bier for purification during funerary rituals and were interred in graves or offered at tombs afterwards. A chous found in the Kerameikos is probably an exceptional version of contemporary red-­figure examples that was offered in or at a tomb.188 The fact the chous is decorated with a lone child scene, like many red-­ figure choes, suggests particular iconography was especially suitable for certain vase shapes. Squat lekythoi decorated with apparently domestic scenes including infants, may have been originally intended for household contexts, but their state of preservation indicates they were not used before being interred as associated funerary objects. Ultimately, vases showing children were not generally types associated with juveniles and, in light of the lack of correlation between figures depicted and the deceased in receipt of the offerings, it is likely many examples did not fulfil their functions with direct relevance to children, even if their icon­ og­raphy illustrates a child. They nonetheless demonstrate children’s identities were celebrated in society, and juveniles were specifically commemorated as the deceased and had important roles to play as mourners, in fifth-­century Attica. Scenes showing children are overwhelmingly visit to the tomb tableaux, demonstrating the importance of correctly honouring the dead. They adorn lekythoi produced throughout 500–400 bce. Children—­of ages proportionate with the overall trend (Figure 4.48), boys outnumbering girls 3:1—are part of figural groups of all types showing only mortals.189 They are more frequently characterised as mourners than the deceased. Journey to Hades scenes are likewise funerary and exclusive to lekythoi but were only produced until 420 bce. Those with recorded provenance were all found in Greece, suggesting the theme lacked wider appeal. Children depicted are the deceased and male, in all but one case; representation of age categories amplified with increasing maturity. Juveniles are always accompanied by Charon, and usually by a woman, in journey to Hades scenes, suggesting there was no better person to guide a child towards the afterlife than the mother that gave birth to them;190 on occasion a man or youth is also depicted. Six apparently domestic scenes, that would not be associated with 186  The scene types represent an extension to types listed by Crelier (2008) and Beaumont (2012); they did not note the inclusion of juveniles in warrior departure or domestic-­themed scenes. 187  Thirty-­four scenes are set in the vicinity of tombs, eight in the underworld or in conceptual liminal spaces between there and life, and six possibly in household contexts. Seven settings are indeterminate. 188  BAPD 43531. 189 A family group, with an infant, is commemorated in a warrior departure scene on a 470–450 bce lekythos: Antikensmmlung Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (F2444). 190  Women are also children’s only companions in two general funerary scenes on 470–450 bce lekythoi.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  241

Lekythos

Oinochoe

Squat Lekythos

52

1

1

Chous

1

Figure 4.53  Pottery shapes with white-­ground iconography including children. Source: the author.

Visit to a Tomb

34

Journey to Hades

8

Domestic

6

Funerary Warrior Departure ?

2 1 4

Figure 4.54  Scene types including children in white-­ground iconography. Source: the author.

242  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

500 496 492 488 484 480 476 472 468 464 460 456 452 448 444 440 436 432 428 424 420 416 412 408 404 400

funerary contexts but for the fact they decorated white-­ground funerary vessels, depict only infants, toddlers and a younger boy—­infants most often—­and show juveniles exclusively in the company of women. The scenes illustrate accoutrements of daily life, including toys, protective amulets, and pets. Previous scholarship has suggested white-­ground vases decorated with domestic type scenes are earlier examples, produced before white-­ground vessels became exclusively funerary; this was not necessarily the case. At least three examples showing children were produced post-­450 bce, constituting late examples of white-­ground pottery with domestic-­themed iconography. As well as memorialising mortuary practices, white-­ground iconography demonstrably celebrated life that was curtailed by the deaths that necessitated those practices. Which vessel shapes and scene types were produced in white-­ground was primarily dictated by function and context of use. The impetus for depicting children was, apparently, socio-­political and chronological rather than typological; the prevalence of juveniles in lekythoi iconography was symptomatic of that shape’s fifth-­century popularity in funerary contexts generally. The fact children are only depicted on later examples of white-­ground, where the iconography sometimes commemorates juveniles rather than just incorporating them, suggests change in the social significance of children in Attica in the fifth century. White-­ground iconography incorporating juveniles was exclusively a product of the fifth century (Figure 4.55), and examples were produced in significantly increased quantities between 430 and 420 bce (Figure 4.56). Trends in production indicate change in the social significance of juveniles that was emergent from 500 bce, and particularly impactful around 430 bce. The peak in production

Figure 4.55  Chronological distribution of date attributions for white-­ground iconography including children. Source: the author.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  243 2

500–450

4

475–425 475–450 470–450

2 1

470–460 460–440

2 1

460–450 460

2 1

450–400 450–425

7 1

450–440

2

450

2

440–430

1

440

2

430-410

2 8

430-420 430-425

1

430

8

425–400

1

425–420

1

425

1

420–400

2

420

1

410

1

Figure 4.56  Date attributions for pottery with white-­ground iconography including children. Source: the author.

historically correlated with the Archidamian War and the aftermath of demagogue rule and plague outbreaks in Athens. Previous scholarship has suggested certain white-­ground motifs—­for example depictions of Charon (Garland 2001: 56)—were the preserve of certain artists, but more than twenty different artists produced scenes including children (Figure 4.57). Most produced only one vase illustrating a child, including the Achilles Painter, a  master of white-­ground polychrome painting (Beazley 1984; Oakley 2004).

244  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Bird Painter

6

Quadrate Painter

5

Thanatos Painter

4

Painter of Munich 2335

4

Painter of Athens 1826

3

Woman Painter

3

Sabouroff Painter

2

Carlsberg Painter

2

Painter of the New York Hypnos

2

Tymbos Painter

1

Sappho Painter

1

Painter of Munich 2774

1

Painter of London E342

1

Timokrates Painter

1

Two-Row Painter

1

Achilles Painter

1

Inscription Painter

1

Eretria Painter

1

Group R

1

Bosanquet Painter

1

Painter of Berlin 2451

1

Painter of Berlin 2464

1

Reed Painter

1

Figure 4.57  Painter attributions for pottery with white-­ground iconography including children. Source: the author.

He predominantly produced domestic scenes—­only thirty-­five of his 130 white-­ ground vessels illustrate tomb visits (Pipili 2009: 240)—but illustrated a child only once, highlighting disassociation between children and domestic scenes that is notable given domestic contexts were presumably where children spent most of their time. Painters that produced multiple depictions of children were typically white-­ ground lekythoi specialists. Only the Sabouroff and Eretria Painters produced both red-­figure and white-­ground illustrations of juveniles. The Painter of Athens 1826191 was most notable because he decorated two vessel types, lekythoi and an 191  A specialist in producing lekythoi with domestic scenes (Oakley 2004: 14).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  245 oinochoe, with three different scene types incorporating children—­a domestic scene, warrior departure, and tomb visit. Many of the artists that produced white-­ ground illustrations of children were associates,192 but overall fewer than half of the white-­ground painters identified by Beazley (1984) produced scenes characterising children.193 This suggests certain painters were go-­to producers for consumers seeking illustrations of children. It is clear the artists that were most confident characterising juveniles were those most familiar with the white-­ground technique because it was the focus of their output. The fact a number of the artists that ­produced depictions of children were interconnected may suggest illustrating children was popularised by certain groups of artists, but the fact depictions of children were particularly popular in a concise timeframe, when they were produced by various unconnected artists, indicates the phenomenon was demand driven and artists illustrated children more because that was what consumers wanted, as a result of what was happening in society at the time.

4.7  Dying in Childhood in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Athens: Children’s Material Culture and Disembodied Identities Funerary practices are used to manage the social upheavals triggered by death. They can be investigated to inform upon social identities because they are moulded by the norms and structures of the societies that perform them. Grave offerings are one of the best-­represented archaeological signatures of funerary practices. They are resultant of conscious choices and deliberate actions that associate individuals with certain objects in accordance with how society perceives their identities. Offering assemblages can be multi-­functional and poly­sem­ic, their key purposes are generally as follows: possessions from life that accompany the deceased in death to commemorate their life; objects gifted to the deceased by their mourners; items used to project identities (often of children), reflecting identities the deceased could have had if they had lived longer; goods the dead were envisioned to need in a post-­ mortem existence (Dipla and Paleothodoros 2012; Dubois 2012; Alexandridou 2016). Associated funerary objects could fulfil one function, or multiple, and how far objects of each type were associated with sub-­adults in ancient Greece informs upon how their social identities were perceived and constructed both in life and in death in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Attic society. Scholarship—­ referencing sources such as Plato (Republic 10.615bc) who declared that the death of children in very early infancy was not worthy of record—­has suggested there was a weaker social reaction to juvenile deaths and 192  The Bird and Carlsberg Painters belonged to the same Group. The Painter of Munich 2335 had connections with the Bird Group and followed the Woman Painter (Beazley 1984: 1161). 193  Fewer later fifth-­century artists illustrated children than earlier artists, though more later scenes included children.

246  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens that children, particularly infants, were routinely excluded from formal burial rites in ancient Greece (Garland 2001: 80). Conversely, archaeology demonstrates careful, and at times elaborate, burial of even the youngest juveniles (Houby-­ Nielsen 2000: 151–152; Beaumont 2012: 92; Dubois 2012: 340). My ana­lyses have evidenced nuanced and variable treatment of children of all ages that was indubitably expressive of investment in and acknowledgement of their social identities throughout the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods in Attica.194 Recent work including by Nikolas Dimakis (2016; 2020) and Paul Christesen (2018) has demonstrated this was likewise the case elsewhere, in Argos, Corinth, and Sparta. Athenian burials demonstrate a significant degree of originality, suggesting children were conceptualised as individuals, and that was not entirely dependent upon their age.195 Some children from all age categories were buried formally throughout 900–323 bce, though the burial record was clearly not entirely representative of society, neither for juveniles nor adults.196 Many children were apparently not buried formally and therefore not given arch­aeo­logic­al­ly traceable identities in death, probably because though funerary rituals could be heavily prescribed by law, legislation did not usually apply to the treatment of children (Kurtz and Boardman 1971: 70, 145). This, and the fact how far all age categories were represented in the burial record diminished over time, indicates juvenile identities were constructed and moulded by families rather than ordained by the state, more so in Athens as oligarchy transitioned into democracy. When they warranted formal burial, children were treated comparably to con­ tem­por­ary adults. Similar burial types were used for both; offering assemblages were alike, though child burials incorporated a preponderance of seemingly ju­ven­ile paraphernalia including often-­miniaturised cups and bowls and objects that could function as toys; and adults and children were interred in the same cemeteries, with concurrent peaks in the number of juvenile and adult burials per annum.197 Demonstrably, children that warranted formal burial were considered to have established social identities, like adults, which meant their deaths could require management in line with burial practices decreed by societal norms. Children were distinctly not adults in ancient Greek ideology, but they could be 194  Individuality was conferred upon the children, probably by their adult mourners, who constructed children’s burial contexts. The identities expressed were the children’s perceived identities, as they were interpreted by their caregivers, rather than their personal identities, that were the ones they themselves experienced. See also Vlachou (2021). 195  Sourvinou-­Inwood (1995: 299) argues more individualism became apparent as society became more concerned with preserving the memory of the deceased. 196  Adults were probably better represented; of 652 Kerameikos burials dated 550–400 bce, 66.41% were adult burials despite the fact sub-­adult mortality rates were undoubtedly higher and research indicates juveniles constituted around one-­third of the population (Parkin 2010: 41–42). 197  It is because changes in child burial practices were geographical and chronological that they are interpreted as evidence of changing social attitudes, rather than ascribed to preservation or recording biases (Lagia 2007: 305; Shepherd 2018: 534).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  247 treated like them in mortuary contexts. The impetus for that may have been showcasing the virtues of their kinship groups. Funerals were used to showcase wealth and affirm kinship solidarity; I argue, following Houby-­Nielsen,198 fu­nerals for children were used as much to make statements about their families, as about them themselves. Families could claim they adhered to the virtues of honouring the dead almost to the extreme if they invested significantly in the burials of even their youngest members, the correct treatment of whom was not apparently dictated by the state. In according children privileges of formal burial in Attic soil—­which was prized, expensive, and apparently optional for juveniles (Kurtz and Boardman 1971: 143)—families of certain means, asserted that children could be individuals and that it was appropriate to acknowledge their social identities in wider society. At certain times in particular, the social importance of children was em­phasised and acknowledged, even in the event they died and could no longer provide the fundamental service of perpetuating society. It was this facet of their identities—­ children as propagators of their lineages and society—­that icon­og­raphy most often commemorated, but it is clear the visibility of children in the burial record was motivated by different social concerns. Peaks in the visibility of children in vase painting and in burials do not necessarily correlate neatly, though there are some convergences, and the overall trend is the same: the visibility of children steadily increased across the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods. Evaluation of burials, like analyses of iconography, intimates the nature of the material cultures of childhood and children in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Greece. All-­period associations can be ascertained between juveniles and choes, feeders, and toys including astragaloi and certain types of terracotta figurines, which are examples of the archaeology of childhood in the first instances and of children in all cases.199 Terracotta figurines and astragaloi are often overlooked as not securely toys, and thereby uncertain signifiers of children. Their associations with children far outweighed their associations with adults in some of the burial contexts analysed: in the Kerameikos children were, on average, five times more likely to be associated with terracotta figurines of anthropomorphic figures and animals, and twelve times more likely to be associated with astragaloi.200 This confirms, with margin for error, that figurines and astragaloi, as well as choes and feeders were most likely children’s possessions used in life that can be sought as signifiers of the presence of juveniles in domestic contexts with the aim of 198  Houby-­Nielsen (2000: 152) argues ‘children and women were not buried formally for their sake, but primarily to serve the image of the man in charge of their oikos’. 199  All ages: figurines and astragaloi. Mostly toddlers and younger: choes and feeders. 200  Kerameikos VII: 652 burials; 219 children. Figurines—­most enthroned females—­were in nine adult graves and seventeen child burials: in 2.08% of adult and 7.76% of sub-­adult interments. Astragaloi were in four adult graves and eight child burials: in 0.92% of adult and 3.65% of sub-­adult interments. Kerameikos IX: 568 burials; 112 children. Figurines were in six adult graves and nine child burials: in 1.32% of adult and 8.04% of sub-­adult interments. Astragaloi were in one adult grave and five child burials: in 0.22% of adult and 4.46% of child interments.

248  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens mapping children’s access to domestic spaces (Gooch forthcoming). Other objects interred with children are not typical examples of the material cultures of either childhood or children: strigils, tools, weaving paraphernalia, and mirrors were instead items usually used by adults, that were possibly interred with children to project their identities further along the life course. They can be used to evaluate how far the concept of an extended life course was recognised in ancient Greece (Gooch 2024). Ultimately, previous scholarship contends children were formally buried more frequently and with more diverse grave offerings when there was a social em­phasis upon the survival and perpetuation of society; around the times of the Battle of Marathon and the reforms of Kleisthenes and Perikles, when society was particularly under threat and/or there was a societal emphasis on democracy (Morris 1987; Whitley 1991; Houby-­Nielsen 1995; 2000). This mirrors assertions made about the motivations for the increasing visibility of children in painted pottery iconography. One of the foremost scholars on ancient Greek child bur­ ials, Houby-­Nielsen, has also associated increases in the number of child burials with emerging social emphases on married women’s will to bear children and secure the perpetuity of the oikos (2000: 152). As I have suggested relative to icon­ og­raphy, I argue the overlooked agency of women again constituted a significant factor in dictating the changing extent to which, and how, children were in­corp­ or­ated into the formal burial record throughout the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods. Archaeology and literary sources demonstrate the importance, to ancient Greek society, of mortuary practices being used to appropriately manage the miasma that resulted from death and to correctly honour the deceased.201 Women’s associations with miasma meant they were primarily charged with preparing the deceased for burial, so the burial record permits a perspective on women’s agency that is atypical. As I have suggested regarding vase painting, children were apparently given the most personality when women held jurisdiction, hence why child burials were not, consistently throughout 900–323 bce, standardised beyond pervasive inclusions also popular with adults; because women were consistently charged with preparing them. The evidence strongly suggests mortuary practices used to deal with the deaths of children of various ages and statuses were moulded by elements of their identities; the identities they held in life and their identities as they were transformed and reconfigured in and by death. It was women, as children’s primary caregivers, that had the most direct experience of those identities and so could best represent them in material culture terms, and I argue that it was because women were so consistently charged with managing the deaths and burial of children that there were remarkable 201  Historians rarely mention mortuary practices: most literary source material is evidence of legislation, law court speeches, and works of tragedians and comedians, which were not necessarily concerned with portraying the realities of practice.

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  249 threads of consistency in how juvenile identities were constructed in burial contexts across the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods. Ultimately, vari­abil­ity in how children were represented in the burial record was resultant of women’s agency and the status of the child’s family. Variability in how far children were integrated into the formal burial record was consequent of wider socio-­political change that can be best understood through holistic analyses of all of the evidence types available. Carved marble stelai were produced periodically in the late seventh and sixth centuries and used consistently circa 430–317 bce. Identifying the deceased is often problematic (Leader 1997; Margariti 2016b), but lone child examples confirm some Classical markers specifically commemorated juveniles. Although most were not specific commissions, stelai were generally the preserve of families with significant disposable income; their accessibility compared to monumental Geometric pots, superseding general painted pottery and rudimentary burial. Archaic and Classical markers were probably used by similar demographics, but they celebrated different social ideals. Archaic markers were preoccupied with heroising the dead, individually; Classical stelai were concerned with communicating the importance of the family.202 The generally increased visibility of children in family scenes was a natural extension of that, but the fact lone child markers were also a Classical innovation suggests other factors were also at play. Previous scholarship, seldom considering stelai with other evidence, has postulated increased iconographic visibility of children resulted from amplified interest in childhood and the augmented importance of family, resultant of socio-­ political unrest and fourth-­century oikos-­polis division (for example, Oakley 2013; see Leader 1997). That does not satisfactorily explain why children were incongruently integrated into different types of iconography and why, post-­430 bce, juveniles were both depicted amongst family groups more often, and in­nova­ tive­ly commemorated in their own right on stelai; the impetuses for which were disparate given the latter represented commemoration of children when they could not serve one of their fundamental social functions: to perpetuate society. Stelai with iconography incorporating up to four citizen children show ju­ven­iles of all ages. Atypically, overall gender parity is evident in the children represented, though male children are disproportionately commemorated by lone child stelai. Children—­most often younger children203—were shown alone, amongst small and larger family groups and with siblings on Classical stelai. They were depicted 202  Markers for youths and maidens, characterised as the ideal youthful dead, were predominant in the Archaic period. Markers illustrating families proliferated post-­430 bce (Humphreys 1980: 106, 112). Emphasis on the family was equally apparent on Classical votive reliefs (Lawton 2007; Bobou 2018: 359). Consequently, Bergemann (2007: 44) argues the oikos was the nucleus of fourth-­century society. 203  Younger children are also best represented in contemporary sculpture. They are the age group most realistically characterised, often as boys growing towards athletic youth and girls maturing into marriageable maidens (Bobou 2010: 41–42, 52–53).

250  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens only with a sibling and a parent on Archaic stelai. Like in painted pottery iconography, different facets of juvenile identities were foremost when children were depicted alone compared to when they were amongst other figures. When children were components of family groups they acted almost as attributes,204 personifying elements of other figures’ identities205 and symbolising the continuation of the family and lineage in the face of social disruption caused by the death of family members.206 Lone child markers did not celebrate that facet of juvenile identities, because deceased children could not perpetuate their families. There was a particular inclination to mark juvenile interments with stelai in the early to mid-­ fourth century, when there was a major decline in the number of children buried formally. This exclusivity signifies that when children were commemorated by stelai, they were used to proclaim the status of their lineage; to make subtle statements about the social superiority of elites in the face of emergent political equality resultant of democracy gaining momentum from the turn of the fourth century. Stelai were conspicuous displays of wealth (Squire 2018), so children’s stelai are archaeological signatures of privileged families proclaiming they were superior because even their minor kin—­the youngest juveniles, and girls—­ warranted and were afforded relatively elaborate and public com­mem­or­ation when death curtailed their embodied life course. Stelai, concentrated in cemeteries around the main gates of Athens, were highly visible (Leader 1997: 685). They were foci for remembrance and rendered the dead—­at least disembodied idealisations of their identities—­present in their physical absence (Humphreys 1980: 100, 103; Squire 2018: 519). Stelai advertised the status of the deceased, and that of their family; they also conferred that status on wider kin groups and future generations because they marked graves that could be visited to publicly remember and honour the dead, illustrating the importance of ascribed status and familial cohesion in Classical, and possibly Archaic, Attica. Though some stelai evidence elements of personalisation, they do not illustrate individuals—­they were not akin to photographs and sculptors made little effort to produce portraiture (Leader 1997: 690; Palagia 2016: 375)—but instead illustrate staged scenes and social ideals. That said, they illustrated figures as if they were alive, usually in apparently domestic contexts,207 and so can inform upon daily life (Humphreys 1980; Leader 1997; Palagia 2016). Common attributes intimate children occupied various spaces in domestic contexts; they were frequently shown with pets including birds and dogs, which suggest they spent time outdoors, but the significance of those attributes was also probably deeper and at times symbolic. Other attributes associated with children on stelai reaffirmed that there were material cultures of children and childhood in late fifth- and 204  Like attributes, infants are not usually named in tombstone inscriptions (Burnett Grossman 2007: 312; Margariti 2016a: 91). 205  For example, children characterised women as fruitful wives and caring mothers (Margariti 2016a). 206  Dasen (2001a) proposes stelai characterised children as symbols of perpetuated families. 207  Alluded to by space signifiers including furniture and kalathoi (Bobou 2018).

E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens  251 fourth-­century Attica. Astragaloi, balls, choes, dolls, rattles, and rollers, as examples of those material cultures used to construct juvenile identities, can be used to identify spaces used by children in excavated houses and to investigate the ­phe­nom­enon of projecting juvenile identities when children died at particular points in their life courses. Ultimately, similar relationships were commemorated by Archaic and Classical stelai depicting children, suggesting consistency in who the consumers were, but  the impetus to specifically commemorate children was new post-­430 bce, implying that macro-­scale socio-­political change resulted in new production trends. The change(s) manifested in an innovative Classical preoccupation with celebrating the family, which cannot be satisfactorily explained through a consideration of only one evidence type. A holistic approach is required to properly understand why how children were represented in funerary contexts changed significantly across the Archaic to Classical periods. White-­ground lekythoi, used in funerary contexts and sometimes decorated with iconography incorporating children, were products of the fifth century; notably 500–430 bce, when marble stelai were not produced. Though physical contact between figures is rare in white-­ground,208 the medium is highly expressive and typified by its naturalistic characterisation of figures. It typically depicts children as active characters, with a childish playfulness that even endures confronting death. Previous scholarship disagrees as to whether the fifth-­century inclusion of children in white-­ground iconography marked change in their social significance. Like Crelier (2008), contra Oakley (2004; 2009), I contend it did, signifying children’s importance in society was unprecedentedly amplified in the fifth century. I suggest, like Oakley and Margariti,209 that depicting non-­adults commemorated their lost potential, but it also demonstrated the importance of children taking part in mortuary practices to assure the legitimate perpetuation of their families and society when warfare and plague outbreaks rendered depopulation prevalent. As with contemporary red-­figure, I suggest children were represented more in white-­ground when the primary consumers or commissioners of painted pottery changed: it is notable there was a particular tendency to characterise children 430–420 bce,210 when men were preoccupied with the Archidamian War, the prolonged initial conflict of the Peloponnesian War, and the management of day-­to-­day life could have fallen more to women. Mother-­child bonds were emphasised in white-­ground and it was women that appeared most often with children in scenes, often as they visited tombs to honour deceased male relatives. Like Oakley, I argue white-­ground iconography only represented the perspectives

208  For example, the dexiōsis, popular on grave stelai, is virtually unrepresented (Beazley 1938: 22). 209  (2018b) on the particular tragedy of maidens’ deaths. 210  In the middle of the red-­figure peak, when grave stelai production recommenced and the number of children formally buried was starting to decline.

252  E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens of some in society, because it was an exclusive type of pottery that was only ac­cess­ible to wealthier patrons; this is supported by the facts so few white-­ground vessels survive and grave stelai apparently adopted their target market from around 430 bce; like stelai, white-­ground vases subtly proclaimed the superiority of wealthier families.211 White-­ground vessels show children of all ages from infants-­in-­arms to fully autonomous older children that are naturalistically characterised. Infants followed by younger and older children are most often illustrated. Boys outnumber girls more than 4:1, demonstrating the pre-­eminence of males in Attic society was instilled by socialisation from infancy. Juveniles were predominantly depicted in funerary-­themed scenes and only a minority of domestic tableaux. They were more often mourners rather than the deceased, and children, rather than infants, were most often commemorated for their own sakes. Even when children were depicted as secondary characters, they were awarded a significant social status, however, because entourages of mourners were limited in white-­ground, so the fact children were amongst them says something meaningful about their roles in Archaic and Classical Attic funerary rituals. The fact children were incorporated into the white-­ground repertoire, which was so limited compared to other painted pottery repertoires, should not be understated; it demonstrates children were integral to Attic society, especially when it was under strain. Children were associated with amulet strings, dolls, hoop toys, and rollers in white-­ground iconography, most of which are potential archaeological signifiers of them in domestic contexts. Deceased children’s activities in funerary contexts, as demonstrated in white-­ground iconography, insinuate juveniles accessed an afterlife and could remain, in a sense, active beyond death, having extended life courses that can be investigated. Analyses of white-­ground iconography inform upon children’s social identities in fifth-­century Attica, but it is the consistencies with the conclusions drawn in analyses of other evidence types that are most informative as to why children’s identities changed or gained importance in the fifth century, when they had been acknowledged at least since the Geometric period more than three centuries before. According to burial evidence and funerary iconography, children were mourned and remembered after they died, often in public contexts, demonstrating juvenile identities were significant in society both when children survived to perpetuate it and when they did not. This significance was better-­acknowledged at times when children’s primary caregivers—­ women—­had more social agency. Experiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens: Material Culture, Iconography, Burials, and Social Identity in the 9th to 4th Centuries BCE. Emma Gooch, Oxford University Press. © Emma Gooch 2025. DOI: 10.1093/9780198949152.003.0004

211  Lekythoi honoured the dead modestly and privately, compared to publicly displayed stelai (Allen 2017).

5

Childhood in Ancient Athens A Social Experience

The experiences of children are typically overlooked in evaluations of ancient Athenian society; adults, as the more active social agents, take precedence. A new perspective focused on children, as the more numerous social agents, provides some new answers to old questions about the changing nature of society in Attica across the ninth to fourth centuries bce. Exploring the experiences of children acknowledges the variability apparent both in being a child and being represented as a child archaeologically. It accounts for the influence of adults on children’s identities, whilst maintaining a focus on the juveniles themselves. In ancient Greece, as now, children’s identities would typically have been moulded by the adults—and the adult society—around them, and the archaeological signatures of children’s identities would often be objects or deposits created by adults for children. Concentrating on the experiences of children encourages us to move beyond that and think about how and where children themselves could have interacted with the objects that were made for them, to forge identities in society. Thus, the material cultures of children and childhood—the objects that were made for and used by, or in the care of, children—are instrumental to developing an understanding of the social experience of being a child in ancient Athens. An improved understanding of the changing social experience of being a child in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Athenian society in turn facilitates an improved understanding of some of the changes that impacted Athenian society across the ninth to fourth centuries, as well as some of the motivating factors underpinning the transformations.

5.1  The Material Cultures of Children and Childhood in Ancient Athens Close and comparative analyses of iconography and burials demonstrates the significance of material culture—including animal companions, termed material culture for brevity because their remains can be preserved as archaeological artefacts—in constructing and performing juvenile identities in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Attica. Previous scholarship has underappreciated the range of objects associated with children, but painted pottery and funerary iconography,

254 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Table 5.1  Material culture associated with children in the ancient sources (AS), on Geometric pottery (GP), black-figure pottery (BF), red-figure pottery (RF), in burials (B), on grave stelai (GS), and on white-ground pottery (WG). Rollers/Carts Terracotta Figurines Astragaloi Balls Rattles Hoops Yoyos Choes (Oinochoai) Feeders Miniature Pots Amulets Shells Birds Dogs Other Animals Highchairs Furniture

AS/BF/RF/GS/WG AS/B/GS/WG AS/RF/B/GS BF/RF/B/GS AS/RF/GS RF/WG RF BF/RF/B/GS RF/B B RF/WG B BF/RF/GS/WG BF/RF/GS GP/BF/RF/GS RF BF/RF/GS/WG

Source: the author.

burials, and literary sources demonstrate links between children and various objects, including a range of toys; diagnostic pottery including choes, feeders, and terracotta highchairs; and protective amulets, throughout 900–323 bce (Table 5.1; Figure 5.1). Some—those that are archaeologically robust—can be sought as archaeological signatures of juveniles in excavated contexts to investigate children’s use of domestic space and juvenile interaction with others can be investigated to understand children’s embodied, disembodied, and socialised identities across the extended life course. Play, which often makes use of toys, is arguably a universal cultural practice (Crawford 2009: 56; Hughes 1999: 43, ­55–57). Research in modern contexts demonstrates play aids the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development of children and thus cultivates a sense of identity in juveniles (Finlay et al. 2023). The fact it is viable to investigate ancient Greek play and its paraphernalia is affirmed by the ancient sources: they advocated children’s play and use of toys in their (idealised) discourses on society.1 Plato (Laws I.643b) argued children 1  See Lazos (2002).

900 890 880 870 860 850 840 830 820 810 800 790 780 770 760 750 740 730 720 710 700 690 680 670 660 650 640 630 620 610 600 590 580 570 560 550 540 530 520 510 500 490 480 470 460 450 440 430 420 410 400 390 380 370 360 350 340 330

Rollers/Toy Carts Figurines/Dolls Astragaloi Balls Rattles Hoops Yoyos Choes Feeders Amulets Shells Highchairs

Figure 5.1  Diachronic distribution of associations between children and material culture. Source: the author.

256 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens should play at activities and with objects that would prepare them for future professions: the man who is to make a good builder must play at building toy houses, to make a good farmer he must play at tilling land; and those who are rearing them must provide each child with toy tools modelled on real ones.2

Aristotle (Politics VII.1336a) concurred that children’s games should be geared towards preparation for future occupations: all such amusements should prepare the way for their later pursuits; hence most children’s games should be imitations of the serious occupations of later life.3

In Aristophanes’ comedy Clouds (877–881), Strepsiades mentioned toys his son used to make and play with: when he was still a tyke this high, he could make clay houses at home, carve boats, and fashion figwood carts, and he’d make frogs out of pomegranates4

A later source, Pollux of Naucratis’ second-­century ce Onomastikon, listed games played in antiquity; a number of which are paralleled in Classical iconography (Beaumont 1994b: 31; Bethe 1931; Hett 1931: 24). Ultimately, the sources assert the importance of play in ancient Greek childhood and some associate children with particular material culture. They also demonstrate play’s role in socialising children: it helped juveniles learn practical skills and social norms in preparation for adult life.5 The inclusion of a range of ludic objects in iconography and burials indicates that, contra some sources, play was not always geared towards prep­ar­ ation for adult occupations; privileged children at least were permitted more freedom in their amusements than the literature’s ideals suggest. Toys are often the material signatures of juvenile activity and games. They are therefore a key signifier of the presence of children in excavated contexts, if they can be securely identified.6 Their potential has not, heretofore, been properly acknowledged because artefact analyses typically forefront adults’ activities and uses of material culture, which results in the need to over-­justify why objects excavated in domestic contexts may have been used by children or deposited as a 2  Bury (1926a). 3  Rackham (1932). 4  Henderson (1998). 5  For example, analyses indicate use of certain toys was gendered; only girls played with dolls, only boys with hoops. Gendered use of dolls has also been noted in the Roman world, and, owing to their feminised morphologies, associated with engendered socialisation of girls towards adult social ideals (Dolansky 2012). See Beck (1975); Beaumont (2012). 6  Objects distinctly identified as ‘toys’ are typically absent in pre- and proto-­historic settlements. It is not feasible to suggest no toys were deposited in those contexts, therefore the absence is due to a lack of recognition on the part of archaeologists (Crawford 2009: 56–58).

Childhood in Ancient Athens  257 result of juvenile activities.7 Ascertaining that objects are toys is not straightforward, for a number of reasons. Primarily, many toys were made from perishable materials and are not preserved archaeologically.8 In addition, many objects used as toys were probably multi-­f unctional;9 objects used for other purposes that were re-­purposed as toys or items re-­used in other contexts after they were playthings, for example they could be dedicated at sanctuaries and so would be excavated and recorded as votives (Crawford 2009: 60–63; Harlow 2013: 322–323).10 Fundamentally, objects may only be toys during one stage of their ‘life cycle’, that not constituting their final phase of use. This has led Sally Crawford (2009: 61) to argue toys are a ‘context-­related concept’, not a distinct class of objects. This emphasises the importance of context in ascertaining toys to be toys as well as evidence of distinctly juvenile activity.11 It also recognises often-­overlooked children’s agency, because it acknowledges the transformations that take place to transform objects into playthings often result from juvenile action. Crawford (2009: 56) also suggests ‘toys are the defining artefacts that encapsulate the difference between “childhood” and “adulthood” ’, but that was not necessarily the case in ancient Greece: iconography shows adults playing with toys. Using toys to identify domestic spaces used by children, through distribution analyses, is therefore problematised by the fact some toys could also have been used by adults, but many toys were most strongly associated with children, so the methodology remains sustainable. Children are most often associated with toys in the form of walking-­aid rollers or toy carts, the (h)amaxis or trochos. Ancient sources mention them, and ju­ven­ iles played with them in black-­figure, red-­figure, and white-­ground, and on stelai from 525 bce. Iconography demonstrates there were at least three types: sticks with wheels joined by a plinth (rollers), more elaborate forms in which the plinths were boxes or seats (carts), and fully fledged carts pulled by animals or other children as juveniles rode in them (chariots) (Ammar 2020; 2019; Hamilton 1992; 7  See Crawford (2009: 58–59) on ‘Group 2’ objects, which could be toys depending upon their contexts of use; traditional approaches make it difficult to conclusively classify them as toys, because they define material culture by how adults would have used it, by default. Approaches like Crawford’s argue that though it is difficult to ascertain that ‘Group 2’ type objects were used and deposited by children, it is important to consider that they might have been and evaluate them in that light. 8  Various known games from activity would leave negligible archaeological traces, for example balancing a stick on the hand and using a stick to agitate a hoop; both are depicted in iconography (see Neils and Oakley 2003a Cat. 280, a red-­figure lekythos showing a woman balancing a stick), but would not result in archaeological signatures. 9  Objects have three-­fold, often co-­existent, functions: techonomic, practical, functions; sociotechnic functions; and ideotechnic, primarily symbolic, functions (Calvert 1992: 6 after Binford 1962). 10  For example, girls dedicated dolls to the protective goddesses Artemis, Aphrodite, Athena, and Demeter upon marriage, in proteleia rituals that marked their departure from childhood (Elderkin 1930: 455–456; Reilly 1997: 156; Beaumont 2012: 128–129; Sommer and Sommer 2015: 115; Gutschke 2015: 218). Boys dedicated astragaloi, balls, and spinning tops to Apollo and Hermes to mark their transitions to adulthood (Greek Anthology VI.309; Elderkin 1930: 455; Beaumont 2012: 129). 11  See also Williams (2000: 394); Beaumont (2012: 129).

258 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Klein 1932).12 They are used differently by children of different ages and levels of mobility (Sommer and Sommer 2015: 124–125; Harlow 2013: 324). All forms were probably made from wood in most cases, because they could be lifted and carried by children, but one metal example has been found in a fifth or fourth-­century child’s grave in north-­western Greece (Oakley 2003: 181; Beaumont 2012: 78; Sommer and Sommer 2015: 123; Ammar 2020: 211). Despite their strong and exclusive associations with children, rollers/toy carts are severely limited in their utility as archaeological markers of children because the viability of locating and identifying their remains is negligible given they were typically wooden. Associations between them and children can be investigated to reflect upon the possibility that children were conceptualised to have extended life courses in Archaic and Classical Attica. Children were frequently associated with terracotta figurines in several forms: anthropomorphic—usually female—figures, animals, and mythological species, as well as baskets, bells, body parts, fruit, furniture, and granaries. There is a strong argument that many functioned as toys.13 Ancient sources refer to terracotta figurines used as toys and juveniles were associated with doll-­type figurines in grave stelai and white-­ground iconographies 520–323 bce, whilst figurines of all forms were found in child burials intermittently 900–323 bce. Iconography and archaeological evidence demonstrate anthropomorphic figures were characterised standing, seated, squatting, and reclining, as well as in partial form—as half-­figures or with truncated limbs. Iconography confirms some were dolls (Figure 5.2), though they are typically categorised as votive offerings, ritual figurines representing anatomical votives, or deities, in the first instance (Klein 1932; Ammerman 1990; Reilly 1997; Quirke 1998). Types illustrated in icon­ og­ raphy are not necessarily the same as contemporary archaeological ­models; examples on stelai are typically truncated and static, whilst excavated ex­amples often have mobile limbs (Beaumont 2012: 130–131).14 Regardless of typological nuance, it is implausible to suggest all figurines were for sacred use, and to dismiss their potential as toys, given their strong associations with ju­ven­ iles. Xenophon (Symposium 4.55)15 mentioned terracotta figurines used as children’s dolls and some figurines contain loose clay balls that rattle when agitated,

12  Some scholars have suggested the rollers/carts were gifts given to children at the Anthesteria (Beaumont 2012), but the fact they are depicted in other media suggests they were a feature of everyday, secular, life for children even if they were acquired in festal contexts (Golden 2015; Ammar 2020). 13 They may have been alternatives to examples rendered in wood, which are not preserved: wooden figurines would be more durable in daily life, as terracotta examples could be chipped and shattered (Williams 2000: 391; Gutschke 2015: 220). That would be balanced by the fact terracotta items were pervasive in antiquity, and the figurines could have been relatively inexpensive and so easily replaced if broken (Williams 2000: 392). 14  Some truncated examples are attested archaeologically (Reilly 1997: 154, 160). 15  Marchant and Todd (2013).

Childhood in Ancient Athens  259

Figure 5.2  White-­ground lekythos showing a tomb visit scene: an older girl holds out a doll beside a stele. Source: Oakley (2004) Figure 131 © Cambridge University Press, reproduced with permission of the Licensor through PLSclear. Credit Line: Newcastle University School of History, Classics and Archaeology Research Committee Funding.

facilitating use as rattles (Williams 2000: 391).16 Archaeological examples of confirmed dolls are well known from antiquity; they were produced from at least the Geometric period, made from bone, wood, ivory, marble, wax, cloth, and terracotta (Elderkin 1930: 456; Klein 1932: 14, Plate XVI; Higgins 1967).17 Early examples were flat and bell-­shaped, but later Archaic and Classical dolls 16  Ritual cups could also incorporate the feature, but rattles in the form of terracotta figurines are well attested from antiquity; animal forms are especially common (Vickers 1970; Vickers and Jeffrey 1974; Klein 1932: 4–6). 17  See Neils and Oakley (2003a) Cat. 71.

260 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens were increasingly naturalistic;18 rounded, well-­moulded figures with moveable limbs.19 In Attica, jointed dolls with moveable appendages are most often found in burial contexts, but some have been excavated in houses at Olynthus (Robinson 1931: 40–41; 1952: 232–235; Gutschke 2015: 217). Frauke Gutschke (2015: 219) suggests types with moveable limbs were most likely to have been used in secular settings, but various types are found in domestic contexts.20 Ultimately, the possibility that at least some anthropomorphic terracotta figurines were toys rather than ritual votives must be considered. Animal terracottas are likewise often declassified as toys by virtue of primarily being considered ritual models, because representations of animals were popular votives at sanctuaries. Terracottas in the form of equids were common Geometric playthings, and some were affixed to wheels, but they were also attached to pyxides lids, and metal and terracotta representations of horses were also popular votives, complicating classifications of them as toys.21 Other species represented as terracotta figurines in child burials include: monkeys, pigs, dogs, boars, sheep, tortoises/turtles, lions, and bulls (see Knigge 1976). Some, especially monkeys, dogs, tortoises/turtles, and lions were not usually offered at sanctuaries, strengthening suppositions that they were typically toys throughout the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods. Other types of terracotta models are more enigmatic or have less secure as­so­ci­ ations with juveniles. The significance of baskets, bells, fruit, and granaries is more general and indistinct, and granaries in particular were most often associated with adult females.22 Models of furniture including tables and couches were conceivably part of playsets, but body part terracottas were probably anatomical votives.23 Ultimately, the viability of using anthropomorphic and mammalian figurines as markers of children in excavated domestic contexts is definite, but best evaluated on a case-­by-­case basis, comparing the morphology of contemporary examples in houses and burials. Animal figurines in particular have negligible 18  Archaic dolls are typically Corinthian, they are relatively small measuring 10–12cm in height and some have clothes painted onto their torsos. Classical dolls produced in Corinth and Attica are typically 15–18cm tall and are nude (Sommer and Sommer 2015: 117–119). 19  See Sommer and Sommer (2015: 116–117) on the typological development of dolls across the Geometric to Hellenistic periods. 20  Sommer and Sommer (2015: 121) suggest dolls could have been used to encourage girls to practice being a mother, which would be their primary occupation, besides being a wife. Girls may have dedicated their dolls upon marriage because they were expected to turn their attention to looking after the real children that ideally resulted from their marriage. 21  A mule terracotta in the British Museum (GR 1921.11–29.2) is distinguished as a toy by holes in the lower legs where wheels were attached, a hole in the nose where a string for pulling it was affixed, and by the rattling sound produced by clay pellets within the body of the figure (Williams 2000: 390–391). Holes pierced in some figurines and miniatures have been said to have been used to display the objects in sanctuaries (Williams 2000: 394). 22  For example, see Xagorari-­Gleissner (2005) Tafel 9. They have been interpreted as miniatures of beehives, kilns, bread-­ovens, inkwells, and ‘piggy-­banks’ (Williams 2000: 392). 23  Use of body part votives to request or give thanks for healing in antiquity is well attested (Hughes 2008; 2017; 2018).

Childhood in Ancient Athens  261 other techonomic functions that would detract from them being classified as toys and sought as signatures of juvenile activity in secular contexts. Other figurine types are difficult to use similarly. All figurines are limited in what they suggest about children’s extended life courses in ancient Attica. Ancient sources and iconography record that children played games with astragaloi.24 Juveniles are associated with them in red-­figure and on grave stelai and were buried with them—often in abundance—from 760–730 bce, between 560–530 bce, and throughout 510–323 bce. Astragaloi were either genuine animal knucklebones or bronze, glass, or stone imitations (Klein 1932: 18; Beaumont 2012: 131).25 In iconography, astragaloi were often in phormiskoi.26 In burials, children—rather than adults—had the strongest associations with them (Carè 2017), but astragaloi are problematic signifiers of juvenile activity arch­aeo­logic­ al­ly because they could equally be food processing waste. Mapping astragaloi distribution to locate spaces used by children in domestic contexts would also be inconclusive because they were multi-­purpose objects; associated with adults and used for various other purposes, including in divination (Beaumont 2012: 128). Ultimately, using astragaloi to investigate children’s use of domestic space and their possible extended life courses is impractical. Ancient sources, iconography, and archaeology demonstrate that children interacted with a range of other toys in antiquity, including; balls, rattles, hoops, and yoyos (Figure 5.3; Figure 5.4; Figure 5.5). Juveniles play with balls in blackand red-­figure iconography and on grave stelai, and balls were interred as offerings with children, 820–810 bce and 530–300 bce. Rattles were used to entertain younger juveniles on red-­figure pottery and grave stelai 500–300 bce. Children were associated with hoops in red-­figure and white-­ground 475–300 bce and a boy played with a yoyo on a circa 450 bce red-­figure cup (Figure 5.5). Balls were popular toys for adults as well as children, and ball games played alone and as team sports are known from literary and iconographic evidence (Klein 1932; Beck 1975; Durand 1991). Balls could be made from various materials, many not durable and not preserved archaeologically. Using balls as markers of children archaeologically is predominantly problematised by the fact adults played with them as well as children; women are shown juggling in iconography (Beck 1975: 51).27 They therefore cannot securely distinguish juvenile from adult activity. Rattles were leather, bone, wood, bronze, and terracotta (Beaumont 1994b: 31; Neils and Oakley 2003a: 265). Some could therefore be preserved in excavated houses. Archaeologically, they are often in the form of animals, strengthening as­so­ci­ ations between animal figurines and juveniles, but in iconography they are

24  Pollux (Onomastikon 9.126) listed the rules of some games played with astragaloi (Beaumont 1994b: 33; Bethe 1931). 25  See Neils and Oakley (2003a) Cats. 89 and 90. 26  See Neils and Oakley (2003a) Cat. 84. 27  See Neils and Oakley (2003a) Cat. 81.

262 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 5.3  Red-­figure chous showing a child at play: an infant seated in a highchair plays with a rattle. Source: photo from the British Museum, London; Chous 1910,0615.4, © The Trustees of the British Museum. Credit Line: Institute of Classical Studies.

typically simpler (Figure 5.3).28 Implements recorded as producing rattling sounds, whether in distinct forms or not, can therefore be considered possible markers of children in excavated houses, but they require evaluation on a case-­ by-­case basis. Hoops were probably made from wood, or another lightweight, perishable material and would be difficult to identify archaeologically; they are thereby unviable signatures of juvenile activity. At least some yoyos were terracotta, so archaeologically robust.29 They, like rattles, can be sought as markers of children, but must be evaluated on individual bases in excavated houses. Spinning 28  Compare Neils and Oakley (2003a) Cat. 69. 29  Sommer and Sommer (2015 Figure 52) record a black-­glazed yoyo held in the Toys Department in the Benaki Museum, accession number 1098. Possible yoyos have been recorded as ‘bobbins’ and ‘spools’: Richter (1928) records a white-­ground example decorated with mythical pursuit scenes, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 28.167. See Shapiro (1985).

Childhood in Ancient Athens  263

Figure 5.4  White-­ground lekythos showing a visit to a tomb scene: a younger boy plays with a hoop beside a stele. Source: photo from the British Museum, London; Lekythos 1920,1221.3, © The Trustees of the British Museum. Credit Line: Institute of Classical Studies.

tops are also known to have been used as toys in antiquity, though they are only shown with adults in extant iconography and were not apparently buried with children.30 They were typically terracotta, though bronze, stone, glass, and lead examples are known (Beaumont 1994b; Harcourt-­Smith 1929).31 They would therefore usually be recoverable in archaeological contexts, but they have insecure associations with children, so it is not viable to use them as signifiers of ju­ven­ile activity in domestic spaces. Ultimately, toys associated with juveniles more infrequently than rollers, figurines, and astragaloi retain potential to inform upon how children used domestic space in antiquity; the distribution of rattles and yoyos in particular can be mapped to suggest which household spaces 30  See Neils and Oakley (2003a) Cat. 77.

31  See Neils and Oakley (2003a) Cats. 71 and 78.

264 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 5.5  Red-­figure cup showing a child at play: an older boy plays with a yoyo. Source: photo from the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Antikensammlung/Johannes Laurentius, CC BY-­S A 4.0, inventory number F 2549.

children spent time in, and with whom. The objects require assessment on case-­ by-­case bases when evaluating specific houses. Hints of post-­mortem interaction with toys can also suggest if children could have extended life courses. Besides toys, iconography and burials associate children with certain vessels that were specifically, and on occasion exclusively, engineered for juveniles. Some, especially feeders and miniature choes, can be considered diagnostic of children, given their functions and pervasive associations with non-­adults: they can be securely used to investigate children’s use of domestic space and their extended life courses. Burials, grave stelai, black-­figure, and red-­figure in particular illustrate strong links between children and choes between 675–650 bce and 550–300 bce.32 Smaller examples with iconography depicting juveniles are not found in graves with adults, only children, and the iconographic schemes on larger ex­amples are clearly distinct from the juvenile-­centric scenes on smaller jugs, not least in that they do not depict children (Green 1971: 223; Bažant 1975: 74–76; Hamilton 1992: 86). Following Sophie Collin-­Bouffier (1999: 93), I argue children used and/or played with choes in household contexts (see also Gooch 2016). 32 ‘Miniature’ choes have variously been classified as examples smaller than; 10cm (Moore 1997), 13cm (Ham 1999), and 15cm in height (Hamilton 1992; Bažant 1975; van Hoorn 1951). I use the latter parameter because examples up to 15cm frequently have juvenile-­centric iconography.

Childhood in Ancient Athens  265 That,  along with the demonstrably strong associations between juveniles and miniaturised choes, renders the vessels one of the strongest signifiers of children’s activity in domestic spaces. Choes smaller than 15cm in height, both with figural dec­or­ation and plain-­glazed wares, can be regarded as signifiers of the presence of children, and their distribution can be mapped to evaluate juveniles’ use of oikos space, especially in the fifth and fourth centuries.33 Associations between choes and children can also be investigated to inform upon children’s extended life courses, because they were notionally associated with juveniles of a particular age—those around 3-­years-­old, when they participated in the Anthesteria—but in reality were apparently linked to a broader spectrum of juveniles. Young children in particular had strong—though not necessarily exclusive34—associations with feeding cups.35 One red-­figure vessel was a bombylios (Figure 3.27), and feeders were offerings in burials 900–660 bce, circa 525 bce, and 470–400 bce.36 They were indubitably used in the care of children, as demonstrated by an early fifth-­ century Boeotian terracotta, which shows a woman feeding an infant using one (Figure 5.6). This is affirmed by the fact some feeders have inscriptions including ‘mamo’ and ‘drink, don’t drop’, and some have teeth impressions around the spouts,37 which confirm the vessels were used for drinking rather than other purposes like filling oil lamps. Archaeology attests that feeders were used from the Helladic to the Roman period in Greece and the basic form of the bombylios changed little over time; it was always characterised by its spout (Rutter 2003: 36; Beaumont 2012: 55).38 Some types have strainers integrated into the top. Feeding cups were typically of Attic or Cypriot manufacture, but there is no established typology for either series (Sommer and Sommer 2015: 64–65). The most common find contexts for them are children’s graves (Kern 1957). Twenty-­ nine feeders recorded in the burials analysed measured 4.15cm to 10.2cm in height and larger examples often integrated strainers (Table 5.2).39 Sommer and Sommer (2015: 64–65) argue the fact feeders are most often found in sub-­adult burials indicates they were conceptualised as children’s personal possessions, and that juveniles were provisioned with them in graves so they could use them in the

33  Patterning in burials suggests adults used vessels with figural decoration more than children; juveniles were more often offered plain-­glazed wares (Dubois 2012: 330). Consequently, undecorated choes under 15cm can also be considered markers of juveniles. 34  Adults could use them for medicinal purposes (Dubois 2012: 337–338). Corbett (1954) published a feeder as an ‘invalid cup’. 35  Feeding cups are also referred to as ‘feeding bottles’ and ‘feeders’. Vessels conforming to the shape have also been recorded as ‘guttae’ because they were considered lamp fillers (Kern 1957: 18; Beaumont 2012: 55). 36  See Neils and Oakley (2003a) Cat. 29. 37  See Parlama and Stampolidis (2001) Cat. 210. 38 Some atypical forms are known, they were apparently popular in southern Italy: Neils and Oakley (2003a) catalogued a Sicilian feeder in the form of a pig (Cat. 32) and a south Italian feeder that imitates a pomegranate (Cat. 33). 39  Two feeders are recorded in Burial 322: one is insufficiently preserved, so not described in the publication.

266 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 5.6  Boeotian terracotta figurine of a woman feeding an infant using a feeding cup. Source: photo from the Museum of Art and History, Geneva; Femme allaitant un bébé à l’aide d’un biberon, no inv. A 2003-­0011/dt, © Museum of Art and History, City of Geneva.

afterlife. The fact feeders were not solely utilitarian objects is suggested by the fact most were decorated, some with figural scenes, and rare examples were produced in precious materials like glass (Corbett 1954; Kern 1957; Bartosocas 1978). Ultimately, being made from terracotta for the most part and their links to children far outweighing their associations with adults, feeders—like choes—are vi­able markers of juveniles, that would have been used in household contexts. They may have been overlooked in previous investigations of excavated houses because they are often plain, sometimes black-­glazed, wares or because they were not recognised as feeding cups, but they can be sought as markers of children in excavated houses. Evaluations of their associations with juveniles can also inform

Childhood in Ancient Athens  267 Table 5.2  Feeding cups in Attic child burials. Burial ID

Decoration

Integrated Sieve?

Height (cm)

B 41 B 61 B 71 B 75 B 113 B 138 B 149 B 152 B 227 B 298 B 322 B 332 B 336 B 352 B 368 B 376 B 476 B 479 B 498 B 502 B 506 B 507 B 513 B 566 B 685 B 730 B 730 B 737 B 743

Black-­glazed Black-­glazed Black-­glazed Black-­glazed Black-­glazed Black-­glazed Black-­glazed Black-­glazed Black-­glazed Non-­figural Black-­glazed Black-­glazed Un-­glazed Black-­glazed Black-­glazed Black-­glazed Black-­glazed Black-­glazed Black-­glazed Black-­glazed Non-­figural Black-­glazed Un-­glazed Black-­glazed Black-­glazed Black-­glazed Black-­glazed Black-­glazed Black-­glazed

X X X X X X X Sieve Sieve X X X Sieve X—with Lid Sieve Sieve Sieve X Sieve Sieve Sieve Sieve Sieve Sieve X ? ? ? X—with Lid

5.8 5.8 5.9 6.2 5.1 5.1 5.0 6.6 6.7 4.15 5.2 7.2 6.3 5.5 5.6 6.8 5.4 6.0 5.1 5.1 3.3 5.4 4.6 6.0 5.2 9.2 10.2 10.7 6.4

Source: the author.

upon children’s extended life courses because they possibly represented a desire to furnish child burials with implements used to nourish juveniles that would theoretically lose their purpose upon the death of a child, unless the child’s identity was conceptualised to endure in some form. Miniature vessels of other types are more difficult to securely tie to juvenile identities and activity, despite associations with children in burial contexts throughout the ninth to fourth centuries. Evaluating miniatures as signatures of juveniles is problematised by a lack of consistency in defining and recording miniatures in the literature.40 The problem is exacerbated because miniatures are 40  ‘Miniatures’ are generally defined as versions of other objects produced at a significantly reduced scale (Pilz 2011). Scholarship has demonstrated a general lack of interest in miniatures, frequently dismissing them as smaller, cheaper versions of other items (Martin and Langin Hooper 2018: 1). They are ill-­defined and inconsistently recorded.

268 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens common features of sanctuary contexts and are typically ascribed ritual functions in the first instance (Ekroth 2003; Pilz 2011; Barfoed 2018).41 Oliver Pilz (2011) notes that the phenomenon of making miniature versions of objects is cross-­ cultural. This suggests there are multiple impetuses for their production, not ne­ces­sar­ily all sacred; an obvious secular purpose for miniature vessels is use by children, and miniatures are often found in domestic contexts (Dubois 2012: 335).42 It is often argued ‘miniatures’ are non-­functional versions of the shapes they represent, or that their viability for use in daily life is minimal (Pilz 2011). This does not account for use by children; an object can function as a child’s toy without otherwise being practically functional, for example a miniature epinetron in a grave assemblage in the British Museum.43 The object would not be conventionally functional—it could not practically be used to work wool—but it, and objects like it, undoubtedly functioned as toys for children’s entertainment and may have been used to socialise them, for example to introduce young girls to social norms that dictated working wool would be one of their predominant adult occupations. Vessel shapes made specifically for children are rare (Collin-­Bouffier 1999: 94), so it is highly likely that juveniles used miniaturised versions of conventional shapes in their daily lives within the oikos, both as toys but also as functional objects for eating and drinking. Some miniature vessels excavated in domestic contexts are therefore likely to be representative of juvenile activity, but it is difficult to argue this conclusively and so existing research demonstrates a general tendency to omit this consideration. Langdon (2013: 183; 2015b) suggests assumptions of juvenile interaction with miniature vessels can be strengthened in cases where children may also have been the producers of the objects. These would typically be distinguished by being poorly made; demonstrating irregular wall thickness, issues with firing, unintentional asymmetry, and problems with the conceptualisation of the motifs, if decorated (Langdon 2013: 177). Overall, using miniatures to ascertain the presence of children archaeologically is viable, but requires evaluation on a case-­ by-­ case basis, with discrete consideration of whether specific examples were made and/or used by juveniles. As with feeders, investigation of associations between miniature vessels and children can inform upon ideas about children’s extended life courses in ancient Attica.

41  Miniatures are often considered cost-­effective forms of larger vessels, representatively dedicated in their place. The fact some miniatures do not have larger equivalents suggests they were not simply smaller and cheaper substitutes (Ekroth 2003: 35). It has been suggested miniatures were also used to emphasise the symbolism of offerings, which would be brought into sharper focus by their diminished practicality compared to larger versions (Pilz 2011). 42  In his detailed analyses of housing at Halieis, Ault (1994; 2000; 2005a) has acknowledged the uncertain function of miniature vessels, but has only suggested some cultic use and failed to recognise many could have been used by juveniles. 43 1906,0314.4.

Childhood in Ancient Athens  269 Children wore amulet strings in red-­figure and white-­ground iconography throughout the fifth and fourth centuries. The amulets are detailed in various ways (Figure 5.7), but most were probably made from perishable materials because they are difficult to identify archaeologically, for example in child burials (Dasen 2003: 280; Beaumont 2012: 62–63). The varied nature of ancient Greek protective charms is reflected in the number of terms used to refer to them; apotropaia, probaskania, periammata, periapta, and prophylaktika (Beaumont 2012: 62). Amulets—fundamentally any materials endowed with apotropaic functions— were pervasive in Graeco-­Roman antiquity; used to protect against malign forces including illness, witchcraft, accidents, and harmful demons or spirits (Deubner 1910: 434; Dasen 2003: 275; Versnel 2012).44 Scholars including Seifert (2006a; 2008) and Alexis Castor (2006)45 have suggested amulet strings were used to assert children’s citizen identities, but I contend they were primarily protective objects because they were associated with juveniles of various ages, though most often infants that would be most in need of the protection they afforded, and they were associated with female children, who would not hold citizenship in a true sense (Figure 5.7). Objects, archaeologically in burials, with potential to be identified as the remains of amulet strings are: shells, beads, pendants, chains, necklaces, and jewellery. Some could feasibly be identified as parts of protective amulet strings, and have no clear utilities that prohibit them serving apotropaic functions, but the claim cannot be substantiated sufficiently so as to facilitate use of them as signatures of juvenile activity and identities: especially in the case of shells, they could—like knucklebones—equally represent food preparation waste deposits in household contexts.46 Beads were found singularly in all but two bur­ ials; given strings are usually adorned with multiple amulets, it is difficult to ascertain they were originally components of apotropaic strings. Even confirmed as such, however, beads would be limited in their utility for identifying spaces used by children in domestic contexts, because beads were not exclusively, nor even particularly, associated with juveniles; they would not serve as markers of children’s activity in opposition to adults’ activity in excavated houses. This is 44  The female demons Gello, Mormo, Lamia, and Empousa were considered to pose especial risks to children in ancient Greece (Dasen 2003: 277; Beaumont 2012: 62). 45  Castor argues amulets asserted juveniles’ legitimacy by associating them with Erichthonios, the founder of Athens. She concurs that they also served apotropaic functions. Atypically for a mythical figure, Erichthonios is often shown wearing amulets as a baby, therefore when he would be in most need of protection (Dasen 2003: 279; Castor 2006: 625). As Erichthonios was given the divine protection of Athena, Castor argues amulet strings were symbolic of protection from Athens’ patron deity. 46  Worked shells—for example pierced, cut, or polished examples—would be better candidates, but even in burials most shells are unworked. Shells were deposited in Attic child burials from the Mycenaean period until the second century and are also found in such contexts more widely in Greece; but are very rarely worked (Stroszeck 2012: 57, 62, 66–67, 70). Stroszeck (2012: 66) has ascertained Blue Mussel shells were significantly more likely to be associated with children than adults in burial contexts, possibly making them a stronger indicator of children in domestic contexts, but it remains problematic to discard the possibility of them being food waste in excavated houses, other than if they demonstrate clear evidence of having been worked.

270 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 5.7  Red-­figure chous showing a crawling infant: a female infant wears a string of amulets, she plays with a ball and a chous stands right. Source: Hellenic National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Inv. Nr. NAM 14532 © Hellenic Ministry of Culture/Hellenic Organization of Cultural Resources Development. Credit Line: Newcastle University School of History, Classics and Archaeology Research Committee Funding.

likewise the case for pieces of jewellery; though they are distinctive examples of material culture, they are in no way diagnostic of children. They probably indexed other forms of status besides age: they were included in few sub-­adult burials, and their composition—typically glass or metal—suggests they were used to convey social messages about the deceased’s wealth or social standing. Ultimately, despite their strong and exclusive associations with children, amulet strings are limited in their potential to inform upon the social identities of children as they were enacted and experienced, spatially, in domestic contexts in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Attica, because they cannot be securely identified arch­aeo­ logic­al­ly. They are more useful in what they suggest about children’s extended life courses, because they are illustrated in association with children that are apparently deceased, who would not theoretically need them unless a post-­mortem form of their identity existed.47 47  Beaumont (2012: 63) suggests amulet strings were not only to protect live children and that they were depicted in painted pottery but not on grave stelai because stelai iconography was not sufficiently concentrated upon infants as to include specific details like amulets. The latter is debatable because amulets were infrequently depicted in white-­ground and some stelai specifically com­mem­­ orate infants, but it is viable to investigate why deceased children could also warrant protection from amulet strings.

Childhood in Ancient Athens  271 Children are associated with a range of animal species across burials and iconography. They are depicted in scenes with birds, deer, and horses in Geometric iconography; with horses, dogs, birds, deer, hares, and bulls in black-­figure; and with birds of various species, cats, deer, dogs, dolphins, fish, goats, hares, horses, monkeys, and octopuses in red-­figure. Grave stelai associate children with birds, cats, dogs, horses, and rabbits. They are shown only with birds and a— possibly mythological—snake in white-­ground iconography. Animal bones in some burials indicate children could also be interred with animal companions.48 Overall, it is with birds and dogs that children have the strongest affiliations, and the significance of children’s relationships with those species has been explored above. Archaeologically, it is difficult to use animals to investigate children’s use of domestic space, but the iconography alone demonstrates the prevalent presence of animals in children’s lives, which suggests access to outdoor space; the obvious areas being the land surrounding the house in the Geometric and the oikos courtyard and land holdings in Archaic and Classical periods. This generally suggests juvenile access to the most public parts of the Attic house, though it does not necessarily suggest wider social visibility in post-­Geometric periods. Ultimately, animals—even those that were close companions of children—cannot be used to identify specific spaces used by children in excavated houses, not least because they were not exclusively associated with children and some of their remains could represent food waste; the remains of species that were exclusively pets are not usually found in excavated domestic contexts. Children’s relationships with certain species, particularly dogs and birds, can be investigated to interrogate the possibility of children having had extended life courses in Archaic and Classical Attica. Architectural features and furniture signified space in iconography illustrating children between 575 and 323 bce. Couches, chairs, footstools,49 and tables apparently denote domestic contexts in black-­figure, red-­figure, white-­ground, and on grave stelai. A miniature table and chairs, occupied by seated figures were found in child burials. Architectural elements including columns, doors, windows, and a shelf were also represented in iconography; columns in black-­figure, red-­figure, and white-­ground scenes and on a stele from 575 bce; and doors, windows, and a shelf in fifth-­century red-­figure scenes. Some material culture also signifies domestic space, because it is distinctly associated with female activities and by extension private feminine space: kalathoi, illustrated in black- and red-­ figure and on stelai from 550 bce; and a loom, incorporated into a 450–400 bce red-­figure scene. All the elements indicate children passed significant time in spaces within the oikos, but it is difficult—as with animal companions—to use them to understand which spaces specifically. In Lysias (On the Murder of 48  Typically bones of uncertain species. On occasion, specifically pig and bird bones. 49  Footstools are only on stelai, used with throne-­like chairs.

272 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Eratosthenes 9)50 the defendant records swapping his downstairs quarters for his wife’s upstairs to make it easier for her to care for their infant. This suggests the portable nature of most furniture and furnishings in ancient Greek houses and the flexibility with which oikos space was used.51 Seating, tables, and most other furniture would have been made from perishable materials including wood and wicker, which are not preserved. No seats have been excavated in Classical Greek domestic contexts, though marble tables are known at Hellenistic sites in Macedonia and on Delos (Andrianou 2009: 23, 50–51). Fixed architectural features can more viably be investigated archaeologically: columns were usually in certain parts of Greek houses, notably in portico spaces adjoining courtyards and doorways are often recoverable, though the doors themselves are not, but issues arise in identifying specific spaces associated with the features—for example, there would be multiple doorways in houses—and in understanding whether the features were used representatively or symbolically in iconography.52 Ultimately, architectural features, furniture, and furnishings generally indicate children passed significant amounts of time within the confines of the oikos, in domestic space; they suggest juveniles may have spent time in the vicinity of household courtyards, probably in women’s space. Mapping the distribution of them cannot viably inform upon children’s use of domestic space with any significant spe­ci­fi­ city, however, and the evidence types are not applicable to considerations of children’s extended life courses. One piece of furniture that is particularly pertinent in considerations of children is the terracotta highchair, depicted in three red-­figure scenes. Lasana are also attested archaeologically;53 a black-­figure example was excavated in a domestic waste deposit in a well in the Athenian Agora in 1947 (Figure 5.8; Lynch and Papadopoulos 2006).54 The potty stool pre-­dates iconographic depictions of the same by more than a century but demonstrates strong stylistic continuity. Lasana were probably multi-­f unctional objects that could be used as highchairs as well as potties; in one red-­figure scene the child sitting in the lasanon is clothed.55 Sommer and Sommer (2015: 70) suggest highchairs could also be used to socialise young children because they raise them to a level where they can better communicate with adults. Fragments of potty stool-­highchairs are known in contexts dated from the second half of the seventh century; they are better recognised as 50  Lamb (1930). 51  See Richter (1965). See Pudsey and Vuolanto (2021) on the nature of space changing in response to the needs of the people within and using it in antiquity. 52  See Lynch (2007) on columns as representative of space in painted pottery symposion scenes. 53  See Neils and Oakley (2003a) Cat. 41. 54  From Hill of the Nymphs deposit A17:1. Dated 575–560 bce. Athenian fabric. Decorated by the Gorgon Painter. Approximately 50cm tall, with a diameter of 20cm at the top and 40–45cm at the base. Hollow stand, with a hole in the bottom to allow for the passage of waste. Metal rods may have been inserted into the holes in the base to steady the highchair (Thompson 1971; Lynch and Papadopoulos 2006: 5–12; Beaumont 2012: 57–58; Sommer and Sommer 2015: 71). 55  On a lekythos in the Antikensammlung, Berlin: F2209.

Childhood in Ancient Athens  273

Figure 5.8  Black-­figure Archaic highchair with iconography of terrestrial animals and mythological creatures, including lions, geese, and sirens; repaired and restored. Source: photo from the American School of Classical Studies at Athens; Athenian Agora P18010, Ephorate of Antiquities of the City of Athens—Excavations of the Ancient Agora/American School of Classical Studies © Ministry of Culture/Organization for the Management and Development of Cultural Resources (ODAAP). Credit Line: Institute of Classical Studies.

such in light of the Agora example (Brann 1961; 1962; Lynch and Papadopoulos 2006). Ultimately, lasana are certain signatures of juvenile activity: if they can be identified in excavated houses, even in fragmentary form, they can securely indicate which spaces infants and toddlers used. Highchairs cannot be used to investigate children’s extended life courses. Clearly, play was important in the lives of ancient Greek children—at least those in social circumstances to permit a level of freedom in childhood—and archaeological, iconographical, and literary evidence demonstrate toys were frequently used in the construction of juvenile identities in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Greece. Archaeology, iconography, and the ancient sources also suggest

274 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens paraphernalia specifically engineered to be used by, and in the care of, children was produced between 900 and 323 bce in Greece. Analyses outline material cultures of childhood that include figurines—including dolls—astragaloi, balls, and feeders in the Geometric; the same in addition to rollers/toy carts, rattles, choes, amulets, and highchairs in the Archaic; and the same, as well as hoops and yoyos in the Classical period in Attica. The contemporary material cultures of children were undoubtedly broader because juveniles often repurpose objects not intended for them, but they are more inaccessible archaeologically because of problems with securely tying material culture to use and deposition resultant of juvenile action. Typological critique of the material culture of childhood demonstrates a proportion of the materials can be useful moving forward into in­ter­pret­ ation of how children used domestic space and how far they were conceptualised to have extended life courses between 900 and 323 bce in Attica. Dolls, animal terracottas, rattles, yoyos, choes, feeders, miniatures, and highchairs can be used to explore children’s experiences of household space. All toys, choes, feeders, mini­atures, amulets, and animals, and children’s interactions with them in mortuary and notionally post-­mortem contexts, can be used to investigate children’s extended life courses.

5.2  Being a Child in the House and Society in Ancient Athens Children, especially the youngest juveniles, were predominantly active in domestic contexts in ancient Greece: literary sources and iconography confirm that, so it does not merely reflect modern biases to suggest juvenile identities were primarily constructed and experienced within Geometric, Archaic, and Classical oikoi. It therefore stands to reason children—like other members of their households—left signatures upon the archaeological records of houses, which it should be possible to identify and interpret when excavated domestic contexts are evaluated. Based on current evidence, presenting detailed analyses of children’s use of domestic space has proven problematic: probably for that reason, children have typically been overlooked in household archaeology. Many excavated Greek houses are insufficiently preserved, inadequately recorded, and too poorly understood to facilitate comprehensive analyses of the uses of most of the spaces within them.56 Artefact assemblages are recovered in most excavated houses, however, and a methodology that evaluates the distribution of artefacts associated with juveniles can identify spaces children used within houses and explore how children used and experienced domestic space in Geometric, Archaic, and 56 Excavation of more than one or two rooms is atypical. In built-­up areas like Athens, pre-­ Hellenistic houses are usually obscured by later activity (Graham 1974: 46).

Childhood in Ancient Athens  275 Classical Greece. Domestic assemblages can be scrutinised to identify evidence of the material culture of childhood; dolls, animal terracottas, rattles, yoyos, choes, feeders, miniatures, and highchairs. The distribution of them can be mapped to understand children’s access to domestic spaces, children’s activities in those spaces and relationships that children developed with others as a result of interactions within the oikos. Such an approach does not attempt to locate ‘nurseries’ or ‘playrooms’, but to more generally ascertain which areas within houses were used by children, and how accessible those spaces were compared to other spaces in the domestic sphere. Drawing upon Access Analysis from architectural theory on the use of space (Hillier and Hanson 1984; Hillier 2014), the investigation can move forwards to reflect on the relative social visibility of children beyond the oikos across the ninth to fourth centuries. Certain methodological issues are pertinent to artefact distribution and spatial analyses of Greek domestic contexts. Attic houses excavated such that full ground plans can be produced are few, and those often have poorly recorded finds assemblages.57 In houses with more comprehensive ground plans and recorded finds assemblages, distinguishing between types of deposits can be problematic and is complicated by the fact many houses were occupied over prolonged periods, often up to one hundred years; therefore usage of space within them transformed, resulting in house floor assemblages that are palimpsests, rather than signatures of activity at a distinct time (Lang 2005: 12; Nevett 2012: 214). Ultimately, domestic assemblages do not crystallise moments in time and analyses of them cannot re-­create specific instants, but careful analysis of examples with distinct phases of occupation and known circumstances of abandonment do facilitate understanding of patterns of use and behaviour (Ault and Nevett 1999: 51–52; LaMotta and Schiffer 1999: 21–25).58 The circumstances of deposition and the impact of post-­depositional factors are comparatively well understood for the Classical settlement at Olynthus in the Chalcidice, which was a member state of the Athenian Empire until 432 bce, and maintained links with Athens until the settlement was sacked by Philip of Macedon in 348 bce (Nevett 1999: 60–61; Cahill 2002: 24). The sudden abandonment of the settlement because of its destruction produced domestic contexts and assemblages that are relatively well preserved, and extensive excavations in the 1920s and 1930s, which had an innovative focus on extensive small finds recording, have recorded many of the settlement’s houses in great detail (see especially Robinson 1930; 1946; Robinson and Graham 1938; Cahill 2002). 57 Many excavation reports focus on architectural details rather than precise finds context information. 58  Deposits usually represent the whole life cycle of houses, across their phases of use (Allison 1999: 12).

276 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Olynthian houses are thus case studies which can be explored using artefact distribution analyses to investigate the proportion of houses open to juvenile access, the relative accessibility of spaces in which children were active, and the nature of other activities that took place in the presence of juveniles. The links between Olynthus and Athens make the results viably indicative of the nature of children’s experiences of domestic spaces in Attica, as well as Olynthus, in the Classical period.59 House Avii4 at Olynthus was situated on the North Hill of the settlement. It has been described as the ‘type house’ for Olynthus (Cahill 2002: 103). The house comprised twelve distinct spaces accessed from a focal courtyard and adjoining portico (pastas). The house was occupied from circa 425 bce until it was destroyed during the Macedonian sack of the city. More than one hundred objects were excavated within the house’s footprint in the 1920s (Cahill 2002: 103–108). They undoubtedly do not represent the house’s whole original inventory, thus the results of my analyses are at all points in the terms that children accessed at least these spaces and this proportion of the house. To paraphrase a frequently repeated mantra in archaeology; absence of their evidence (material culture) is not necessarily evidence of their absence. Four terracotta figurines of anthropomorphic females found in the main courtyard and multiple figurines found in a fragmentary state in Room B (pos­ sibly a workroom) are potential examples of the archaeology of childhood and, though not diagnostic of children, could therefore be representative of juvenile activity within the house (Figure 5.9).60 The figurines were found in association with objects used by women, notably a significant quantity of loom weights.61 This would be expected if children spent most of their time with female care­ givers, as burials and iconography suggest, and it is consistent with patterning across other houses at Olynthus (Gooch forthcoming). An absence of any objects determined to be part of the material culture of childhood in the house’s andron suggests children did not enter the room used predominantly for men’s drinking parties (symposia). This is by no means an assertion of fact, given the incomplete nature of the house’s assemblage, but it is pertinent to note it is a common pattern across Olynthian houses.

59  For more extensive analyses, see Gooch (forthcoming). 60  Foxhall (2020) has highlighted how the random distribution of figurines in domestic contexts, and the fact they were demonstrably left behind when houses were abandoned, is indicative that they were not valuable religious objects and were probably instead objects used differently depending on the contexts in which they were used. She also suggests they were often toys in domestic contexts. 61  Foxhall (2012: 200) notes loom weights are never found in quantities that are representative of deposition of a complete loom, that is around 60–70 weights, so looms themselves were probably removed upon abandonment. Foxhall (2020) suggests many loom weights—like those found at Olynthus—may have been in storage when deposited.

Childhood in Ancient Athens  277 III I

II

V

IV VI

VIII

VII X

IX

XI N 0

5m

Figure 5.9  Children’s access to House Avii4 at Olynthus based on the distribution of material culture associated with children (light grey, possible access; dark grey, possible access based on routes of access). Source: the author, after Cahill 2002 Figure 22.

Table 5.3  Key for symbols used in Access Analysis. Outside world Doorway Possible Doorway Room (defined space) Court or corridor (transitional space) Room (defined space) [possible child access] Court or corridor (transitional space) [possible child access] Room (defined space) [possible child access] Court or corridor (transitional space) [possible child access]

Source: the author.

In sum, artefact distribution analyses of House Avii4 suggest children were active in at least three of the spaces within the house, accessing at least 25.00% of the overall space. Access Analyses demonstrate that the spaces children spent time in were transitional spaces—that is, areas from which additional spaces were accessed—wherein domestic activity was focused for access to light and air, as well as defined spaces (which did not lead into others) that were some of the most private areas within the house (Table 5.3;  Figure 5.10). This is consistent with Classical sources suggesting women and children spent most of their time almost cloistered within the house, but it provides an interesting juxtaposition with the fact children were readily represented in iconography in the Classical period. The reverse is notable in the Geometric period, when the morphology of houses

278 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens

Figure 5.10  Access Analysis map for House Avii4 at Olynthus, with added colours representing juvenile access. Source: the author.

dictated that much of the domestic activity would take place outside the house in the wider settlement, thereby producing a childhood experienced more publicly even when it was commemorated by iconography on a much-­reduced scale (Gooch forthcoming). The suggestion overall is that childhood was a more cloistered experience when children were celebrated more in iconography and burials, and a life course stage that was experienced more publicly when iconography and burials celebrated children less. Thereby there were incongruent relationships between the real and advertised visibilities of children in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical society. By the Classical period, children were notionally advertised in the face of their greater physical absence on the public stage. I suggest this was because the importance of celebrating children changed as the impacts of socio-­ political change towards democracy and prevalent warfare were felt in Athens, and because the agency of children’s female caregivers was influenced by some of those changes; rather than because what it meant to be an Athenian child transformed across the ninth to fourth centuries. Application of the extended life course approach proves indicative as to why what it meant to be a child in ancient Greece may have remained relatively constant, even while the need to celebrate the social significance of children was more variable. Extended life course approaches propose identities can originate before biological birth, and physiological death does not necessarily curtail existence (Figure 5.11). In short, they suggest social identities do not have to be embodied to exist, but at the same time having a living body does not guarantee individuals have an acknowledged social identity. Literary sources, burials, grave stelai, and painted pottery made for use in funerary contexts suggest children had various forms of identity, both embodied and disembodied, in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Attica (Figure 5.11). Given children’s status in society and the extent of their social agency, children’s iden­ tities from life that are typically evident archaeologically are their perceived

Childhood in Ancient Athens  279

IDENTITY: Before Life (Disembodied)

Imagined

Birthing Processes

In Life (Embodied)

Experienced

Constructed

Personal

Perceived

Mortuary Practices

In Death (Disembodied)

Prolonged

Projected

Remembered

Imagined

Figure 5.11  The extended life course relative to juveniles in ancient Attica. Source: the author.

iden­tities; how adults around children conceptualised them. Children’s personal identities—how children conceptualised themselves—are sometimes hinted at in the archaeological record but are generally elusive at such a remove from when they were experienced. Children’s identities in death—created by mourners after juveniles were transformed by their final transition from corporeal existence— could be both prolonged and projected. They, like perceived identities, were others’ conceptualisations of juveniles’ identities. Prolonged identities conceptualised children continuing to exist in a form comparable to how they were when they died, essentially as eternal children. Projected identities imagined lives for children that they could have lived if they had corporeally survived to progress along

280 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens the normative life course. Most commemorations of the dead in ancient Greece prolonged their identities because Greek eschatology acknowledged an afterlife; exceptional circumstances could prove an impetus for commemoration to also project identities for the deceased. Analyses do not suggest a strong inclination to project identities for those that died in childhood in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Attica, unless the circumstances surrounding their deaths were somehow exceptional (Gooch 2024). Throughout the ninth to fourth centuries, the primary concern in burial contexts was with commemorating the lives lived. Materially richer graves were often exceptions, in which there was, at times, an inclination to project the identity of the deceased. Richer graves could also be exceptional in other ways, for example some housed multiple individuals. Some graves that implied projected identities were those of juveniles that died at particular points in the life course, when they were on the verge of transitions into new trajectories, both physiological (like puberty) and social (including marriage) as demonstrated by Geometric ‘maiden graves’ and the burial of a male adolescent, Eupheros, who died aged 10–15 years old in circa 430 bce.62 This suggests that identities were projected for juveniles when their lost potential was significant to society. Given high infant and child mortality rates, most juvenile deaths probably impacted families, rather than society per se (Vlachou 2021: 471). Lost potential that was more impactful on society more broadly was not unilaterally dictated by the age nor gender of the deceased, nor was it only distinct in one particular socio-­political circumstance; similar patterning was apparent diachronically. There was clearly something significant about a minority of juveniles, demonstrated in the atypical nature of their funerary deposits, which proved the impetus for their identities to be projected along the normative life course in ancient Attica.63 All juveniles could have iden­ tities that were commemorated after death, and so endured throughout an extended life course, but only some had identities that were projected along the embodied life course they had been denied. In some way, the juveniles that had their identities projected were prized by society. Burials that projected identities were burials that deviated from the norm: they made children more than children in a society that essentially conceptualised childhood as a trajectory towards something more; the ultimate social identity of citizen adulthood (for example, Finley 1989). Fundamentally the evidence clearly demonstrates that ancient Greek ontology acknowledged extended life courses that deviated from embodied ones. Individuals existed conceptually both before birth and after death in ancient Attica, but it was apparently only after death that they had identities that extended beyond the embodied life course. To explore the significance of this, it is useful to

62  Buried in the Eridanos cemetery in Athens, burial hS202 (Von Freytag Löringhoff 1974). 63  For example, anthropological research shows that perceptions of deaths being ‘good’ or ‘bad’ can significantly impact the nature of funerary practices, including deposits (Fowler 2018: 88–89).

Childhood in Ancient Athens  281 work with the sociological concept of personhood, which draws distinctions between physiologically being human and socially being a person; thereby being human not necessarily being a guarantee of having personhood (see especially Hockey and Draper 2005; Gilchrist 2012; Fowler 2018; Perego 2021). Correlations between granting of personhood and mortuary treatment are notable anthropologically, as well as archaeology: in societies with delayed personhood, the lack of personhood can exclude individuals and groups from formal burial (Perego and Scopacasa 2018: 168). Through the lens of personhood, it is clear life in a socially acknowledged sense did not begin until infants were formally accepted into their families and, by extension, society, in ancient Athens, and that physiological birth did not guarantee personhood or socially acknowledged life (for detailed treatment of this, see Gooch 2024). Rather, individuals gradually acquired personhood after they had been formally accepted into society and as they matured. Instead of being a result of parents having less care for their children in a society with very high infant mortality rates, this use of delayed and processually acquired personhood was a social mechanism used to protect society from the all too frequent loss of its youngest members. Death, at least of a person with full personhood, caused ritual pollution (miasma) in ancient Greek society;64 awarding only partial personhood to the youngest members of society could reduce the impact of high infant mortality rates on society, even while it left families free to formally bury and mourn their children (of all ages) as they wished. In society overall, the existence of foetuses and new-­borns was acknowledged but they were only potential persons until society officially accepted them. For example, a f­oetus or perinate buried with its mother in the Tomb of the Rich Athenian Lady in Athens circa 850 bce did not receive specific offerings in the grave, indicating the infant was not a socially acknowledged person, but the elaboration of the associated funerary objects assemblage probably did reflect the fact that the burial was an exceptional one, containing both a mother and her child.65 On a more personal basis, probably impacted by the agency of women in funerary contexts, even the youngest peri-­natal infants could be interred in their own burials. Demonstrably, degrees of personalisation and choice were involved. Effectively, acquisition of identity and personhood was delayed in ancient Attica, compared to in the modern Western world, and acknowledgement of individuals’ social identities did not generally extend into the pre-­natal period.66 Identities did extend into the post-­mortem period; the dead could retain iden­ tities beyond death that were both prolonged and—at times—projected, as they were remembered, or their continued existence was imagined. Celebrations and commemorations of children’s delayed and processual acquisition of personhood 64  See Parker (1983). 65  Deposit H16:6 in the Athenian Agora. See Liston and Papadopoulos (2004). 66  Perego et al. (2020) have noted similar practices, concerned with including and marginalising juveniles in society, in pre-­Roman Italy. See also Perego (2021).

282 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens were more remarkable in periods when society was unstable—because of transitions between oligarchy and democracy and prevalent warfare—and when infant mortality rates were higher. Reasons for this, and for why some children’s iden­ tities may have been projected, whilst most were only prolonged after death were apparently tied to the social significance of children, which depended upon; where they were in their life course when they died, the circumstances surrounding their death, and the social agency that socio-­political circumstances permitted women as their primary caregivers at different points throughout the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods in Attica.

5.3  The Social Experience of Being a Child in Ancient Athens Children are integral parts of societies, not least because they represent the future and embody societies’ perpetuation, so excluding or overlooking children in considerations of past societies wholly distorts interpretations of those societies. It is, though, clear why ‘where have all the children gone?’ is still a pertinent question in Greek archaeology; the material signatures of ancient children’s activities and identities are often amorphous, and not easily distinguishable from traces of adult action, if they are preserved at all. That said, significant archaeological, iconographic, and literary evidence can be used to investigate the lives and deaths of children in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Attica: juveniles were represented on painted pottery from the mid-­eighth century, commemorated on gravestones from the late sixth century, and were formally buried throughout 900–323 bce (Figure 5.12). Thus, to find the children that have gone missing in parts of Greek archaeology, the evidence must be considered holistically, because each evidence type contributes to generating an expansive awareness of potential traces of children, many of which are often overlooked or uncritically associated with adult agency. Adults are almost unilaterally the focus in existing considerations of Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Attic society. Analysing depictions of children in Geometric, black-­figure, red-­figure, and white-­ground painted pottery icon­og­ raphy, representations of children on marble grave stelai, and burials of children facilitates investigation of the material culture associated with juveniles in life and in death. Evaluating the distribution and use of that material culture helps us to understand how children used domestic space and how far they were conceptualised to have extended life courses in ancient Attica. Investigating the evidence typologically, holistically, and diachronically illustrates the shifting identities of children across life and death from the early Geometric to the end of the Classical period; these can also be placed in their socio-­political and historical contexts to help us to better understand Athenian society on the whole, as a society of both children and adults. Any archaeological exploration of children’s identities in ancient Greece must look to make full use of the material evidence available, given literary evidence

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Childhood in Ancient Athens  283

Geometric Pottery Black-Figure Pottery Red-Figure Pottery Red-Figure Pottery (Choes) Burials Grave Stelai White-Ground Pottery

Figure 5.12  Diachronic representation of juveniles in all evidence types. Source: the author.

discussing children is scarce and children’s perspectives are entirely absent from ancient sources. Diachronic and holistic investigation demonstrates a material culture of childhood and a material culture of children in ancient Greece, which encompass a range of objects (Table 5.4). The material culture of childhood comprised assemblages that were almost exclusively designed, produced for, and used by juvenile consumers, or items that were used in the care of children, and so can be rendered distinct from material cultures of adulthood in the archaeological record. The material culture of children was a much broader assemblage, accounting for the fact juveniles repurpose various objects, many not intended for them; it is, unfortunately, an assemblage that is not fully accessible arch­aeo­ logic­al­ly at such a removal of time from its original period of use. The material culture of childhood developed to its fullest extent over time in ancient Attica: Geometric iconography characterising scenes from life did not

284 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens Table 5.4  Contextual distribution of material culture associated with juveniles in life and in death in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Attica. Life

Death

Amulets Astragaloi Balls Choes Highchairs Rattles Rollers Amulets Astragaloi Balls Choes Feeders Figurines (animals, dolls) Highchairs Hoops Rattles Rollers Yoyos

Astragaloi Balls Feeders Figurines (animals, dolls) Miniatures (bowls, cups) Astragaloi Balls Choes Feeders Figurines (animals, dolls) Miniatures (bowls, cups) Shells Amulets Astragaloi Balls Choes Feeders Figurines (animals, dolls) Hoops Miniatures (bowls, cups) Rattles Rollers Shells

Geometric

Archaic

Classical

Source: the author.

associate children with distinct objects, but Classical fifth-­century scenes demonstrated an assortment of material culture characterised juvenile activity. This is not surprising given there is little material culture extant from the Early Iron Age in general, whilst the Classical period is much richer archaeologically. The objects identified were the ones used to characterise children on media for public consumption. They demonstrate the socially acknowledged prevalence of toys in children’s lives, as well as the production of crockery and developmental aids that were specifically adapted to meet the needs of the youngest members of society from the later Archaic period. The overall impression is of threads of continuity, with some diachronic elaboration in the material culture of childhood as technological advances played their part and specific derivations of objects came to be made for use in celebrating milestones in children’s socialisation. Material culture associated with children in mortuary contexts was somewhat variable compared to the assemblages associated with children in life, but burials demonstrate an enduring relationship between children and objects. Most bur­ ials, from all periods, were furnished. The predominant preoccupation of all grave assemblages was to furnish the juvenile deceased with vessels used for eating and drinking, demonstrating a concern with sustenance, even after death.

Childhood in Ancient Athens  285 Such vessels constituted the only offerings in many burials, especially of younger children and infants. Objects used for children’s amusement were also prevalent. The age of the deceased played the primary role in dictating the nature of the material culture assemblages associated with children in death, though gender was also a discernible factor, particularly in the burials of older children. The overall impression was of overarching continuity in the material culture of childhood across the life-­death transition, allowing for evidence availability and biases of preservation. The material culture of childhood was consistently multi-­f unctional, including objects that were used to (often simultaneously) care for, entertain, and socialise children, including to instil the social norms and values that characterised the socio-­political and historical milieux in which juveniles lived. Objects with functionality that expanded beyond those were ones that made suggestions about associations between children and projected identities into the extended life course. Investigation of children’s material culture—including objects specifically en­gin­eered to cater to the needs of juveniles, from the ninth century—and references to children in literary sources demonstrated childhood was a distinct and recognised trajectory in the ancient Greek life course, which terminated at different points depending, primarily, upon the gender of the juvenile. The social status and material resources of the child’s family were also undoubtedly impactful; childhood was a time for play and to be a child, at least for those juveniles whose families had the resources to facilitate that. Girls ceased to be children in the period preceding their marriage, as they became eligible maidens, parthenoi. Boys’ childhoods were extended as they transitioned gradually into adulthood, becoming meirakia and epheboi, from the age of around 14 onwards. During childhood, juveniles were discernibly perinates, infants, toddlers, and younger and older children and whilst children, they were considered incomplete, weak, and lacking full faculties of reasoning and self-­control; first and foremost, they were prized as the adults they could ultimately become. Progression through childhood was measured in terms of chronological, sociological, and physiological ageing and fundamentally, childhood was preparation for, and progression towards, adulthood. Even as adults, however, females would remain inferior to the social ideal of the adult, citizen man, and these archetypes were introduced through socialisation from the earliest points in the life course, as demonstrated by the prevalence of male children—including the youngest perinates and infants—in iconography compared to the scarcity of females. Male children were always valued—and thereby advertised—over and above female children because in attaining adulthood, they had the potential to also achieve full citizenship.67 For all children, their development towards an it­er­ation of citizenship could not begin until they had been accepted into 67  Male children were also associated with women most frequently, to illustrate women had fulfilled their ultimate purpose of producing a legitimate male heir (Lewis 2002: 17; Molas Font 2018: 123).

286 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens society; physiological birth did not assure a social identity in ancient Greece, where abandonment and exposure of infants was accepted. Social birth was delayed beyond physical birth and social acceptance was required to allow a child an identity rather than an existence. Distribution of children’s material culture in domestic assemblages indicates the material culture of childhood was typically conceptualised as children’s personal possessions, which were only deposited as waste when damaged beyond utility.68 Distribution of examples of the material culture of childhood in excavated houses suggests children spent most of their time with women in domestic arenas, so women had significant opportunities to influence the construction of children’s social identities, both in life and in death, in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Attica. Management of children’s social identities passed into the care of men in the public sphere.69 Children’s associations with material culture in mortuary contexts demonstrates they were usually furnished with items that hint at their identities being prolonged after death; they were typically offered vessels for eating and drinking and toys. Children consistently had acknowledged extended life courses in ancient Attica because Greek eschatology conceptualised an afterlife, and icon­og­ raphy on white-­ground pottery and grave stelai and burials evidence indicated children could access it just as adults did. On occasion, juveniles could also be associated with objects that were typically adults’ possessions, hinting at the fact their identities could be projected if the circumstances of their death warranted it. It was a practice evident on only a minority of occasions, suggesting projection of identities was something used to acknowledge exceptional circumstances relating to sub-­adult death, possibly that the children had died at crucial points in their life courses, when their identities were on the cusp of transitions, so their lost potential was of greatest significance to their families and society. The sum of the analyses of the material culture assemblages associated with children throughout life and in death in Geometric, Archaic, and Classical Attica demonstrate juveniles had acknowledged embodied and disembodied social identities that could be perceived, personal, prolonged, and projected. They reflect that children’s identities, as they were acknowledged by society, were constructed on their behalf, by adult caregivers and mourners. It is these perceived identities that are most apparent in the archaeological record generally, that material culture typically makes statements about, whilst the children’s personal identities remain tantalisingly out of focus. Hints of demonstrable personalisation became increasingly perceptible over time, and were more apparent in burials, but even a methodology focused upon investigating material culture used by children themselves, leaves the truly personalised identities of 68  The same items were common offerings in burials; as personal possessions, they may have been polluted by the deaths of the children they were associated with (Fowler 2018: 91). 69  Boys were ‘made into men’ by their interactions and relationships, including pederastic relationships, with men; they were in a sense reborn through male mentorship (Halperin 1990: 143).

Childhood in Ancient Athens  287 children in ancient Greece beyond the scope of what is accessible through archaeological investigation. The first point to note about children’s identities relative to the changing socio-­political circumstances is that children maintained social identities throughout the socio-­political changes of the ninth to fourth centuries, because they were consistently interred in their own burials, were consistently depicted as non-­ adults in iconography and a material culture of childhood was consistently produced for them. This goes unrecognised in scholarship that neglects a longue durée approach, but it makes an important statement about the fact that what it fundamentally meant to be a child in Attic society changed little across the Geometric to Classical periods. One facet of children’s identities that remained constant was that they were always celebrated as the future generation, the perpetuators of society.70 The extent to which it was also emphasised that they perpetuated their own specific lineages fluctuated in accordance with how far Athenian society was apparently elitist, under aristocratic, oligarchic, or democratic rule. Geometric painted pottery, produced for aristocratic patrons, emphasised that children were their families’ heirs. Classical pottery celebrated children more generally, disassociating them from their families somewhat to reflect that all children were purportedly equal in a democracy that allegedly acknowledged equal rights for all citizens. Stelai hinted that artistic media could also be used to subvert those democratic ideals, however, because many celebrated juveniles’ ascribed status; marble grave markers could be used by Athenians that wanted to rise above the rest to make statements about their family’s elevated wealth and status, which they emphasised by conferring them on all members, even the youngest juveniles that died unsocialised. Children’s social visibility ebbed and flowed throughout the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods. Juveniles were least visible in Geometric contexts, only represented in one type of iconography and in burials. The social identities of children were tangible but yet to develop towards their fullest extent in the Early Iron Age. Children were better represented in the Archaic period, recorded in burials, on a small number of stelai and on painted pottery. Children’s social status was predominantly entwined with that of their family in the seventh to early fifth centuries according to that evidence. Juveniles were best represented in Classical contexts; in burials, on stelai, and on white-­ground and red-­figure vases. Children theoretically acquired more importance beyond their family circle in the Classical period, demonstrated by them being interred in juvenile-­specific burial grounds and being celebrated by iconography depicting them alone. The identity of the child was emphasised in the Classical period, above and beyond how it had been previously; the distinct life stage of childhood was publicly 70  Ancient Attic society recognised children were integral to its existence, and perpetuation, so modern scholarship cannot hope to present full understandings of that society if they fail to consider the juvenile, as well as the adult, members of it.

288 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens recognised and celebrated at times in the Classical period, in ways it had not been in the Geometric and Archaic periods, when it had been only acknowledged. Children were depicted more frequently in art over time throughout the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods—though proportionate and con­text­ ual analyses of evidence types demonstrated the significance of that is over-­stated in existing scholarship—but it did not necessarily follow that children concurrently became more visible in Attic society across the ninth to fourth centuries. Distribution of children’s material culture in houses, considering the morphology of those domestic contexts, suggests childhood actually became more cloistered from the Geometric into the Archaic and then into the Classical period. Literary sources also maintained that children spent most of their time within the private confines of their oikos, in the company of equally cloistered women. The overall suggestion is that children were social in their oikos, but that did not guarantee they were active in wider polis society, even when their experiences were more celebrated in media consumed in the public sphere. The overall impression from the evidence, analysed diachronically and holistically, is that childhood became a progressively sequestered experience,71 even as the representation of children in public media became increasingly common. A motivator of the contradiction between the advertised and actual visibility of children in social contexts beyond the oikos was, I argue, that the increased representation of juveniles in artistic media was symbolic: children were used to embody an ideology, to make statements about the continuance and stability of society, especially when society was in crisis. One ideological facet of children’s identities was that they were propagators of their society and its values; they were the future generations that would carry their society forward. Another was that they unified society; regard for children was appealed to as a common bond that united Athenians. There was a greater tendency to depict children when the historical context suggests there was upheaval in Athens and the character and se­cur­ity of Attic society was unstable or at risk. There was emphasis on children at times of unrest because they accentuated the values of Athenian society and symbolised the perpetuation of those values in the face of outside threats, both from other Greeks and foreigners. Existing scholarship emphasises that the im­petus to depict children more often, and with increasing naturalism, was instances of unrest—the Peloponnesian War, plague outbreaks and citizenship reform72—in the fifth century, but this does not properly account for the fact that

71  Just as the urbanisation of Attic society, intensified around the time of the Peloponnesian War, resulted in increased focus on oikos privacy and the seclusion of women. 72  The social value of children, as perpetuators of society, was also augmented in the midst of those events because juveniles would ultimately play a part in addressing resultant depopulation issues, which were a major concern that legislation sought to address in the later fifth century (Pomeroy 1975: 66–67).

Childhood in Ancient Athens  289 children were incorporated into iconography from the eighth century, and representations of them steadily increased in volume from then onwards.73 A renewed impetus to depict children on painted pottery dated to the early sixth century, when Athens was establishing its distinct identity as an autonomous polis in the Greek world, demonstrated by production of its earliest coinage circa 575 bce. This suggests the symbolism of juvenile identities was linked to the phenomenon of the polis asserting its distinctly Athenian identity by affirming what all—even the youngest—members of Athenian society were, in contradiction to what Athens was not; namely, comparable to its ‘uncivilised’ opponents in socio-­political and military strife concentrated around the fifth century. This was demonstrated by the fact the number of children depicted only increased dras­tic­ al­ly in media that was primarily used in Attica; on stelai and red-­figure choes, which were displayed in Attic cemeteries and used in the Anthesteria festival, probably only celebrated at Athens. This supports the argument that children were used ideologically, to assert Athenian identity and affirm the unity of Attic society, rather than that there was an increased social concern with children or an amplified interest in childhood in the fifth century, when most stelai and choes were produced. The fact that there was not a momentous change in society’s perception of children in the fifth century, as previously postulated, is suggested by the fact that there was not a notable change in how often children’s identities were projected further along the life course when they died in the fifth century; children’s social potential and fundamental value was constant, and always d ­ ependent upon them surviving to perpetuate their lineage and/or society.74 The daily lives of children were better represented in red-­figure iconography, just as other daily life scenes became more prevalent in the medium. This is indicative of a shift in general perspective, rather than a new, magnified interest in children, which previous research—including the work of Seifert and Beaumont—has overstated because of enthusiasm to associate change with attested historical events. In fact, if children were used to advertise Athenian identity, this would also justify the increased impetus to characterise them in the fifth century, because increased warfare and prevalent Athenian imperialism meant Athenian interaction with other Greeks and outsiders from further afield was also at a maximum then, justifying the increased need to reinforce the unified identity of Athens in contrast to the identities of their adversaries. Another impetus for the increased illustration of children in the midst of fifth-­century wars and socio-­political upheaval was, I argue, an increased agency of women, which previous scholarship has not recognised, to commission painted pottery 73  With a hiatus in the seventh century, when no figural iconography was produced at Athens. The impetus for incorporating children into iconography was always social rather than artistic, from the eighth century onwards, because multiple artists demonstrated the tendency. 74  Democracy permitted more autonomy than aristocratic/oligarchic governance regarding how far children were treated formally in burial once their social potential was destroyed.

290 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens during periods when men were preoccupied with statecraft and warfare and were by necessity away from the polis and their oikoi for prolonged periods. Painted pottery scenes—being ideological constructions, rather than photographs—demonstrate the concerns of the consumers that commissioned them.75 Women could be those commissioners, rather than men, when warfare was prevalent.76 The phenomenon of women taking on some of men’s jobs—for example working in munitions factories in World War Two—to make up for the shortfall of men away at war is well attested historically and the suggestion relative to antiquity was supported by the facts shapes for women and iconography illustrating previously underappreciated elements of women’s lives were also characterised on an unprecedented scale contemporaneously.77 There was a temporary shift in thematic focus, with an innovative emphasis on feminine concerns, generally. Further, it would be women—as children’s primary caregivers according to the literary evidence, wider iconographic repertoire, and finds distribution analyses in houses78—that would be best placed to commission iconography that celebrated some of the day-­to-­day lived realities of childhood, including play and sibling and familial interactions in domestic contexts, which iconography produced at particular points between 475 and 375 bce did to an unprecedented degree. Fundamentally, children’s social identities were always intertwined with those of their families, throughout the vagaries of socio-­political change across the ninth to fourth centuries. Children defined and advertised the ideal family unit, which was the substance of the oikos, and thereby a foundation stone of the state. The extent to which that relationship between the oikos and the polis was emphasised, by children being depicted as primarily the perpetuators of their family and lineage or of the state and society more broadly, changed as the socio-­political context transformed and Athens developed from a territory ruled by an 75  Williams (1993: 105) has suggested iconography on Athenian vases generally presented ‘a man’s view of a man’s point of view’. See Sutton (1981) on how this may not have always been the case—and women’s perspectives way have been more represented—in the fifth century. 76  Some evidence suggests more men died in the plague outbreaks than women (Reeder 1995b: 30). Men usually acquired goods for the household, but non-­elite women did work, even in normal circumstances, and law court speeches suggest women could hold jurisdiction over household finances and inventories (Pomeroy 1975: 72–73; Harlow 2010: 18–19). Demand (1994) argues that the ideal of the secluded woman was one that would not have withstood the pressures and demands of daily life, especially for women in families with few means. I argue the ideal would also have come under pressure at times of socio-­political crisis, and that the pressure reached a point where women were given more freedom in their management of the oikos that was always their primary domain. I suggest that permitted them more agency to commission art that celebrated scenes and activities from their daily lives, and that resulted in increased concerns with depicting children and characterising them in more true-­to-­life guises. 77 Less symposion-themed iconography and more wedding- and domestic-­themed scenes are generally noted in the fifth century (Reeder 1995b: 30). 78 Women were primarily charged with tending the dead throughout Greek history (Pomeroy 1975: 44), possibly explaining the fact children’s grave assemblages were relatively consistent across the Geometric, Archaic, and Classical periods.

Childhood in Ancient Athens  291 aristocracy to a polis governed by democracy. Children were predominantly celebrated as perpetuators of their lineage when an aristocracy was in the ascendancy and were more broadly feted as the future of Attic society—an Athenian child, rather a certain Athenian’s child79—when democracy reigned supreme. Social identities can be both individual and collective (Hockey and James 2003: 10). Collectively, what it meant to be a child changed little fundamentally across the ninth to fourth centuries in Attica: at all points, children were not adults, they were inferior to adults, and they were prized for their roles in taking their society forward, should they survive to achieve the ultimate goal of adulthood. Changes in social identities result from changes in how individuals interact with and connect to the social world around them (Emler 2005: 209). There were undoubtedly changes in how children interacted with society across the ninth to fourth centuries; iconography, burials, and material culture attest to that. Many of the nuances in how socio-­political change impacted the experiences of children have undoubtedly been lost to time and the vagaries of archaeological preservation, but using a holistic and diachronic methodology identifies some of the broader spectrum changes in how children’s social identities were impacted by socio-­political transformation. These could be explored further in future research focused on regionality, which has been called for recently by Beaumont (2021) and Langdon (2021); holistic and diachronic methodologies like the one I have developed here using material from Attica, which is relatively abundant, can be applied to areas where evidence of children is (or at least seems) less distinct. By necessity, my focus here has typically been upon juveniles from relatively elite families and backgrounds, and the perspectives of many are unrepresented.80 The possibilities of using a holistic and diachronic investigation of material culture to explore non-­elite and slave children’s experiences in ancient Greece remain unexploited but are brought into sharper focus.81 Many children are there to be found in ancient Greek contexts wherein they have previously been dismissed and overlooked as ‘invisible’ or ‘inaccessible’; but finding them requires methodologies

79  By being represented significantly more only in media that was highly standardised, formulaic, and repetitive: on stelai and red-­figure choes. Increasingly so as citizenship took precedence over kinship across the Archaic and into the Classical period (following Bintliff 2012: 240). 80  It is difficult to know how far iconography and formal burial made statements about the values and aspirations of distinct social classes—for example elites or hoplites in particular—after the Geometric period, because it is not certain whom, precisely, were the primary consumers of painted pottery and carved marble gravestones, owing to the fact the relative value of them in antiquity remains unclear. In any case it is clear from the proportions involved—both the number of depictions in iconography and the quantity of burials—that, by necessity, the focus has been upon children from wealthier families. They are certainly rendered distinct from the slave children that sometimes accompany them, especially in iconography on grave stelai, and the perspective of the literary sources was undoubtedly elitist. 81  Garland (2021) recently emphasised the fact childhood would have been a significantly different experience for children dependent upon various facets of their identity, including their social status, gender, legitimacy, family circumstances, and any disabilities they had.

292 E xperiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens that centralise children’s perspectives and strategies for interacting with the world around them, and thereby create a focus on children’s experiences. Moving forward, new archaeological excavations with a more concentrated focus on detailed small finds reporting that is less biased towards how (only) adults would use objects, along with ever-­ increasing possibilities for post-­ excavation scientific analyses of even minute samples, will undoubtedly help with finding more children and better understanding their social identities. There is extensive work to be done in domestic contexts especially, to improve understandings of children’s experiences in ancient Greece. There is also significant scope in funerary contexts for refining the data available for juvenile burials. Digital technologies, like 3D scanning and digital modelling, certainly hold promise, including to identify objects that were made by children and are thereby all the more distinct archaeological signatures them, their activities, and their agency. A more nuanced perspective on the differentiated stages of ancient childhood is also possible with greater cross-­disciplinarity; for example, consulting psychological, ethnographic, and anthropological research exploring children’s development in more modern contexts can elucidate what children at different developmental stages are capable of when interacting with objects, which could help to refine a material culture of childhood into the material cultures of infancy and of childhood. Furthermore, the potential for inter-­disciplinary methodologies like the one developed here remains untested in contexts beyond Attica; it is of significant interest to explore how far a child’s experience of childhood in Attica and an Athenian child’s social identity—apparently moulded by an ethos of developing democracy—was recognisable more widely across the Mediterranean diaspora of ancient Greek city-­states. Experiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens: Material Culture, Iconography, Burials, and Social Identity in the 9th to 4th Centuries BCE. Emma Gooch, Oxford University Press. © Emma Gooch 2025. DOI: 10.1093/9780198949152.003.0005

Experiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens: Material Culture, Iconography, Burials, and Social Identity in the 9th to 4th centuries BCE Emma Gooch https://doi.org/10.1093/9780198949152. 001.0001 Published online: 02 April 2025 Published in print: 30 April 2025 Online ISBN: 9780198949152 ISBN: 9780198949138

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Subject: Classical History, Ancient Greek History, Social History Collection: Oxford Scholarship Online

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For common vase shapes and information about their use, see for example, Clark, Elston and Hart (2002) 154; Rasmussen and Spivey (1991): 257–259; BAPD ‘Introduction to Greek Pottery—Shapes’, https://www.carc.ox.ac.uk/carc/resources/Introduction-toGreek-Pottery/Shapes

agora

assembly of the people

andron (pl. andrones)

the men’s room in the house, used to host symposia

(h)amax(is), or trochos anoikismos aōroi

walking aid roller or toy cart, often depicted with children in iconography

literally ‘moving inland’

‘special dead’, those that died in exceptional or notable circumstances

archon

chief administrator

Arkteia festival or rites hosted at Brauron in Attica to mark the maturation of girls (see below), associated with the goddess Artemis arktoi girls thought to be between age 5 and 10 that took part in a maturation rite at Brauron in Attica, which involved acting as bears arrēphoroi girls aged between 7 and 11, from elite families, that weaved the peplos draped upon the statue of Athena in the Greater Panathenaia festival astragalos (pl. astragaloi) knucklebones used as toys, both actual knucklebones from animals and imitations of them in metal and stone basileus (pl. basilēes) Bildfeldstelen bombylios

chief; in Homeric epic, more often king

a late Classical type of gravestone

feeding cup or feeder

boulē (pl. boulai)

the Council; after Ephialtes’ reforms, the Council of 500

dēmagōgos (pl. dēmagōgoi)

popular leaders that appealed to the masses

deme or dēmos (pl. demes or dēmoi) dēmokratia

a village or district; the populace of the district

power to the people

dexiōsis a ritual handshake illustrated in funerary contexts, particularly on grave stelai; possibly representative of farewells or post-mortem reunions dikastēria

law courts

p. 294

diphros (pl. diphroi)

stool without a back

ephebe (pl. epheboi)

youth, typically aged between 18- and 20-years old and in military training

eidōlon (pl. eidōla)

spirit or shade of the deceased; characterised as fairy-like figures on painted pottery

ekklēsia

citizen’s Assembly or Assembly of the people

ekphora

transportation of the deceased to the place of burial; the second of three stages in ancient Greek funerary rites

enagismata

offerings made at a tomb, including milk, honey, water, wine, celery, and fresh or dried fruits

enchytrismos (pl. enchytrismoi) ephedrismos Eupatridai

a ball game men of good birth

guttus (pl. guttae)

vessel used to fill oil lamps

gynaikonitis or gynaikon hebe

burial in a storage pot; usually reserved for children, especially the youngest juveniles

the women’s quarters in the oikos, referred to in ancient sources

puberty

hēliaia

people’s court; jurors in the people’s court

hoi polloi

the masses; literally ‘the many’

isēgoria

equality of speech

isonomia

equality in law

kalathos (pl. kalathoi) kalos thanatos

wool basket

a ‘beautiful death’

kaneon or kaniskion (pl. kana) kanēphoroi

ritual baskets, often used to take offerings to the grave

young women who carried baskets in religious processions

kline (pl. klinai)

couches, often used at the symposion

klismos (pl. klismoi)

chair with a curved back and tapering legs

korai

marble in-the-round statues of maidens, often used to mark graves in Archaic Attica

kouroi

marble in-the-round statues of youths, often used to mark graves in Archaic Attica

krotala

castanets

kyrios master/head of the household lagōbolon

hunting stick used for hunting hares

larnax (pl. larnakes)

usually lidded terracotta tubs, used as coffins for juvenile interments from the sixth century

lasanon (pl. lasana)

potty stool or highchair

mamo

breast

meirakion, or meiraks metics p. 295

adolescent or young man aged between 14- and 21-years old

foreign residents without citizenship rights in Athens

miasma

ritual pollution

mnēma

a sepulchre or tomb, alternative term for stele sometimes applied to Archaic examples; literally ‘memory’

naiskos

a stele that imitates the form of a temple, with columns or pillars and a pediment

oikos (pl. oikoi)

the household: including the house, land, people, animals, and objects associated with it

Opferinnen

offering ditches, usually associated with primary cremation burials

Opferstelle

burial type comprising pits associated with graves, used to hold offerings

paidagōgos (pl. paidagōgoi) pedagogue: tutor, including slaves that accompanied boys to school and/or tutored them in the household paidia [παιδιά]

the education of children; children’s play

pais [παῖς] or paidos [παιδός] palaistra (pl. palaistrai) parthenoi peplos

the gymnasium or wrestling school, where men, youths, and older boys went to exercise in Greek poleis

maidens that had passed through puberty and were eligible for marriage

dress

peribolos (pl. periboloi) petasos (pl. petasoi)

built tomb comprising a group of graves in an enclosed area

originally, a Thessalian sun hat

phormiskos (pl. phormiskoi) phratry phylai

generic term for child; slave

brotherhood tribes

bag or pouch, often used to store and carry astragaloi

pilos

conical hat, usually worn for travelling

polis (pl. poleis) prothesis psychē

city-state, incorporating a city and its surrounding countryside

ritualised laying out of the body; the first of three stages in ancient Greek funerary rites the soul, originally ‘breath/breeze’ or ‘wind’

sakkos (pl. sakkoi) seisachtheis sēma

head covering or cap

shaking off of the burdens

alternative term for stele, sometimes applied to Archaic examples

stele (pl. stelai)

gravestone or grave marker

stratēgos (pl. stratēgoi) strigil strōma p. 296

metal scraper used to remove oil after exercising bier cloth

symposion (pl. symposia) synoikismos

all male drinking party, typically hosted in an andron, and often depicted on painted pottery

synoecism, formal political unification and centralisation

teknon [τέκνον] thetes

army leader

generic term for child of either sex

free men without land or wealth

trittyes (sing. trittys)

divisions of the tribes in Athens

tumulus (pl. tumuli)

earthern burial mound

tympanon xenia

a hand drum, similar to a tambourine

guest friendship © Emma Gooch 2025

Experiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens: Material Culture, Iconography, Burials, and Social Identity in the 9th to 4th centuries BCE Emma Gooch https://doi.org/10.1093/9780198949152. 001.0001 Published online: 02 April 2025 Published in print: 30 April 2025 Online ISBN: 9780198949152 ISBN: 9780198949138

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Subject: Classical History, Ancient Greek History, Social History Collection: Oxford Scholarship Online

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Abbreviations AA Archäologischer Anzeiger AAA Αρχαιολογικα Αναλεκτα εξ Αθηνων AC LʼAntiquité Classique ADelt. Archaiologikon Deltion AiGO Archaeology in Greece Online AM Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Athenische Abteilung BAPD Beazley Archive Pottery Database BCH Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique CAT Classical Attic Tombstones = Clairmont (1993) CVA Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum IG Inscriptiones Graecae, various editors (1893–) JHS Journal of Hellenic Studies KerV Kerameikos V KerVI Kerameikos VI KerVII Kerameikos VII KerIX Kerameikos IX KerXII Kerameikos XII KerXIV Kerameikos XIV KerXVII Kerameikos XVII Thorikos I

Thorikos 1963 Thorikos II Thorikos 1964 Thorikos IV Thorikos 1966/1967 Thorikos VIII Thorikos 1972–1976

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Experiencing Childhood in Ancient Athens: Material Culture, Iconography, Burials, and Social Identity in the 9th to 4th centuries BCE Emma Gooch https://doi.org/10.1093/9780198949152. 001.0001 Published online: 02 April 2025 Published in print: 30 April 2025 Online ISBN: 9780198949152

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ISBN: 9780198949138

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END MATTER

Index  Published: April 2025

Subject: Classical History, Ancient Greek History, Social History Collection: Oxford Scholarship Online

Since the index has been created to work across multiple formats, indexed terms for which a page range is given (e.g., 52–53, 66–70, etc.) may occasionally appear only on some, but not all of the pages within the range. Access Analysis 274–278 adolescence 16, 36–43, 165 n.48, 195

Aeschines Against Timarchus 85–86 Aeschylus Agamemnon 34 age attribution or categorisation systems 34–43 ageing, types of biological See also physiological30–36, 40–43 chronological 30–41, 285–286 physiological See also biological30–33, 36–43, 145, 280–281, 285–286 sociological 30–33, 36–39, 41, 285–286 Agora, Athens domestic deposits 148–149, 158 n.22, 272–273 alabastron also alabastra 79, 87–88, 103, 115, 117 n.139, 126–127, 129–131, 166, 178, 186 n.97, 221–222, 234–237 glass 180, 186 n.94 Alexander the Great 9 allo-parenting 23–24 altar 79, 81–82, 103–104, 115–116 amax See roller amber (material) 181 n.71 Amphidromia 41, 156 n.13 amphora, also amphorae 46, 47 n.12, 62–63, 68–69, 76–78, 86–87, 125–128, 133, 178, 180–182, 187–190, 221–222 bail 87 belly-handled 57, 62–63 glass 186 n.94 neck 60 n.39, 87, 130, 133 n.163 neck-handled 62–63 Panathenaic 66, 86–87, 122–125, 130, 133 n.163, 219–220 amphoriskos also amphoriskoi 178, 186 n.97 glass 180, 186 n.94 amulets, strings of 24–25, 41, 96 n.112, 102–106, 117, 129–132, 148–149, 181–182, 227–228, 232–237, 240–242, 252–255, 269– 270, 273–274, 284 problems identifying archaeologically 269–270 Anavyssos 168, 199–200, 206 animal, indeterminate (painted pottery scene attribute) 104, 111 n.132, 179 animals, as pets 78–80, 92 n.96, 110–115, 209–213, 228–230, 232–235, 240–242, 250–251, 253–254, 271–272 Anthesteria 21, 31, 40–43, 92–93, 95–99, 102–105, 106 n.127, 115, 129, 149 n.180, 156 n.13, 258 n.12, 264–267, 289 anthropology, of childhood 15–16, 19 n.13 antipas 35 Aphrodite 257 n.10 Apollo 82, 257 n.10 archaeology of childhood 1, 4–5, 247–248, 276 archaeology of emotions 160–161 Archidamian War 9, 242–243, 251–252 archon also archones 4, 6 Argos 155–156, 156 n.12, 157 n.18, 162 n.41, 246–247 Ariès, Philippe 14–15 aristocracy 4–5, 141–144, 170–175, 192, 196, 287, 289 n.74, 290–291 Aristophanes

Acharnenses 181–182 Clouds 256 Lysistrata 31 n.37 Peace 181–182 Aristotle Athenian Constitution 6, 8–9 Generation of Animals 34 History of Animals 32, 105 n.124 Magna Moralia 34 Politics 5–6, 31, 34, 34 n.53, 256 Arkteia 31 n.36, 85 n.85 arktoi 31, 36–38, 40–43 armour 79–81 arrēphoroi 31, 36–38, 40–43 arrowhead 180, 185 n.88 p. 330

Artemis 31 n.36, 111–115, 257 n.10 aryballos also aryballoi 79, 103–104, 117 n.139, 126, 129 n.159, 130–133, 178, 186 n.97, 208, 213–214, 234–237 Asine 162 n.41 askos also askoi 126, 129 n.159, 130, 133 n.163, 178, 185–187 associated funerary offerings See funerary offerings astragalos also astragaloi 103–104, 106–111, 106 n.128, 148–149, 180, 183, 204, 207–209, 247–248, 250–251, 254–255, 257 n.10, 261–264, 269–270, 273–274, 284 problems with using as signifiers of children archaeologically 261 Astyanax 33 Astypalaia 159 n.25 Athena 40–43, 82, 257 n.10, 269 n.45 Polias 31 n.37 Athenian Empire 7, 146–147, 275–276 Athens Agora (cemetery) 167–170, 187 Eirai Gate (cemetery) 158–159 Eridanos cemetery 167–170, 175–177, 187, 222, 226 n.162, 280 n.62 Kerameikos Station (burials) 186 n.99 Peiraios Street (cemetery) 167–170 Plateia Kotzia (cemetery) 165 n.49 athletics in iconography 40–43, 76–78, 84–86, 88, 100–101, 122–126, 133, 213, 249 n.202 axe 79, 104 bag 79, 103–104, 208 ball 79, 86–88, 103–104, 106–111, 117, 129–131, 148–149, 180, 183, 207–209, 250–251, 254–255, 257 n.10, 261–264, 270, 273– 274, 284 basileus also basilēes 4 Basileus of Caesarea 105–106 basket 78–80, 103, 166, 179, 181–182, 208, 227–228, 234–237, 258, 260–261 Battle of Marathon 248–249 Baxter, Jane Eva 18–21 bead 180, 184 n.80, 269–270 beating See punishment Beaumont, Lesley 25–26, 36–38, 96–97, 106 n.127, 111–115, 225, 270 n.47

age categorisation system 37 Beazley, J. D. 48–49, 67 n.50, 70–71, 89 n.93 painter attribution methodology 70–71, 88–91, 89 n.93 beehive 178, 187–190, 260 n.22 bienenkorb 187–190 bier 41, 46–47, 51–58, 60–62, 63 n.43, 79–81, 240 Binford, Lewis 162 n.42, 164 bioarchaeology 30–31, 39–40, 161, 165 bird also birds 45–46, 56, 63–64, 79, 99, 103–104, 110–115, 126–127, 179, 181–182, 200–205, 207–214, 218, 227–228, 231–238, 250–251, 254, 271 as symbolic of leaving taking on grave stelai 209–213 black-figure pottery technique 66, 67 n.49 block (painted pottery scene attribute) 79, 81–82, 103–104, 115–116 Blundell, Sue 26, 37–39, 94–95 boat 226–228, 234–238, 256 Bobou, Olympia 27, 36 n.59, 37, 197 Boeotia 158 n.23, 264–267 bombylios See feeder bone (material) 175 n.65, 177 n.70, 258–264, 271 n.48 bones, animal, indeterminate (as grave offering) 180, 271 boot 180, 182 n.73, 183–185 boulē also boulēs 6–8, 31 boupais 35 boy also boys 32, 35, 37, 40–43, 74 n.65, 75 nn.67–68, 76–78, 101, 111–115, 121–122, 126–127, 185, 207–209, 214 n.147, 216– 219, 222, 230–232, 237–238, 240–242, 249 n.202, 252, 256 n.5, 257 n.10, 261–264, 285–286 older 76–80, 82–86, 100–101, 114, 120–121, 120 n.143, 126–128, 131–133, 144, 149 n.180, 204, 211, 228–238, 264 younger 76–80, 83, 85–86, 99, 107–108, 110, 113, 122–133, 202, 212, 214, 227–235, 237–238, 240–242, 263 bow 208, 213–215 bowl 127–128, 129 n.159, 130, 133 n.163, 178, 185–187, 246–247, 284 bracelet 180, 183–185 Brauron 25 n.27, 31, 40–43, 85 n.85 Brephos 35, 41 bronze (material) 44, 105–106, 175 n.65, 183–185, 261–267 Bronze Age 39–40, 46 n.11, 49, 141 bucket 104 building, indeterminate (painted pottery scene attribute) 103–104, 115–116 Bulgaria 98 n.117 bull 47, 79, 81–82, 179, 181, 260, 271 burials as constructed by mourners 22–23 extramural 156–157 food in 180–182, 235–237 intramural 156–157, 158 n.22, 161 n.34 p. 331

in Attic soil, privilege of 246–247 in wells 160 n.28 peaks in number of 157–159, 190–192, 246–247 Burnett Grossman, Janet 197 button 180, 183–185

cage 104, 208, 209 n.136 cake 96 n.112, 104, 105 n.122, 117 cart See also roller41, 57, 96 n.112, 98 n.119, 102–115, 117, 123–125, 131–133, 148–149, 207–209, 254–258, 273–274 cat 208, 209 n.136 chain 180, 184 n.80, 269–270 chair 103–104, 115–116, 127 n.156, 208, 213–215, 231–232, 234, 237, 271–272 Chalcis Decree 7 change, socio-political 125–126, 128–129, 133–138, 143–147, 149–150, 249, 277–278 chariot 46–47, 53, 55–58, 63 n.43, 79–81, 103, 115–116, 257–258 Charon 53–55, 226–245 chest (iconography attribute) 103–104, 182 n.73, 208, 213, 234, 237 n.182 childhood as a life stage 14, 18–19, 23–24, 27–33, 35–38 experience of 1–3, 14–18, 21–30, 44, 73, 78, 85, 111–115, 117, 125–126, 145, 161, 167, 248–249, 253, 274–275, 277–279, 282–292 stages of 32–43 children as adults in training 58, 101–102, 142–143, 146 as attributes in iconography 99–100, 202–206, 215, 249–250 as perpetuators of society 26, 55–56, 62–63, 66–67, 83–85, 96–97, 101–102, 121–122, 126–128, 142, 145, 150–151, 160, 170– 175, 215–219, 224–225, 247–252, 282, 287 n.70, 288–291 child-centred narrative 17, 23, 26–27 child mortality rates 1–2, 96–97, 160–161, 280–282 Chios 187 n.107 chous also choes See also Anthesteria as archaeological signatures of children 88, 92–93, 95–96, 102–105, 129, 148–149, 175–177, 185–187, 247–248, 250–251, 264–267, 274–275 diagnostic of children in domestic contexts 102–105, 117, 253–254, 264–267, 274–275 proportionate representation of children on 97–98 use in the Anthesteria 21, 92–93, 95–99, 102–105, 129 chytra also chytrae 178, 185–190 cist 187–190 citizenship rights to 6–9, 24–25, 33, 143, 230 n.167, 269–270, 285–286 Clairmont, Christoph 39–41, 195, 197 clasp 180, 183–185 cloth 79, 104, 258–260 cockerel 103–104, 111 n.131, 131–133 coffin 80–81, 158–159, 165 n.48, 183–185 wooden 159, 187–190 coin 53–55, 180 column 79, 81–82, 103–104, 115, 126–127, 231–232, 234, 237, 271–272 cone 180 connoisseurship See also Beazley, J. D.48 n.15, 67 n.50, 70–71 Conze, Alexander 195, 196 n.123 Corinth 66, 155 n.10, 156 n.12, 157 n.17, 159 nn.26–27, 162 n.41, 245–246, 260 n.18 couch 103–104, 115, 258, 260–261, 271–272 Council of the Areopagus 4–5, 7–8 courtyard, of the house 81–82, 111–115, 271–272, 276

Crelier, Marie-Claire 94–95, 225–226 cremation 155–158, 175–177, 183–185, 187–192 buried pyre 187–188 inurned 187 n.107, 188 primary 155–157, 187 secondary 155–157, 187 Crete 45–46, 49 n.19 Crimea 98 n.117 cup also cups See also kylix and skyphos52–53, 60, 62–64, 77 n.74, 79, 83 n.81, 87–88, 91–92, 99, 99 n.120, 103, 111–116, 117 n.139, 122–128, 130, 133, 178, 185–187, 246–247, 259 n.16, 261–264, 284 daily life 67, 72–73, 76–78, 85–86, 87 n.91, 121–122, 147–148, 150, 240–242, 258 n.13, 267–268, 289–290 dance also dancing 43 n.64, 64, 84–86, 123–124 Dark Age 48, 141 deer 56, 78–80, 103–104, 111–115, 124, 271 Delian League 7 Delos 271–272 dēmagōgoi 8 deme admittance to 6 Demeter 158–159, 257 n.10 Demetrios of Phaleron, sumptuary laws of 27, 157, 192–194, 198 n.128 p. 332

democracy, Athenian 2–3, 5–6, 12–13, 82–83, 143, 146, 157, 170–175, 245–246, 248–250, 277–278, 281–282, 287, 289–292 dēmokratia 7–10 appreciation for in Athens 8 dēmos also dēmoi 4–6 number of 4–5 departure (scene type) 68, 76, 80–84, 86–88, 101, 111–115, 121–125, 127–128, 131–133, 209 n.136, 231–232, 237–245 dexiōsis 209–213 diachronic approach 2–3, 11–12, 21–22, 27, 93–94, 134–138, 149–151, 162, 167, 197–198, 282–284, 288–289, 291–292 digital modelling 292 dikastēria 5 dinos also dinoi 87–88, 178, 185–187 Diodorus Siculus Library of History 9 Dipylon Gate cemetery, Athens 46–47, 158, 198 n.130 kraters 46–47, 141–142 Painter See Painters, Dipylon Painter Workshop See Painters, Dipylon Painter discus 79 disk, indeterminate (as grave offering) 180 distaff 103, 116–117, 208, 213–215 DNA profiling 170–175 dog also dogs 78–80, 86, 96 n.112, 103–104, 111–115, 124, 179, 181, 201, 203–205, 207–213, 250–251, 254, 260, 271 as companions and protectors in the afterlife 209–213 doll 177–183, 203, 207–209, 232–235, 250–252, 254–256, 257 n.10, 258–260, 273–275, 284 as an archaeological signature of children 250–251, 258–260 dolphin 103, 111–115, 271 domestic contexts, invisibility in 2–3, 7, 27, 291–292

domestic scenes, in iconography 69, 78, 81–82, 82 n.79, 84–88, 99–106, 114–116, 120–127, 129–131, 133, 147–150, 213–215, 223, 227–228, 231–235, 237–245, 250–252 donkey 103–104, 111–115 door (painted pottery scene attribute) 103, 115, 126–127, 271–272 Draco, law code of 5, 190–192 duck 103–104, 111 n.131 Early Iron Age 39–40, 44, 51–52, 55–56, 142–143, 287–288 archaeological record of 44–45, 49–50, 141, 156, 283–284 society in 44, 50, 141 earring 180, 183–185 ear pick 180, 185 education, of children in ancient Greece age at which started 31–32 outside the oikos 32, 100–101 scenes in iconography 76–80, 84–86, 94–95, 100–101, 106–111, 121–126, 133, 145–146 egg 166, 180 Egypt 98 n.117, 198 n.130 eidolon also eidōla 226–227, 232 n.176, 234–237 ekklēsia 5, 7–9 ekphora 47, 49–50, 53–59, 62–64, 141 nn.168–169, 142–143 Eleusis 158–159, 163 n.43, 167–170, 175–177, 181–183, 185–187 West Necropolis 167–170 emotion differences in expression between men and women 66–67, 223 in vase painting 221 enchytrismos also enchytrismoi See also pot (burial)158–159, 170–175 Enlightenment Age of 14 impact on studying children and understanding childhood 14 nn.1–2 entablature 79, 81–82 ephebeia 149 n.180 ephēbos also epheboi 31, 35 Ephialtes, reforms of 7–8, 146–147, 190–192 epinetron 86–87, 267–268 epitaph 192 n.109, 194, 215 n.149 Eretria 156 n.11, 221–222, 226 Erichthonios 269 n.45 Eros 118 eschatology 152–153, 163–164, 235–237, 278–280, 286 Etruria 74–75 Vulci 74 n.66 Euboea 156 n.11, 226 Eupatridai 4 Eupheros 196–197, 222, 226 n.162, 280 exaleiptron also exaleiptra 178, 185–187 explicit iconography 185–187 extended life course 10–13, 25–26, 29–30, 152, 162–166, 162 n.36, 196–197, 226–227, 232, 247–248, 253–254, 257–258, 260–268, 271–274, 278–282, 284–286

family 50–51, 58–59, 75–76, 82–87, 92 n.99, 96–97, 101, 117–118, 121–122, 126, 131–133, 142, 144 n.170, 145–146, 148 nn.178– 179, 150, 154–155, 157, 160, 183–185, 187, 192–197, 199–213, 215–220, 223, 227–232, 237–239, 240 n.188, 248–251, 285–288, 290–291 p. 333

extended 207–209, 215–216, 219–220 nuclear 83 father 20 n.18, 34, 76–78, 120–122, 132 n.161, 214 n.147, 217 n.151, 223, 227–228, 230–235, 237–238 feeder 98–99, 125, 129–130, 175–178, 185–187, 247–248, 253–255, 264–267, 273–274, 284 as archaeological signatures of children 175–177, 247–248, 254, 264–267, 273–275 feeding cup See feeder festivals See Anthesteria, Amphidromia and Arkteia figurines (as funerary offerings) African 179 arm 179, 181–182 bell 179, 181–182, 258, 260–261 boar 179, 181, 260 child 179, 181–182, 258–260 dwarf 177–181 female figure 179, 181–182, 258–260 granary 179, 181–182, 258, 260–261 half figure 179, 181–182, 258–260 head 179, 181–182 horse/rider 179, 181 kore 177–181 leg 179, 181–182 pig 179, 181, 260 relining figure 177–181, 258–260 rider 179, 181 seated figure 177–181, 258–260 sheep 179, 181, 260 sheep/shepherd 179, 181, 260 silen 177–181 siren 177–181 squatting figure 177–181, 258–260 standing female 177–181, 258–260 standing figure 177–181, 258–260 table 179, 258, 260–261 toddler 179, 181–182, 258–260 figurines, as archaeological signatures of children 258–261 fillet See also sash79, 227–229, 234–237 fire 104 fish 103, 111–115, 122–125, 271 flask 178, 185–187 glass 180, 186 n.94 flower (iconography attribute) 79, 85–86, 208, 234 flute See musical instrument, flute fountain house 76–78, 81–82, 82 n.79, 86–87 archaeological evidence of 85 n.87 fruit 103–104, 208, 258, 260–261

funerary offerings 20–21, 24, 26, 39–40, 52–53, 55 n.35, 129, 152–158, 159 n.25, 162–167, 175–187, 190–192, 227–237, 240, 245, 248–249, 264–267, 280–281, 284–285, 286 n.68 funerary practices women’s involvement in 60–62, 290 n.78 garland See also wreath64, 92 n.99 gender disparate representation in iconography 76–78, 101–102, 129, 149 n.180, 216–220, 232, 240–242, 249–250, 252 represented in vase painting 52, 65–67, 74 n.65, 97–98, 198–199, 223, 232, 249–250 neutrality of children 165–166, 185 n.87 Geometric art, styles 4, 44–47, 48 n.14, 49–51 Attic 45–46 Early 158 n.22 Late 44 n.2, 45–47, 50–51, 58, 64–65, 83, 141–146, 158 Middle 45–47, 65, 155–156, 158, 162–163 girl also girls 25 n.27, 31–33, 37, 40–43, 51 n.25, 75 nn.67–68, 76–78, 101, 120–121, 131–133, 149 n.180, 177–181, 182 n.73, 185, 199–200, 207–209, 216–220, 222, 230–235, 240–242, 249–250, 249 n.202, 252, 256 n.5, 257 n.10, 260 n.20, 285–286 older 60–62, 85–86, 127–128, 183–185, 205, 259 younger 64, 119, 129–131, 193, 203, 230–231, 237–238, 267–268 goat 104, 111–115, 271 gold (material) 175 n.65, 183–185 Golden, Mark 26–27, 34–37 goose 104 grandmother 194, 202–206, 212 grandparent 55, 212, 215–216 grapes 96 n.112, 104, 105 n.122, 234–237 grave goods See funerary offerings grave marker See grave stelai grave offerings See also funerary offerings as gendered 165–166 curation of 22–23, 153–155, 160–161, 286–287 quantity 175–177, 183–185 grave stelai 46 cost of 194 exportation 198–199, 220–221 pots used as 50–53, 55, 62–63, 142 production 192–194 wooden 192–194, 235–237 The Greek Anthology 257 n.10 p. 334

gynaikon 115, 129–131 habitus 24–25, 36–38, 43 n.66, 73–74 Hades 227–228, 232–238, 240–242 Halieis 268 n.42 hammerhead 180, 184 n.82, 185 Handmade Incised Ware (HIW) 177–181, 182 n.73 hare 79, 104, 111–115, 271 headband 78–80, 103–104, 105 n.122, 117 hebe 38–39 hēliaia 7–8

Hellenistic 9, 20 n.17, 27, 157, 160, 196–197, 260 n.19, 271–272, 274 n.56 helmet also helmets 208, 213–215, 234, 237 Heraclitus On the Universe 34 herm 103–104, 115–116 Hermes 82, 227–228, 237–239, 257 n.10 heron 103, 111 n.131 Hesiod 4, 22–23 highchair See also lasanon and potty stool29–30, 103–104, 115–116, 208, 253–255, 262, 272–275, 284 as archaeological signatures of children 272–273 Hill of the Nymphs 272–273 Hippias and Hipparchos 5–6 Hippocratic School of Medicine 35 n.57 Historical archaeology 18–19 Homer 3–4, 22–23, 33, 46 n.11, 49, 153 n.1, 184 n.83, 211 n.140 Iliad 33 Odyssey 33 hook 180, 183–185 hoop 103–104, 106–111, 208, 228–230, 232–235, 252, 254–255, 256 n.5, 257 n.8, 261–264, 273–274, 284 horse also horses 45–47, 50 n.23, 51–53, 55–56, 63–64, 68, 76, 79–81, 85–86, 100–101, 103–104, 111–115, 179, 181, 208, 209 n.136, 260, 271 riding 76–78, 84, 123–124, 179 Houby-Nielsen, Sanne 20–21, 37, 39–40, 160, 165–166, 175, 247–248 age categorisation methodology 37, 39–41 houses 4–5, 8–9, 25–26, 29–30, 81–82, 84–85, 101, 105 n.123, 111–115, 133, 160–161, 166–167, 175–177, 181–182, 237, 250–251, 256, 260–267, 269–278, 286, 288–290 Athenian 158 n.22 at Olynthus 258–260, 275–278 hunting 76–78, 84–86 hydria also hydriai 47 n.12, 76 n.69, 77 n.70, 78–80, 86–87, 103, 117 n.139, 125–128, 130, 133, 178, 185–190, 221–222, 234–237 iconography as idealised reality 147–148, 235–237, 289–290 identity also identities as a reformulation of roles 29 as demonstrated by material culture 29–30 collective 28 n.30, 291–292 construction of 2–3, 12–13, 19, 22–23, 27–31, 117, 154–155, 160, 162–163, 167, 175, 245–246, 248–251, 253–254, 273–275, 279, 286–287 disembodied 152, 245–254, 278–280, 286–287 embodied 11–12, 25–26, 44, 141–151, 213, 253–254, 278–281, 286–287 gendered, of children 18–19, 165–166, 170–175, 183–185, 256 n.5 perceived 28, 245, 246 n.193, 278–280, 286–287 personal 28, 246 n.193, 278–280, 286–287 post-mortem 10–12, 28–30, 152–153, 269–270, 280–282, 284–286 projected 10–13, 28, 183–187, 213, 278–282, 284–287, 289 prolonged 10–12, 28, 278–282, 286–287 transformation of 10–12, 29–30, 125–129, 152–153, 167, 197–198, 232, 247–248, 278–280 incense burner 104, 234 incision (in pottery production) 66

infant (illustrative examples) 68, 112, 116, 132, 199, 206, 229, 231, 262, 266, 270 inhumation 155–157, 167, 175–181, 184 n.82, 187, 189 inter-poleis, relations 4–5, 7–10 invisibility, of children in the archaeological record 1–3, 16–17, 21, 27, 291–292 iron (material) 175 n.65, 184 n.80, 184 nn.82–83 Isagoras 6 Italy 74–75, 97–98, 226, 265 n.38, 281 n.66 jar (burial) 187–190 javelin 32, 234 jewellery 180, 183–185, 190–192, 194, 269–270 sizes of 184 n.85, 185 n.86 jug (for and in burials) See also chous and olpe178, 185–187 kados also kadoi 178, 185–190 kalathos also kalathoi 79, 81–82, 103–104, 115, 126–127, 178, 182 n.72, 208, 213–215, 221–222, 250 n.206, 271–272 kana See basket p. 335

kanēphoroi 40–43 kantharos also kantharoi 47 n.12, 104, 117 n.139, 178, 185–187 Kerameikos, Athens cemetery 12, 52–53, 158–159, 162–163, 163 n.43, 165–177, 181–182, 187–190, 194, 196–197, 222, 226 n.162, 240, 246 n.195, 247–248 Grabhügel G 159 n.24 publication of excavations 12 n.5, 163 n.43, 247 n.199 Sacred Way 158–159 Sudhügel 159 n.24, 167–170 Kimon 9–10 kithara See musical instrument, kithara Klein, Melanie 15–16 object relations theory 15–16 Kleisthenes 6 reforms of 6, 8–9, 88–91, 96–97, 143, 248–249 Kleomenes, King of Sparta 6 knife 79, 180, 208 Knossos 45 n.5 knucklebones See astragalos komos 124, 127–128 kothon 178, 185–187 kotyle also kotylai 178, 185–187 krater also kraters 45–47, 52–58, 60–64, 91–92, 103–104, 117 n.139, 125–128, 129 n.159, 130–133, 142, 221–222 bell 130 calyx 127–128, 130 column 87–88, 125–126, 130 krateriskos also krateriskoi 25 n.27, 31 n.36, 43 n.64, 85 n.85, 178, 186 n.97 krotala See musical instrument, krotala kyathos also kyathoi 178, 185–187, 221–222 kylix also kylixes 116, 178, 185–187 ladle 103 Lagia, Anna 39–40, 165 lagōbolon 208, 213–215 Lake Acherusia 237–238

lamp 79, 81–82, 180 lamp stand 103, 240–242 lance 208, 213–215 Langdon, Susan 12, 24, 39, 50–51, 268 larnax also larnakes 41, 158–159, 165 n.48, 181–182, 187–192 lasanon also lasana See highchair Late Geometric See Geometric, Late laver 103–104, 115–116 lebes also lebetes 103, 117 n.139, 178, 185 n.91 lebes gamikos also lebetes gamikoi 127–131, 129 n.159 lekanis also lekanides 91–92, 178, 185–187 lekythos also lekythoi 47 n.12, 66, 77 n.71, 79, 87–88, 99 n.120, 103–104, 111–115, 117 n.139, 122–127, 130, 133, 138–140, 156– 157, 166, 178, 185–187, 208, 211, 219–220, 257 n.8 squat 91–92, 105–106, 112 n.135, 122–127, 129–132 white-ground 26 n.29, 181–182, 192–194, 196–197, 221–231, 235–236, 241, 259, 263, 272 n.55 leopard 104, 111–115 Lesbos 187 n.107 Libya 98 n.117 lid, indeterminate (as grave offering) 178 Lillehammer, Grete 16–17 loom 103 loom weight 180, 185, 276 louterion 178 loutrophoros also loutrophoroi 86–87, 101 n.121, 103, 117 n.139, 127–131, 143, 208, 213, 219–220 lydian 178, 186 n.97 lyre See musical instrument, lyre Lysias Against Alcibiades 34 On the Murder of Eratosthenes 271–272 Macedonia also Macedon 9–10, 146–147, 271–272, 275–276 maiden 36–38, 40–43, 47, 50 n.23, 94–95, 111–115, 144 n.171, 167, 170–175, 181–185, 197–199, 201, 215–216, 218, 225 n.160, 249 n.202, 249 n.201, 251 n.208, 280, 285–286 Marathon (in Attica) 158–159, 219 n.153 marriage 4–5, 8–9, 31 n.36, 39 n.62, 40–43, 64, 126–127, 129–131, 138–140, 142–143, 197–198, 249 n.202, 257 n.10, 260 n.20, 280, 285–286 material culture as used to demonstrate identities 3, 29–30 catalogues of 20–22 of children 1, 12–13, 18–19, 27–28, 55–56, 78–80, 106–111, 250–251, 253–274, 282–283 of childhood 1, 12–13, 18–19, 28–56, 81–82, 88, 102, 106–111, 129, 141–142, 144, 148, 250–251, 273–276, 282–287, 292 signatures of children 254–255, 284 maturation, rites of 51 n.24, 64, 85 n.85, 142–145 Mead, Margaret 15–16 Megara 167–170, 185, 187–190 meirakion 35, 37–39 meiraks 37 mellephebos 37 Merenda 52–53, 163 n.43, 168, 181–182 p. 336

metal, as offering in burial 156–157, 180, 184 n.83, 269–270

miasma 53–55, 163–164, 170–175, 247–248, 280–281 miniatures 185–187 as archaeological signatures of children 267–268 Minoan 45–46 mirror 79, 81–82, 103, 115, 180, 185, 208, 213–215, 231–232, 234, 237, 247–248 monkey 104, 111–115, 179, 181, 260, 271 Morris, Ian 156, 164 mother also mothers 15–16, 20–21, 76–78, 82–83, 84 n.84, 85–87, 120–121, 145–146, 160, 170 n.58, 181–182, 194, 202–206, 212, 223, 226–228, 230–235, 240–242, 260 n.20, 280–281 relationships with children 20–21, 40–43, 197–198, 251–252 mug 185–187 multiple burials 187–188, 280–281 music 76–78, 81–82, 84–86, 123–124 musical instruments 100–101, 106–111, 117 n.140, 126 castanets See also krotala103, 106–111, 208 flute 104, 106–111 kithara 79, 103–104, 106–111 krotala 79–81, 103, 106–111, 208 lyre 79, 103–104, 106–111, 113, 232–237 pipes 76–81, 103–104, 106–111 pipes case 103 tympanon 104, 106–111 Mycenaean 20 n.18, 44, 48–49, 161 n.34, 269 n.46 mythical children See also Astyanax72–73, 144–145 scenes 49, 67, 72–73, 262 n.29 nail 180 naiskos 219–220 navy of Athens 7–9 Naxos 156 n.11 neanias 35 neaniskos 35 necklace 180, 184 n.80 needle 180 net 103, 106–111, 122–125 Nike (the goddess) 82–83, 117 n.140, 118 Oakley, John 20–21, 26, 94–97, 196–197, 224–225, 235–237, 251–252 Neils, Jenifer and 21–22 object, indeterminate (painted pottery scene attribute and funerary offering) 103–104, 180, 234 object life cycles 96 n.114, 256–257 obol 53–55 octopus 103, 111–115, 271 oikos also oikoi 4, 7–9, 19, 26, 41, 76–78, 81–85, 91, 95–96, 102–105, 111–117, 121, 126–127, 149 n.180, 150–151, 166–167, 183– 185, 247 n.197, 248–249, 264–268, 271–272, 274–282, 288–291 oinochoe also oinochoai 62 n.42, 78–80, 83 n.81, 92–93, 102–106, 114, 117, 125–126, 129 n.159, 130, 133, 138, 148–149, 178, 186 n.93, 221–222, 231–238, 241, 243–245 older child 36 n.59, 37–43, 58–62, 73–74, 76–80, 98–106, 117–120, 122–128, 138, 144–146, 148–149, 156 n.11, 158–159, 165–167, 170–175, 181–185, 187–190, 197–199, 202–207, 202 n.132, 209–213, 216–219, 227–228, 230–233, 237–238, 252, 284–286

oligarchy 4–6, 8, 143, 146–147, 220–221, 245–246, 281–282, 287, 289 n.74 olpe 77 n.71, 83, 87–88, 178, 186 n.93, 221–222 Olythnus 106, 157 n.17, 159 n.27, 258–260, 275–278 House Avii4 276–278 Opferinnen 157 n.14 Opferstelle 187–190 Orientalising 45–46 osteology 30–31, 161 ostracism 9–10 owl 79 paidagōgoi See also tutor120–121 paidarion 35, 41 paidion 35, 37–39, 41 paidiskos 35, 37, 41 painters Aberdeen Painter 139 Acheloos Painter 90 Achilles Painter 140, 221–222, 243–245 AD Painter 90 Affecter 90 Aischines Painter 140 Aison Painter 140 Akestorides Painter 139 Ambrosios Painter 122–125, 139 Andokides 90, 138 Antimenes Painter 90, 139 Beldam Painter 139 Bird Painter 244 BMN Painter 90 Boreas Painter 139 p. 337

Bosanquet Painter 244 Bowdoin Painter 139 Brygos Painter 139 Bucci Painter 90 Calliope Painter 139 Carlsberg Painter 244, 245 n.191 Castellani Painter 90 Class of London E535 140 Clio Painter 139 Codrus Painter 139 Crawling Boy Workshop 138, 140 Dinos Painter 139 Dipylon Painter also Dipylon Master 64–65 Dipylon Workshop 52 n.26, 65 Douris 139 Dwarf Painter 139 Emporion Painter 90 Eretria Painter 138–140, 243–245 Eucharides Painter 90, 139

Euphiletos Painter 90 Exekias 90 Fat Runner Group 90 Foundry Painter 139 Geras Painter 139 Group E 90 Group R 244 Group of Palermo 16 139 Hirschfeld Workshop 65 Inscription Painter 244 Kassel Painter 139 Kerch Style 138, 140 Kleophrades Painter 70–71, 139 Leningrad Painter 139 Lewis Painter 139 LM Painter 139 Lysippides Painter 90 Makron 139 Malibu Painter 90 Mastos Painter 90 Meidias Painter 70 n.52, 138–140 Mesagne Painter 139 Methyse Painter 139 Naples Painter 138–140 Niobid Painter 139 Orchard Painter 139 Orpheus Painter 139 Paidikos Alabastron Painter 139 Painter of Athens 581 90 Painter of Athens 894 Workshop 65 Painter of Athens 1826 244 Painter of Athens 12144 140 Painter of Athens 13031 140 Painter of Athens National Museum 806 65 Painter of Berlin A34 See also Woman Painter66 Painter of Berlin 1686 90 Painter of Berlin 2451 244 Painter of Berlin 2464 244 Painter of Bologna 228 139 Painter of Boston 10.190 140 Painter of Brussels R330 139 Painter of London B235 90 Painter of London E80 139 Painter of London E342 244 Painter of London E614 139 Painter of London E633 139 Painter of Louvre F42 90 Painter of Munich 1410 90 Painter of Munich 2260 139

Painter of Munich 2335 244 Painter of Munich 2358 139 Painter of Munich 2470 140 Painter of Munich 2774 244 Painter of Munich 8742 140 Painter of New York Metropolitan Museum of Art 34.11.2 65 Painter of Orvieto 1047 139 Painter of the Copenhagen Chous 138, 140 Painter of the Ferrara Choes 138, 140 Painter of the Oxford Brygos 139 Painter of the Madrid Fountain 90 Painter of the New York Hypnos 244 Painter of Vatikan E347 90 Painter of Vienna 943 139 Painter of Würzburg 173 90 Painter of Würzburg 252 90 Penthesilea Painter 139 Phiale Painter 139 Philadelphia Painter 65 Pig Painter 139 Pistoxenos Painter 139 PL Class 139 Polygnotos Painter 139 Priam Painter 90 Princeton Painter 90 Providence Painter 139 Quadrate Painter 244 Reed Painter 244 Sabouroff Painter 139, 244 Sandal Painter 90 Sappho Painter 90 Shuvalov Painter 138, 140 Sotades Painter 139 Splanchnopt Painter 139 Swing Painter 90 Sydney Chous Class 138, 140 Thanatos Painter 244 p. 338

Theseus Painter 90 Thorikos Workshop 65 Timokrates Painter 244 Towry Whyte Painter 90 Trachones Painter 65 Trachones Workshop 54, 65 Two-Row Painter 244 Tymbos Painter 244 Veii Painter 139 Villa Giulia Painter 139 Washing Painter 138–140 Woman Painter See also Painter of Berlin A3466, 244, 245 n.191

Zannoni Painter 140 pais 34–39 pais amphithaleis 84–85, 101 palaistra 43 n.66, 81–82, 86, 115–116, 126 paleopathology 161 palleks 35 panhellenic 5–7, 9–10, 87 n.90 panhellenism 9–10 parasol 103 parent also parents 8–9, 33, 76–80, 82–85, 121, 127–128, 145, 197–213, 215–219, 223, 227–228, 230–235, 237–238, 249–250, 280–281 Paris School 71–72, 93–94, 143–144 Paros 156 n.11 parthenoi 192–194, 285–286 Pausanias Description of Greece 183 Peace of Nicias 7 pebble 180 pederasty 85–86 making men 286 n.69 Peisistratid 5–6, 88–91 Peisistratos 5–6 pelike also pelikai 77 n.72, 87–88, 125–127, 130, 133, 178, 185–187 Peloponnesian Wars 7–10, 26–27, 96–97, 129–131, 134–138, 146–147, 149–150, 192, 196–197, 220–221, 223, 251–252, 288–289 pendant 180, 184 n.80, 269–270 periboloi 157, 194 Perikles 6–9 citizenship law 8–9, 96–97, 121–122, 129–131, 134–138, 146–147, 149–150, 190–192, 248–249 pay for jury service 6–8 perinate 39–43, 100, 126–127, 148, 159 n.25, 167, 170–177, 183–185, 187–190, 198–200, 202–207, 209–213, 216–219, 231–232, 235–237, 280–281, 285–286 Persian War 7, 9–10, 146–147, 190–192 Persians also Persia and Persian Empire 3, 7, 9–10, 88–91, 143 personhood 155 n.9, 280–282 petasos 208, 213–215 Phaleron (in Attica) 158–159, 167–170 phiale also phialai 79, 103–104, 117 n.139, 178, 185 n.91 phialidio 178, 185 n.91 Philip II, of Macedon 9, 275–276 Athenian resistance to 9–10, 146–147 Philostratus Heroicus 31 phormiskos also phormiskoi 87–88, 234–237, 261 phylai 6 pilos 208, 213–215 pillar 208, 213 pin 180, 183–185 pipe (burial) 187–190 pipes See musical instrument, pipes

pit (burial) 156–159, 165 n.48, 175–181, 187–190 pitcher 178, 185–187 pithos (burial) 187–190 plague, outbreak in Athens 8–12, 96–97, 134–138, 150, 192–194, 242–243, 251–252, 288–289, 290 n.76 plaque, funerary 50, 66–67, 72–73, 73 n.61, 75–78, 87–88, 143, 221–222 plate 126–127, 129 n.159, 130, 133 n.163, 178, 185–187, 221–222 platform 53–56, 79, 81–82, 103–104, 115–116 Plato Laws 23 n.23, 32, 34, 119 n.142, 185, 254–256 Protagoras 34 Republic 5–6, 245–246 play 76–78, 84–85, 94–95, 98–100, 102–115, 122–125, 128–133, 146, 183, 185, 207–209, 228–235, 254–258, 260–264, 270, 273– 274, 285–286, 289–290 in groups 83, 98–99, 106–110, 117–125, 145, 261–264 in scholarship 23, 34 n.53 with animals 76–78, 92, 98–99, 111–115, 123–125, 131–133, 209–213 plemochoe also plemochoai 103, 117 n.139, 178, 185–187, 234–237 Pliny the Elder Natural History 158 n.21 plough 104 Plutarch Pericles 6, 8–9 pollution See miasma (Julius) Pollux of Naucratis Onomastikon 256 pomegranate 179, 181–182, 256, 265 n.38 population p. 339

size of, Athens and Attica 4–5, 9–11, 26, 96–97, 134–138, 141, 150, 164, 167–170, 192–194, 196–197, 224–225, 246 n.195, 251–252, 288 n.72 post (painted pottery scene attribute) 104, 115–116, 234 post-structuralist approaches, also post-structuralism 29–30 pot (burial) See also enchytrismos158–159, 165 n.48, 170–177, 185–190, 192 potters, as craftsmen rather than artists 91, 147–148 pottery as art in modern contexts 67–71, 93 commissioners of 82–83, 87 n.90, 117–122, 128–129, 131–138, 141–142, 150, 222, 251–252, 289–290 monetary value in antiquity 67–70, 91, 92 n.101 separate treatment of styles in scholarship 47–48 trade 45, 70 n.56, 71–72, 144 potty stool See highchair prochous (burial) 187–190 proteleia 257 n.10 prothesis 44 n.2, 46–47, 49–50, 52–67, 72, 75–76, 80–84, 87–88, 101, 122–125, 141–143, 145, 223 n.157 Protoattic 66 psychoanalysis, of children 15–16 puberty See also hebe31, 34–37, 40–43, 120–121, 213, 280 public presence of children 4–5, 34 n.54, 55, 58–59, 62–64, 75–78, 81–85, 111–117, 120–122, 125, 142–146, 148–149, 167–175, 230–231, 249–250, 252, 277–278, 286–288

of women 4–5, 9, 76–78, 121–122, 129–131, 133–134, 150, 251–252, 289–290 punishment See also beating76–78, 81–82, 84–85 pyxis also pyxides 47 n.12, 77 n.71, 81 n.77, 86–87, 91–92, 104–106, 117 n.139, 125–127, 129–131, 166, 178, 185–187, 221–223 quiver 208, 213–215 rabbit 208–213, 271 rattle 103–104, 106–111, 119, 129–131, 148–149, 207–209, 250–251, 254–255, 258–264, 273–275, 284 Räuchle, Viktoria 20–21, 72–73, 182 n.73, 212 n.141 red-figure pottery women as commissioners of 121–122, 128–129, 131–138, 150, 197–198, 251–252, 289–290 Rhodes 74–75, 98 n.117 rhyton 178, 185–187 ring 180, 183–185 River Acheron 237–238 River Styx 237–238 rock (attribute in iconography) 103, 115–116, 208, 213–215, 234, 237 rock-cut (burial) 156, 187–190 rod (painted pottery scene attribute) 103–104, 111–115, 122–125 roller 41, 78–82, 102–104, 106–115, 117, 144, 148–149, 199, 201, 205, 207–213, 227–230, 232–235, 237–238, 250–252, 254–255, 257–258, 273–274, 284 lack of visibility archaeologically 257–258 types 106 n.126, 257–258 Russia 97–98, 226 sakkos also sakkoi 103, 115, 208, 213–215, 231–232, 234, 237 saltcellar 178, 185–187 Samos 187 n.107 sanctuary also sanctuaries 4–5, 7, 45, 115–116, 158–159, 177–183, 256–257, 260–261, 267–268 sandal 76–79, 85, 103–104 sarcophagus also sarcophagi 159, 183, 187–190 sash See also fillet79, 81–82, 103–104, 115, 126–127, 208, 213–215 scarab 180 sceptre 104 scroll 103–104, 109 n.129 seal 180 Seifert, Martina 24–25, 39, 73, 75–76, 78, 95–96, 105–106, 269–270 seisachtheis See Solon separation of boys and girls 32 shaft grave 156, 187–190, 192 shell 180–182, 254–255, 269–270, 284 shelf 104, 115 sherd, indeterminate (as grave offering) 178 shield 103, 116–117, 208, 213, 234, 237 ship 56 shoe also shoemaker 76–82, 84–85, 208 Siana cup 87 siblings 83, 117–121, 193, 197, 202–206, 208, 210 n.137, 214 n.147, 215–220, 237–238, 249–250, 289–290 as caregivers 119 n.142 Sicily 74–75, 98 n.117, 159 n.24, 162 n.41 silver (material) 105–106, 175 n.65, 183–185 skeletal remains 30–31, 36, 161 n.30, 163–164, 165 n.48, 167, 170 n.58

skyphos also skyphoi 47 n.12, 87–88, 103–106, 117 n.139, 130, 133, 178, 185–187, 221–222 p. 340

slave, children 40–43, 76–78, 120–121, 143–144, 197, 198 n.129, 210 n.137, 213–220, 291–292 snail 180 snake 234, 271 soap 166, 180 socialisation, of children 15–16, 21, 23–25, 52, 58–59, 83, 88 n.92, 94–95, 111–115, 120–122, 126–128, 142–143, 150–151, 165– 166, 230–231, 252–254, 256, 257 n.10, 267–268, 283–286 rites of passage involved in 21, 52, 88, 95–96, 102–105, 152–153 social persona 154–155 Society for the Study of Childhood in the Past (SSCIP) 17–18, 161 Sofaer-Derevenski, Jo also Sofaer, Jo 16, 18–19, 165 Solon Council of 400 6 Fragments 5, 35 n.57 legal reforms of 5, 190–192 Sommer, Maria and Dion 23–24, 37–39, 96–97, 260 nn.19–20, 262 n.29 Sourvinou-Inwood, Christiane 20–21, 25 n.27, 36–38, 96 n.113, 196–197, 246 n.194 Spain 98 n.117 Sparta 7–10, 35 n.56, 155–156, 156 n.12, 159 n.26, 162 n.41, 190–192, 245–246 attitudes towards, in Athens 9–10 influence of, in Athens 8–10 spear 103, 116–117, 208, 213–215, 234, 237 spindle 103–104, 116–117 spinning See wool, work sponge 103, 234 spool 180, 185, 262 n.29 sprig 78–80, 103–104 staff also stick 78–80, 86, 103–104, 116–117, 213–215, 234, 236–237 as an attribute to denote citizenship 116–117, 213–215 stamnos 120 n.145, 125, 129 n.159, 130, 133, 178, 185–187 stand, indeterminate (as grave offering) 178 statues (grave stele) 219–220, 229 n.165 step 208, 213–215 stick 66–67, 104, 106 n.126, 116–117, 208, 213–215, 228–230, 232–235, 257–258 stool 79, 81–82, 115 n.137, 213–215, 231–232, 234, 237 footstool 271–272 stratēgoi 7–8 strigil 103–104, 166, 180, 185, 208, 211, 213–214, 248–249 strōma 53 n.33 structuralist approaches also structuralism 50, 71, 162–163 stylus 103, 109 n.129, 180 Subgeometric 66 swan 104, 111 n.131 swing (painted pottery scene attribute) 79, 104 sword 53, 56, 58, 79, 103, 116–117, 141–142, 208, 213–215, 234, 237 symbolic body 183 n.79 symposion also symposia 83, 88, 91–92, 101, 124, 127–128, 272 n.52, 276, 290 n.77 synoikismos 4–5, 143 table 78–79, 81–82, 85 n.88, 92, 96 n.112, 103–104, 110, 114–115, 119, 127 n.156, 179, 260–261, 271–272

tankard 47 n.12, 178, 185–187 teenager 35 n.57, 40–43 teething 32, 158 n.21 terracottas, as archaeological signatures of children 177–181, 260–261, 274–275 body part votives 181–182, 260–261 theatre costume 104, 106–111 theatre mask 104, 106–111 Thebes 158 n.23 Thessaly 195 n.118 thetes 8 Thorikos 12 n.5, 163 n.43, 167–170 Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War 8–9 thyrsos 104 tile grave 159, 175–177, 187–192 toddler 39–43, 77, 83 n.83, 92 n.96, 98–100, 106, 109, 119, 125–126, 129–131, 144, 148, 167, 169–181, 185–190, 198–207, 210, 216–219, 227–230, 232–235, 237–238, 240–242, 247 n.198, 272–273, 285–286 tomb (attribute in iconography) 208 Tomb of the Rich Athenian Lady 182 n.75, 280–281 tools 79, 86–87, 180, 182 n.74, 185, 247–248, 256 torch 79, 103–104 toys 16 n.8, 18–19, 92–93, 102, 106–111, 117–120, 125, 129–131, 144, 148–149, 175–177, 180–183, 207–213, 215, 232–235, 240– 242, 246–248, 252–258, 273–274, 276 n.60, 283–284, 286 as archaeological signatures of children 117–120, 181, 253–254, 256–268, 273–274 difficulties with identifying archaeologically 88, 95–96, 256–268 toy cart See roller Trachones 167–170 tray 79, 103–104 tree 79, 81–82, 102–104, 115–116, 237 tripod 104, 115–116 trittys, also trittyes 6 tumuli 158–160 turtle 104, 111–115, 179, 181, 260 tutor See also paidagōgoi120–121 tympanon See musical instrument, tympanon tyranny 5–8, 82–83, 143 Regime of the Thirty Tyrants 220–221 underworld, the See also Hades111–115, 183–185, 223, 227–228, 235–237, 240 n.186 Van Gennep, Arnold 15–16 vase, indeterminate (as grave offering) 208 Vergina 226 vessel, indeterminate (painted pottery scene attribute) 79, 103–104 Viglatouri 156 n.11 warfare 5, 7, 83–84, 121–122, 133–134, 143, 146–147, 149–150, 251–252, 277–278, 281–282, 289–290 warrior also warriors 33, 46–47, 51, 55–58, 76, 80–81, 83–84, 101, 116–117, 228–232, 237, 240–241, 243–245 waterspout 79, 81–82 waves 103, 111–115 weapon also weapons and weaponry 56–58, 79–81 weaving See wool, work

wedding 76, 84–85, 101, 121–125, 127–131, 143, 290 n.77 wedge 180, 184 n.82, 185 n.88 wet-nurse 145–146, 202–206 white-ground pottery contexts of use 221–223 relative value 222 technique 221–223 window (painted pottery scene attribute) 104, 115 women See also public presence concerns about fidelity of 8–9 seclusion of 8–9, 44 n.2, 288 n.71, 290 n.76 wool 79, 116–117, 208, 213–215 work 86–87, 127 n.156, 185, 247–248, 267–268 workshops, pottery 46, 48–49, 65, 141–142 wreath also wreaths 31, 56, 78–80, 103–104, 105 n.122, 234–237 writing 76–78 case 103, 109 n.129 on pottery 45 n.4 tablet 78–80, 103–104, 109 n.129 Xenophon of Athens Memorabilia 9, 31 Oeconomicus 120 n.144 Symposium 258–260 younger child 32 n.41, 36 n.59, 37–43, 53–55, 58–63, 69, 73–80, 83, 85–87, 98–108, 110, 113, 117–121, 125–133, 144, 148–150, 165–167, 170–185, 187–190, 193, 198–199, 202–214, 216–219, 223 n.158, 224, 227–235, 237–238, 240–242, 249–250, 252, 263, 284–286 youth 35 n.57, 36 n.59, 37–43, 66–67, 76–78, 82–83, 85–86, 94–95, 96 n.113, 100–101, 116–121, 126–127, 129–133, 144 n.171, 167, 170–175, 193, 213, 214 n.147, 215–216, 225 n.160, 228–231, 237–242, 249 n.202, 249 n.201 yoyo 103, 106–111, 254–255, 261–264, 273–275, 284