Children on Attic Vases Detail from a similar Krater Metropolitan Mus., NY

Funeral for a Man

Attic Krater c. 750 BCE Athens, Kerameikos Mus. Funeral for a Woman

Amphora c. 750 B.C.E. Athens, Kerameikos Mus. 6th century Black Figure Children in myths

Achilles pursues Troilos and Polyxena, children of Priam

Neoptolemos (son of Achilles) kills Astyanax (son of Hector) during the fall of Troy. Priam (to the left of the altar) looks on.

The birth of Athena from the head of Zeus was a popular black figure subject during the 6th cent. The death of Astyanax continues to appear on red figures vases of the 5th century.

Red figure crater by the Altamura Painter ca 470-60 BCE Red figure vase by Hermonax ca 470-460 BCE

Red figure painters frequently depicted the birth of Erichthonios, an early king of Attica. Hephaistos (left) sired the child upon Gaia (Earth) who hands the newborn to Athena (right) for safekeeping. On this cup by the Kodros Painter (440-430 BCE) Gaia hands Erichthonios to Athena. To the left stands the first king of Attica, Kekrops (with a serpent’s tail). To the right, Hephaistos, the child’s father, looks on. Detail of a vase by the Erichthonios Painter, ca 450-40 (left).

A krater by the Nikias Painter ca 410 BCE (below)

The birth of Erichthonios remained a popular subject throughout the 5th century. Danae and her son are set adrift in a box by her father Acrisius who feared an oracle that Perseus would one day kill him.

As part of the increasing interest in children during the 5th century, the story of Danae and her son, Perseus (whose later heroic deeds Include the decapitation of Medusa) became popular. Baby’s head emerging from Zeus’ thigh

The birth of Dionysos Alkimachos Ptr. ca 460 (far left) Krater frag in Bonn, Germany (left) Altamura Ptr ca 465 (above) Hermes carries the baby Dionysos to the nymphs

Dinos Painter Chicago Painter (above) ca 450-40 (above) A nymph receives the baby Dionysos from Zeus on a vase by the Painter of the Florence Stamnoi

This is his first day at daycare and he is reluctant to leave his father. Funeral Stele (grave marker) believed to come from the island of Poros ca 450 BCE (left)

Early depiction of a child with genuinely childlike anatomy Bassae Temple frieze, end 5th cent., Battle of Lapiths and Centaurs – child In mother’s arms (below) White Ground Lekythoi (plural of “lekythos”) appear first about mid-5th century – they were burial offerings

Charon, the boatman, ferries souls across the River Styx. Hermes is the guide. On white ground lekythoi, mourners at tombs. Note the children, above. Children appear ever more frequently on white ground lekythoi in the 2nd half of the 5th century. Meidias Ptr End 5th cent. (left)

Sotades Ptr. (work- shop) ca 460 (below)

Mannheim Ptr (right)

Mothers with children more Common by mid-5th century Images of children at play

Boys playing school (?) (left)

Boys playing “knuckle bones” (like rolling dice) (left, below)

Girl dancing to flute music (below) Small wine pitchers (chous) appear after mid-fifth cent, esp. between 420-410 BCE for use at festival of Anthesteria where toddlers had their first official taste of wine. Children at play on choes (plural of chous) This is the world’s best pix of a rabbit! Two views of a chous in the Chicago Art Institute collection (above)

And another, also in the Chicago Art Institute collection (right) If you want to learn more about children in ancient Athens, Seymour library has two wonderful books:

Coming of Age in Ancient Greece: Images of Childhood from the Clasical Past (2003) This is an exhibition catalogue with lots of pix and very good essays from a show at Dartmouth College

Children and Childhood in Classical Athens by Mark Golden (1990) – this is a well written and authoritative study of the subject (a few pix)