ABSTRACT
Numerous methodological issues make it difficult to ascertain what it was like to be a child in Archaic and Classical Greece. Children are largely missing from the art of the Archaic period; literature refers to Athenian children, and iconography represents the Classical Athenian child. Something is known of the Spartan child, but largely only from non-Spartan sources. Male and female children had different roles, but the distinction was more blurred at Sparta, where girls participated in athletic contests. But children of both genders played important roles, especially in religion, and were by no means marginalised. High rates of child mortality, and the short-lived nature of adult life, meant that there was a specific societal focus on the child.
