BIRTH AND INFANCY.
An Athenian Home--The Birth of a Child--Its Dedication--Its First
Years--Learning to Walk--Playthings--Amusements.
We must now transport ourselves in imagination to the house of an
Athenian citizen of the better classes. He is a rich man, who not only
owns a comfortable, though simple, town house and land outside the gate
managed by slaves, but also draws considerable interest from capital
invested in trading vessels, and from the numerous slaves who work in
factories for wages. But, in spite of his comfortable circumstances, his
joy has hitherto been troubled by one sorrow--he has been married for
several years, and as yet no heir to his possessions has been given him.
A little daughter is growing up in the house to the joy of her parents,
but even this cannot console the father for the sad prospect of seeing
the possessions inherited from his ancestors, and increased by his own
industry and economy, pass into the hands of strangers.
But to-day joy and gladness have entered this man’s house. His wife has
borne him the much-longed-for son and heir. The neighbours, who had seen
the well-known nurse enter the house, were anxious to see in what manner
the front door would be decked--whether, as before, woollen fillets
would announce the birth of a daughter, or the joyous wreath of olive
branches proclaim the advent of a son and heir. While the slaves are
festively decking the door
[Illustration: FIG. 58.]
outside, within the house the new-born child is receiving its first
care. With a happy smile the young mother looks on from her couch while
the nurse and maids are busily occupied in preparing the bath for the
little one. For this only tepid water and fine oil are used, for the
Spartan custom of adding wine to the baby’s first bath is unknown at
Athens. After the bath, too, the baby has a warmer bed than would have
fallen to his lot in the sterner city. True, the father intends, as soon
as possible, to send to Sparta for one of those celebrated nurses known
and prized for their success in rearing children; but still he shrinks
from beginning the hardening process at this tender age, and rearing up
the child according to Spartan customs without the warm swaddling
clothes. So the baby is carefully wrapped in numerous swaddlings, in
such a manner that even the arms are firmly swathed, and only the little
head is visible. (Compare Fig. 58.) The ancient physicians prescribe for
the new-born child soft woollen swaddling three fingers broad, and
direct that the swaddling should begin with the hands, then pass on to
the chest, and at last cover the feet, swathing each part separately but
loosely, only drawing the bandages tight at the knees and the soles of
the feet; the head also must be enveloped, and, finally, a second
covering is put over the whole body. When modern physicians maintain
that this swaddling must injure the child and check the development of
its organs, they forget that the Greeks treated their children thus for
centuries and yet were a healthy nation. But it is quite incredible that
they should have been thus swaddled for the first two years of their
life, as a passage in Plato seems to indicate, for this would not only
have been extraordinary, but also injurious to the health. It can only
be a question of maintaining a covering suitable to the age for these
two years, instead of the children’s dress afterwards worn. A physician
of the age of the Empire recommends the end of the fourth month as the
time for gradually leaving off the swaddling; and probably this was also
the Greek custom. Antiquity does not seem to have been acquainted with
our soft cushions, but the little Athenians also had their cradles,
though these did not stand on the ground on rockers like ours, for such
cradles are not mentioned till the Roman period, and seem to have been
unknown in the classic age; but they resembled a basket of woven osier,
suspended from ropes like a hammock, and thus made to rock. The cradle
in which Hermes, who seems already to have attained the age of boyhood,
is depicted on a vase painting represented in Fig. 59, is of a peculiar
shape, quite like that of a shoe; the handles at the side, through which
ropes were probably passed, show that this was also made to rock. Fig.
60 shows a different kind of cradle. It is a bed on rockers, which may
have been used in the same way as the babies’ cots common among us.
[Illustration: FIG. 59.]
The young mother now for the first time gives the new-born baby the
breast (compare Fig. 61, taken from a Greek terra-cotta), and rejoices
that she is able to perform this duty herself. However, in case she
should not have been able to do it, a poor peasant woman from the
neighbourhood had been brought to the house and paid for her services.
Meantime, the husband sits down by the bed and discusses with his wife
the steps which must next be taken. A question that sometimes causes a
good deal of difficulty presents none on this occasion--viz., the
legitimation of the child. And as the boy is strong and healthy, there
cannot be a question of the barbarous custom
[Illustration: FIG. 60.]
of exposing it, which, though rarely resorted to at Athens, was still
quite common at Sparta. Even had the child been a second daughter, the
kindly-disposed master of the house would not have resorted to this
cruel step; although, had he done so, his fellow-citizens would not have
blamed him for it. But the parents have to settle on which day the
family festival shall take place, to welcome and dedicate with religious
rites the newborn child (_Amphidromia_) and what name they shall give
it. They decide upon the tenth day after the birth for the festival.
Many parents, it is true, celebrate this as early as the fifth day, and
then on the tenth hold a second festival with an elaborate banquet and
sacrifices, and but few rich people content themselves with a single
celebration. But though in this case there is no lack of means, yet, as
the young mother wishes to take part herself in the Amphidromia, they
decide to be content with one celebration, which is to take place in ten
days. According to old family custom, the boy receives the name of his
paternal grandfather.
[Illustration: FIG. 61.]
When the appointed day has come, and the house is festively decked with
garlands, messengers begin to arrive early in the morning from relations
and friends, bringing all manner of presents for the mother and child.
For the former they bring many dishes which will be useful at the
banquet in the evening, especially fresh fish, polypi, and cuttle-fish.
The baby receives various gifts, especially amulets to protect him
against the evil eye. For, according to widespread superstition, these
innocent little creatures are specially exposed to the influence of
evil magic. Therefore the old slave, to whom the parents have confided
the care of the child, chooses from among the various presents a
necklace which seems to her especially suitable as an antidote to magic,
on which are hung all manner of delicately-worked charms in gold and
silver: such as a crescent, a pair of hands, a little sword, a little
pig, and anything else which popular superstition may include in the
ranks of amulets; and hangs this round the child’s neck.
The festival begins with a sacrifice, and is followed by the solemnity
in which mother and child, who, according to ancient notions, are
regarded as unclean by the act of birth, are purified or cleansed, along
with all who have come in contact with the mother. This part of the
ceremony is the real “Amphidromia” (literally “running round”). The
nurse takes the child on her arm, and, followed by the mother and all
who have come in contact with her, runs several times round the family
hearth, which, according to ancient tradition, represents the sacred
centre of the dwelling. Probably this was accompanied by sprinkling with
holy water. At the banquet the relations and friends of the family
appear in great numbers. In their presence the father announces the name
which he has chosen for the child. After this all take their places at
the banquet, even the women, who, as a rule, do not take part in the
meals of the men. The standing dishes on this occasion are toasted
cheese and radishes with oil; but there is no lack of excellent meat
dishes such as breast of lamb, thrushes, pigeons, and other dainties, as
well as the popular cuttle-fish. A good deal of wine is drunk, mixed
with less water than is generally the custom. Music and dancing
accompany the banquet, which extends far into the night.
The first years of his life were spent by the little boy in the nursery,
in which things went on in much the same way as with us. During this
period boys and girls alike were under the supervision of mother and
nurse. If the baby had bad nights and could not sleep, the Athenian
mother took him in her arms just as a modern one would do, and carried
him up and down the room, rocking him, and singing some cradle song like
that which Alcmene sings to her children in Theocritus:--
“Sleep, children mine, a light luxurious sleep.
Brother with brother: sleep, my boys, my life:
Blest in your slumber, in your waking blest.”[A]
At night a little lamp burnt in the nursery. Although, as a rule, in
small houses the apartments for the men were below and those for the
women and children in the upper storeys, yet it was customary for the
women to move into the lower rooms for a time after the birth of a
child, partly in order that they might be near the bath-room, which was
necessary both for mother and child. During the first years of their
life the children had a tepid bath every day; later on, every three or
four days; many mothers even went so far as to give them three baths a
day. When the child had to be weaned, they first of all gave it broth
sweetened with honey, which, in olden time, took the place of our sugar,
and then gradually more solid food, which the nurse seems to have chewed
for the child before it had teeth enough to do this itself. Aristophanes
gives us further details about Greek nurseries, and even quotes the
sounds first uttered by Athenian children to make known their various
wants.
[Illustration: FIG. 62.]
They do not seem to have had any special mechanical contrivances for
learning to walk. In the time of the Empire baskets furnished with
wheels are mentioned. Apparently they were in no great hurry about
this. For the first year or two the nurses carried the children out into
the fields, or took them to visit their relations, or brought them to
some temple; then they let them crawl merrily on the ground, and on
numerous vase pictures we see children crawling on all fours to some
table covered with eatables, or to their toys. (Compare the Stele,
represented in Fig. 62, on which a child has crawled to its mother and
is trying to raise itself.) When the child made its first attempt at
walking, prudent nurses took care that it should not at first exert its
feeble legs too much, and so make them crooked; though Plato probably
goes too far when he desires to extend this care to the end of the third
year, and advises nurses to carry the children till they have reached
that age.
[Illustration: FIG. 63.]
Children’s dress must have given but little trouble during these first
years. At home--at any rate in summer--boys either ran about quite naked
or else
[Illustration: FIG. 64.]
with only a short jacket open in front, like the little boy with the
cart in Fig. 63. The girls, however, had long dresses reaching to their
feet, fastened by two ribbons crossing each other in front and behind.
Naughty children were brought to obedience or quiet by threats of
bogies, but, curiously enough, these Greek bogies were all female
creatures, such as Medusae or witches: “Acco,” “Mormo,” “Lamia,”
“Empusa,” etc.; and when the children would not stay quiet indoors, they
seem to have threatened them with “The horses will bite you.” The
mothers and nurses used to tell the children all sorts of legends and
fairy tales--Aesop’s Fables were especially popular--and little stories
from mythology or other tales of adventure, which often began, like
ours, with the approved “Once upon a time.” Among the many poetical
legends of gods and heroes there were, it is true, some which were
morally or aesthetically objectionable, and the philosophers were not
wrong in calling attention to the danger which might lie in this
intellectual food, supplied so early to susceptible childish minds; yet
this was undoubtedly less than what is found in our own children’s
stories.
[Illustration: FIG. 65.]
Greek children had toys of various kinds, though the excessive luxury
attained in these at the present day was unknown to antiquity. A very
ancient toy is the rattle, usually a metal or earthenware jar filled
with little stones, sometimes made in human form; and there were other
noisy toys, with which the children played and the nurses strove to
amuse them; though complaints were sometimes made that foolish nurses by
these means prevented the children from going to sleep. A very popular
toy, found in many pictures in children’s hands, was a little
two-wheeled cart (compare Fig. 63), or else a simple solid wheel,
without spokes, on a long pole--a cheap toy which could be purchased for
an obol (about three-halfpence). Larger carriages were also used as
toys, which the children drew themselves, and drove about their brothers
and sisters or companions, as we see in Fig. 64. Sometimes tame dogs or
goats were harnessed to them, and the boys rode merrily along, cracking
their whips. (Compare Fig. 65.) The custom of letting the nurses draw
the children in perambulators in the street seems to have been unknown,
but baby-carriages, in which the children were drawn about in the room,
are mentioned by the ancient physicians. (Compare Fig. 60.)
[Illustration: FIG. 66.]
The little girls liked to play with all kinds of earthenware vessels,
pots, and dishes; and, like our little girls, they made their first
attempts at cooking with these. Many such are found in the graves. More
popular however, even in ancient times, were the dolls, made of wax or
clay and brightly coloured; sometimes
[Illustration: FIG. 67.]
with flexible limbs, like the one in Fig. 66, or with clothes to take on
and off, and representing all manner of gods, heroes, or mortals; dolls’
beds were also known. Though boys may have sometimes played with these
figures, or even made them for themselves out of clay or wax, yet we
generally find them in the hands of girls, who seem to have taken
pleasure in them even after the first years of childhood; indeed, it was
not uncommon, since Greek girls married very early, for them to play
with their dolls up to the time of their marriage, and just before their
wedding to take these discarded favourites, with their whole wardrobe,
to some temple of the maiden Artemis, and there dedicate them as a pious
offering.
[Illustration: FIG. 68.]
The boys delighted in other more masculine pleasures. Like our own boys,
they played with box-wood tops and whips, singing a merry song the
while, or else they bowled their iron hoops, to which bells or rings
were attached. The hoop was a favourite toy until the age of youth, and
we often find it on vase paintings in the hands of quite big boys.
(Compare Fig. 67.) We may certainly assume that
[Illustration: FIG. 69.]
they also had little imitations of warlike implements such as swords and
shields; a little quiver, which can hardly have served any other purpose
(compare Fig. 68) has been found. Clever boys made their own toys, and
cut little carts and ships out of wood or leather, and carved frogs and
other animals out of pomegranate rinds. Our hobby-horse, too, was known
to the ancients, as is proved by a pretty anecdote told of Agesilaus. He
was once surprised by a visitor playing with his children, and riding
merrily about on a hobby-horse. It is said that he begged his friend not
to tell of the position in which he had found the terrible general,
until he should himself have children of his own. Kite-flying also was
known to them, as is proved by the vase painting represented in Fig.
69, which, though rough in drawing, distinctly shows the action.
[Illustration: FIG. 70.]
They were also acquainted with the little wheels, turned by means of a
string which is wound and unwound, that are still popular among the
children of our day, and about a hundred years ago were fashionable toys
known as “incroyables.” What we see in the boy’s hand in Fig. 70 can
hardly be anything else. This was a game in which even grown-up people
seem to have taken pleasure. On the vases of Lower Italy we often see in
the hands of Eros, or women, a little wheel, with daintily jagged edge
and spokes, fastened to a long string in such a way that, when this is
first drawn tight by both hands and then let go, the wheel is set
revolving. (Compare Fig. 71.) Probably this was not a mere toy when used
by grown up people, but rather the magic wheel so often mentioned as
playing a part in love charms; but about this we have no exact
information.
[Illustration: FIG. 71.]
Swings must also be mentioned as popular with both young and old. These
were exactly like ours: either the rope itself was used as a seat and
held fast with both hands, or else a comfortable seat was suspended from
the cords. (Compare Fig. 72.) This was a merry game, in which grown-up
women sometimes liked to take part; and so was the see-saw, of which
even big girls made use. (Compare Fig. 73.) Sometimes the mother or
older sister took the little boy by the arm and balanced him on her
foot, as the girl in Fig. 74 does with Eros, and, as in the well-known
beautiful statue, “The Little Dionysus,” is carried on the shoulders of
a powerful satyr. Many a Greek father probably gave his son a ride on
his shoulders.
[Illustration: FIG. 72.]
[Illustration: FIG. 73.]
It is a matter of course that the young people of that day were
acquainted with all the games which can be played at social gatherings
by children, without any assistance from without. The various games of
running, catching, hiding, blind-man’s-buff, etc., in which our young
people still take pleasure, were played in Greece in just the same
manner, as well as the manifold variety of games with balls, beans,
pebbles, coins, etc.
[Illustration: FIG. 74.]
Games of ball served as recreation for youths and men, and some of the
above-mentioned games of chance, rather than skill, were especially
popular with grown-up people, particularly games of dice or
“knuckle-bones,” to which we shall refer later on in another section.
Thus our young Athenian spends the first years of his life amid merry
play with his companions, under the watchful care of his mother. During
the first six years the nursery, where girls and boys are together, is
his world, though he is sometimes allowed to run about in the street
with boys of his own age. He is not yet troubled with lessons, and
although, should he be obstinate or naughty, his mother will sometimes
chastise him with her sandal, yet in a family in which a right spirit
prevails, the character of the education at this early age is a
beneficent mixture of severity and gentleness. Sometimes, it is true,
the father does not trouble himself at all about the education of his
children, and leaves this entirely to his wife, who may lack the
necessary intellectual capacity, or even to a female slave. This, of
course, has bad results, and the same happens when the wife, like the
mother of Pheidippides, in the “Clouds” of Aristophanes, is too
ambitious for her little son, and, in constant opposition to the weak,
though well-intentioned, father, spoils him sadly. Let us assume that
the boy whose entrance into life we described above, is free from such
deleterious influences, and, sound in mind and body, passes in his
seventh year out of his mother’s hands into those which will now
minister to his intellectual and physical development.