Western Civilization

IMAGES OF EVERYDAY LIFE

Children in the Roman World

LIKE THEGREEKS, the Romans did not always

raise all the children born into their families.

Not only were deformed children exposed to die,

but infant mortality rates were high—as many

as half of all infants did not survive into

adulthood. Nevertheless, upper-class families did

take good care of their surviving children. The

statue of a young boy shown in the illustration

at the top reflects this concern. He is wearing a

bulla (also seen in the inset), a golden amulet

given to male children on the day they were

named, nine days after birth, to protect them

against evil spirits. The illustration at the

bottom, a scene from a third-century

sarcophagus, shows an idealized version of an

upper-class child’s life: he is depicted being

breast-fed by his mother, being held by his

father, playing in a small chariot pulled by a

goat, and reciting to his father. The father was

largely responsible for providing for the

education of his children. Roman boys learned

reading and writing, moral principles and

family values, law, and physical training to

prepare them to be soldiers. As shown in the

middle image, boys were encouraged to engage

in athletic games at a very young age. Girls

learned at home what they needed to know

to be good wives and mothers.

The end of childhood for Roman males

came at the age of sixteen, when the young

man gave up his bulla, exchanged his purple-

edged toga for a plain white toga—the toga

of manhood—and soon after began his

career. For Roman girls, childhood ended at

age fourteen, the common age of marriage.

Lower-class children were put to work in

their teens and were often apprenticed to a

craftperson at age twelve. Slave children were

expected to work when they were five.

Left: Louvre, Paris//Gianni Dagli Orti/The Art Archive at Art Resource, NY;

Right:ªMary Evans Picture Library/Alamy

Louvre, Paris/// The Bridgeman Art Library/Getty Images

Louvre, Paris//DeAgostini/SuperStock

Roman Culture and Society in the Early Empire 133

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