Glimpses of Childhood in the Ancient World: Egypt, Greece and Rome

Mu-chou Poo

Department of History

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Abstract

In ancient Egypt, depictions of children often appear in the paintings and statues. Boys and girls usually would have a braid on one side, and shave the rest of the hair on the head. Another typical gesture is to put one forefinger on the mouth. Children are depicted as naked, without any cloth on them. Speculations could be advanced on the cultural significance of such depiction.

Textual evidence usually emphasizes that children (usually boys) should follow the instructions of the father, to learn everything that is proper for the boy to grow up to become a successful man and establish his own household. Girls typically are given less attention in the texts, until they become an adult and a mother.

Children are seen in the eyes of the Egyptians as a kind of ignorant, immature, and naïve beings, thus childhood was merely a necessary stage that one has to go through in order to become an adult.

The Greeks often depict children in various situations, and the depictions usually will take note of the physical features of the young children, with chubby body, big head, and short limbs. Greek philosophical texts often depict children as weak, incapable of moral reasoning, which, of course, was the prejudice and presumption of the philosophers. There are, on the other hand, certain positive views of the state of “childishness”, that is, children usually do not lie, and speak the truth. Thus children’s words naturally carry certain prophetic messages. This is comparable with the ancient Chinese idea of the prophetic value of children’s songs.

Roman intellectuals and philosophers basically hold similar views as the Greeks toward children. Basically, in the eyes of the Roman men, children, women, and elders are all weak beings, lacking maturity in emotions and wisdom. Because the children are incapable of reasoning and incapable of distinguishing right from wrong, the adults have to teach them to remember some doctrines and give them some physical punishment and disciplines. There is nothing joyous about childhood, only the potential to become adults is worthwhile celebrating.

Our understanding of the view of childhood in the ancient period is conditioned by the textual and graphic evidence we have. It is important to distinguish the different nature of the textual and graphic sources, as they represent different stereotypical views of childhood. Some of the questions facing the ancients, however, seem to be universal: how to treat the children, and how to educate them to become what the society wished them to be. Some of the attitudes toward children can still be seen everywhere even today: children cannot be reasoned, and coercion and compulsion are the most effective way to achieve the aim of education. The big difference between the ancients and us, however, is our recognition of childhood as an independent and crucial stage of life that needs to be treated with extreme care. Because once childhood is gone, it is gone forever.