ABSTRACT
It has long been noticed that, generally speaking, children wore the same footwear as adults in ancient Roman times. This chapter assumes that shoes were considered not just a bare necessity for the living but were attributed a special meaning for the dead. In figural representations and written sources Roman children are not always depicted realistically. There are likewise many images, mainly on sepulchral monuments, that put the child in some other context. There, the child in question is shown wearing garments and footwear that do not match his age and/or status. It is clear that children’s shoes are much more than a snapshot of real life and make reference to a particular status in society. Often they have a special meaning, pointing to something the child might have attained had he or she survived into adulthood. Yet shoes may also indicate cult and religion; the concept of monosandalism will be explored in this context. The significance of children’s sandals in mourning scenes on Roman sarcophagi will also be considered. There, the slippers of the child (lying in state) are put on a low footstool. This motif is known from sarcophagi for deceased women, but never appears on monuments for men – although we know that men likewise wore these shoes. The slippers are no mere accessory but an important iconographic element that sometimes even replaces the depiction of the deceased. In the case of girls, the motif may even hint at the bridal shoes, the socci lutei. Archaeological finds support this discussion: the material discovered so far indicates that children were sometimes not only inhumed/cremated fully dressed and wearing shoes, but were given shoes as burial gifts. These shoes were not necessarily the footwear the deceased had worn during his/her lifetime but were produced solely for the purpose of becoming grave goods.
