{"id":1743,"date":"2022-07-08T19:02:11","date_gmt":"2022-07-08T19:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historydefined.net\/?p=1743"},"modified":"2022-07-21T22:47:53","modified_gmt":"2022-07-21T22:47:53","slug":"what-was-life-like-for-children-in-ancient-rome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.historydefined.net\/what-was-life-like-for-children-in-ancient-rome\/","title":{"rendered":"What Life Was Like for Children in Ancient Rome"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
When Julius Caesar was assassinated on the 15th of March in 44 BC, his adoptive heir and eventual political successor, Octavian, was just eighteen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Within weeks the young man was striving to gather military force to his cause as other allies of Caesar’s, such as Marc Anthony, scrambled for positions of power in the vacuum which had been created at the summit of the crumbling Roman Republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Soon Octavian was part of a triumvirate, including Anthony and Marcus Lepidus, who divided power across the republic between them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the years that followed, they vied for dominance. Yet, Octavian, who was still effectively a teenager by modern standards when he materialized into Roman politics, emerged victorious in 31 BC and became Rome’s first emperor, Caesar Augustus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
All of this begs the question, what childhood did Octavian have? What had prepared him during his youth to ascend to such a height? More broadly, what was childhood like in ancient Rome? <\/p>\n\n\n\nChildren in Ancient Rome<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Infant and Child Mortality in Ancient Rome<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
One of the critical aspects of childhood in ancient Rome is the sheer danger of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many children didn’t make it past their infancy or childhood. Childbirth and the first six months of life were particularly hazardous due to natal complications and premature births.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then in the first ten years or so of life, the diseases which have been a staple of human civilization for millennia, such as measles and influenza, were dangerous to children, which have become unimaginable since the advent of vaccines in the late eighteenth century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those surviving Roman children had to deal with the trauma of siblings’ passing. Those who had passed were remembered by families every year in the dies parentales<\/em>, a nine-day festival in which they were honored in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Roman Stages of Childhood<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Today we view childhood and one’s younger years as having distinct stages. So, for instance, if one is an infant until they are about 5 or 6, they are considered a child until they reach 13 or so, when the teenage years are generally deemed to begin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Roman stages of childhood were not altogether dissimilar; indeed, we inherited some of our concepts concerning this from the Romans. For instance, one was considered an infant, or infantia<\/em> in Latin, until they were 6 or 7. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then they progressed to childhood. However, there was no comparable aspect to being a teenager in Roman society. Once one reached 13 or 14, society effectively considered them to be a young adult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Childhood Education in Rome<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Today, education was central to childhood. The Roman education system mirrored the education curriculum, which had evolved within Greek societies since the sixth century BC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rich had private tutors, while others attended the Roman equivalent of schools. There they learned how to read and write Latin well and also Greek, the language of culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The curriculum focused on grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy above all else, while elements of Greek and Roman mythology and literature were also included. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boys would have been expected to excel in rhetoric, oratory, and philosophy as they got older, with the Stoic school being paramount in the latter field. Girls would have conversely been expected to learn to sew <\/a>and how to run a household. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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