Childhood in Ancient Athens: Iconography and Social History (Routledge Monographs in Classical Studies)

Childhood in Ancient Athens offers an in-depth study of children during the heyday of the Athenian city state, thereby illuminating a significant social group largely ignored by most ancient and modern authors alike. It concentrates not only on the child's own experience, but also examines the perceptions of children and childhood by Athenian society: these perceptions variously exhibit both similarities and stark contrasts with those of our own 21st century Western society. The study covers the juvenile life course from birth and infancy through early and later childhood, and treats these life stages according to the topics of nurture, play, education, work, cult and ritual, and death. In view of the scant ancient Greek literary evidence pertaining to childhood, Beaumont focuses on the more copious ancient visual representations of children in Athenian pot painting, sculpture, and terracotta modelling. Notably, this is the first full-length monograph in English to address the iconography of childhood in ancient Athens, and it breaks important new ground by rigorously analysing and evaluating classical art to reconstruct childhood's social history. With over 120 illustrations, the book provides a rich visual, as well as narrative, resource for the history of childhood in classical antiquity. Cover......Page 1 CHILDHOOD IN ANCIENT ATHENS: Iconography and Social History......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 CONTENTS......Page 6 ILLUSTRATIONS......Page 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......Page 14 ABBREVIATIONS......Page 16 Part I INTRODUCTION, DEFINITIONS AND METHODOLOGY......Page 18 1.1 Scholarship on ancient Greek children and childhood......Page 20 1.2 The emergence of the ‘history of childhood’......Page 24 1.3 Towards an archaeology of childhood......Page 26 1.4 Scope and aims of the present work......Page 28 2 ATHENIAN DEFINITIONS OF CHILDREN AND CHILDHOOD, AND THE ICONOGRAPHY OF AGE......Page 32 2.1 Age and the stages of childhood in Athens......Page 34 2.2 Iconographical indicators of age......Page 41 2.3 The stages of childhood in Athenian figured art......Page 54 Part II THE JUVENILE LIFE COURSE......Page 60 3 BIRTH AND INFANCY......Page 62 3.1 Birth......Page 63 3.2 Nurture......Page 67 3.3 Cult and ritual......Page 81 3.4 Death......Page 103 4 THE DEVELOPING CHILD......Page 121 4.1 Nurture......Page 123 4.2 Work......Page 138 4.3 Play......Page 145 4.4 Education......Page 151 4.5 Cult and ritual......Page 169 4.6 Death......Page 203 5 CONCLUSION......Page 224 NOTES......Page 229 BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 291 INDEX......Page 314 Cover 1 CHILDHOOD IN ANCIENT ATHENS: Iconography and Social History 4 Copyright 5 CONTENTS 6 ILLUSTRATIONS 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 14 ABBREVIATIONS 16 Part I INTRODUCTION, DEFINITIONS AND METHODOLOGY 18 1 FRAMING THE CONTEXT 20 1.1 Scholarship on ancient Greek children and childhood 20 1.2 The emergence of the ‘history of childhood’ 24 1.3 Towards an archaeology of childhood 26 1.4 Scope and aims of the present work 28 2 ATHENIAN DEFINITIONS OF CHILDREN AND CHILDHOOD, AND THE ICONOGRAPHY OF AGE 32 2.1 Age and the stages of childhood in Athens 34 2.2 Iconographical indicators of age 41 2.3 The stages of childhood in Athenian figured art 54 Part II THE JUVENILE LIFE COURSE 60 3 BIRTH AND INFANCY 62 3.1 Birth 63 3.2 Nurture 67 3.3 Cult and ritual 81 3.4 Death 103 4 THE DEVELOPING CHILD 121 4.1 Nurture 123 4.2 Work 138 4.3 Play 145 4.4 Education 151 4.5 Cult and ritual 169 4.6 Death 203 5 CONCLUSION 224 NOTES 229 BIBLIOGRAPHY 291 INDEX 314 __Childhood in Ancient Athens__In view of the scant ancient Greek literary evidence pertaining to childhood, Beaumont focuses on the more copious ancient visual representations of children in Athenian pot painting, sculpture, and terracotta modelling. Notably, this is the first full-length monograph in English to address the iconography of childhood in ancient Athens, and it breaks important new ground by rigorously analysing and evaluating classical art to reconstruct childhood's social history. With over 120 illustrations, the book provides a rich visual, as well as narrative, resource for the history of childhood in classical antiquity. Lesley Beaumont offers an in-depth study of children and childhood in ancient Athens. It concentrates not only on a child's experience of childhood, but also examines the perceptions of children and childhood by Athenian society