The life of children in Pompeii was not so different from that of children in other cities of the Roman Empire. Rituals, ceremonies, and education were similar, as were games and amusements.
Birth and early years:
Birth was a risky time for both mothers and children, with high infant mortality.
Infants were wrapped in woolen swaddling clothes to protect them from the cold and encourage straight limb growth. Pliny the Elder considered this practice a form of slavery.
To ward off the evil eye, a mark was drawn on the infant's forehead with saliva and amulets were used to protect them from evil spirits.
Deities such as Juno and Hercules were invoked for the infant's protection.
Babies were placed around their necks with a bulla, a charm containing a good luck charm, which would accompany them into adulthood.
Nursing and weaning were maternal tasks in modest families, while wealthy families entrusted babies to nannies and wet nurses.
Wet nurses told children mythological fables and fairy tales with talking animals that taught moral precepts, such as those of Aesop and Phaedrus.
Minor deities such as Vagitanus, Ossifraga, and Statilina were invoked to protect children at different stages of growth.
Games and amusements:
Younger children amused themselves with colorful rattles called crepitacula and crepundia, necklaces with noisy pendants.
Earthenware animal-shaped feeding troughs could be turned into rattles when emptied.
Older children played with terracotta or cloth animals, skipping ropes, kites, spinning tops, yo-yos, and dolls.
The dolls were made of wood, clay or ivory and always represented young women.
Nut games were so widespread that the expression “giving up nuts” indicated the transition to a later stage of childhood.
The game of trochus, in which a large hoop was pushed with a stick, was popular among boys and competitions were often held.
Ball games were common and the ball took on different names depending on the game: pila lusoria, pila trigonalis.
Children also used wooden, terracotta, or bronze carts, called plostrum or plostellum, to simulate competitions.
Toys and amusements accompanied children throughout childhood and were often laid in graves in the event of an untimely death.
The abandonment of toys, dedicated to the gods, marked the transition to adulthood.
Education:
Elementary education: Between the ages of four and six, children began to learn to read, write, and count.
In wealthy families, education was provided at home by Greek nurses or preceptors.
Children learned both Latin and Greek.
Public schools were run by private teachers who were paid by the families.
In Pompeii, there were public schools in the porticos of the Forum and the Palestra Grande.
Schoolmasters were often paid little and late.
Pupils learned the alphabet, reading, writing, and calculus.
The Roman numeral system was duodecimal and did not include the use of zero.
Calculations were performed with an abacus, and the results of major operations were learned by heart.
Teachers were responsible for the education and behavior of pupils and often resorted to corporal punishment with rods or ferula rods.
Higher education: After elementary education, the education of the child was entrusted to the gramaticus.
Greek and Latin language and literature, history, geography, physics, and astronomy were studied.
Pupils learned to read and recite the texts of poets and historians, studying their metrics and style.
Exercises were both oral and written, and the teacher graded essays and organized public demonstrations.
Grammarians also often struggled financially.
Between the ages of twelve and fourteen, boys who wished to continue their studies could attend the schools of the rhetores, which specialized in oratory and eloquence.
The discentes practiced in oratorical contests, giving imaginary speeches to famous people (suasoriae) or defense harangues in fictitious trials (controversiae).
The more fortunate young men completed their education with a sojourn in Greece.
Teachers of higher education in Pompeii enjoyed high prestige and often engaged in electoral propaganda.
Transition to adulthood:
The entry into adulthood was marked by specific rituals.
Girls, around the age of twelve, sacrificed their dolls to Venus now ready for marriage..
Boys, around the ages of fifteen to sixteen, entered society with ceremonies held in March.
More information about childhood in Pompeii:
Archaeological excavations have uncovered drawings of gladiators and hunting scenes made by children aged 5-7 years on the walls of a service courtyard in the Casa del Cenacolo Colonnato. These drawings suggest that children in Pompeii were exposed to extreme forms of violence from an early age.
Conclusions:
The archaeology of Pompeii offers a fascinating insight into the lives of children and young people in ancient Rome. Thanks to the finds and evidence, we can reconstruct their games, education, rituals, and customs, offering a unique glimpse into a lost world.
Essential Bibliography:
S. Dixon, The Roman mother, 1988
R.Etienne, La vita quotidiana a Pompei, Milano 1973
C. Fayer, La famiglia romana, Roma 1995
Stanley F. Bonner, L'educazione nell'antica Roma, Roma 1986