During childhood, games and toys have enriched and developed the personality of human beings. Thus, they provided intellectual and social development at the earliest stage, our childhood.
In Roman times, it was common for boys and girls to face a higher risk of mortality due to epidemics, diseases, or accidents that severely affected the most vulnerable members of society. Therefore, protective deities were important to prevent these "unjust" deaths, as well as protective amulets that their parents carried with them from the first days of their lives.
The early years of life
It was common for boys to wear the so-called bulla, pendants that contained an amulet inside to protect against evil spirits, whether some substance (herbs, spells, stones) or a phallic amulet. In the case of girls, they wore the lunula, shaped like a half-moon, for protection from any evil eye or harm, which they had to discard before getting married. (Tesauros del Patrimonio Cultural de España, s.f)
We refer in the first paragraphs of this article to the vulnerability of children since part of their life and toy records have been found as burial goods for the young ones, which we will present several examples throughout the article.
We can consider the earliest objects with which babies and children interacted in their early moments of life or "first toys of childhood" to be pendants (bulla or lunula), bottles, and rattles.
Roman baby bottles or guttus were made of ceramic, similar to those in Neolithic societies, and later Greek and Phoenician ones. They were formed by a central hole where animal milk was poured and an elongated beak with a hole that imitated the mother's or wet nurse's nipple. There were simple forms and even animal-shaped ones. An example of the latter are the dog- and dolphin-shaped bottles from the 1st century BC, displayed at the Archaeological Museum of Melilla.
Similarly, we refer to the rattles or crepitacula, elements that have been used throughout history to entertain babies and in Roman times also as protective items. Their shapes were circular, anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, geometric, and the material used was ceramic, bronze, or silver.
As children grow up, their games and toys change. In the case of girls, their education was entirely different since their future role was to marry and bear offspring; in any case, they were totally dependent on the pater familias and their own husbands. The fact that their education is based on household tasks and family care, does it affect the type of toys for children and their differentiation by gender?
The so-called "Grottagrossa Doll" belonged to an 8-year-old girl who was embalmed with Egyptian techniques in the 2nd century AD. This ivory doll was found in the sarcophagus of the little girl as part of her burial goods along with items for decorating the doll.
A similar case is that of the "Crepereia Tryphaena Doll" (Díaz López, 2017), a young woman who at age 20 was buried with her articulated ivory doll (and its respective accessories). Archaeologist Rodolfo Lanciani suggests that she died on the eve of her wedding, so having died before marriage would be considered to have remained in childhood. According to Roman tradition, girls offered their dolls to deities Venus or Diana just before getting married as a symbol of transitioning from childhood to adulthood.
Recently, a child's tomb dating back to the 1st century AD was discovered in France.
Among the objects that formed part of her burial goods was found a metal ring with a rod that made it roll on the ground, suggesting it was a toy for the child (Mayans, 2021).
Considering other examples like clay figurines, both boys and girls played with these figures without regard to their theme; in other words, whether the figure represented a gladiator, soldier, or animal. The same was true for board games, marbles, yo-yos, ball games, hide-and-seek, or nuces castellatae, where walnuts were the protagonists: throwing nuts into a jar, seriae, or rolling them down a slope, declivitates. (García Sandoval and Gregorio Navarro, 2014, pp. 85-87)
Conclusion
Roman toys follow similar characteristics to modern ones in relation to gender, as exemplified by the dolls we previously mentioned. Although these dolls had a symbolic tradition, they are generally girls' toys because they relate to beauty and accessories.
However, other toys like terracotta figurines or miniature vessels could be owned by both boys and girls. Could this be the cause of age changes and their relationship with education? Probably girls' education in relation to household tasks and family care, and boys' education linked to war or weapons created, as they grew older, a stereotyping of toys used, which during these early years were not observed or seen so significant.
Bibliography
Díaz López, L. (2017). The Doll of Crepereia Tryphaena. Blog of Los fuegos de Vesta. http://losfuegosdevesta.blogspot.com/2017/08/la-muneca-de-crepereia-tryphaena.html
Garbarino (2018). Lúnula or lunula pendant. | Herakles. https://herakles.es/blog/las-lunulae-o-colgante-lunula/
García Sandoval, J. and Gregorio Navarro, M.C.D. (2014). Childhood in Rome: girls' and boys' games. VII National Ludoteca Conference. Roman Games, Water Games, Albarracín: Sierra de Albarracín County, pp. 71-94
González, M. (2022). A journey through the history of Melilla in the Archaeological Museum. El Faro de Melilla. https://elfarodemelilla.es/un-viaje-por-la-historia-de-melilla-en-el-museo-arqueologico/
Mayans, C. (2021). Discovery of a Roman child's tomb at a French airport. Discovery in Gaul. National Geographic. https://historia.nationalgeographic.com.es/a/descubren-tumba-nino-epoca-romana-aeropuerto-frances_16220
Bulla (amulet) (s.f). Tesauros del Patrimonio Cultural de España. http://tesauros.mecd.es/tesauros/bienesculturales/1011806.html
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