ABSTRACT
If children appear so often and so significantly in visual imagery, this suggests that children held a visible role in familial and societal life. We know that they were politically important, with imperial sons holding titles of coemperor from a young age, and with imperial sons and daughters being affianced in their youth to secure diplomatic détente. Valuable as political heirs, children also appear to have been valued as individuals, imaged in familial portraits in central and assertive ways. Whether illustrating biblical scenes or ornamenting diverting margins, children’s presence in various settings suggests that they, and childhood, had significant associations. For the most part these were positive and pleasurable. The only recurring images of children that are evil or disconcerting are those of young victims, such as the babies in the massacre of the innocents, or young martyrs such as Quiricus or the potential martyr, Isaac, in scenes of Abraham’s sacrifice. We have seen no examples of children behaving wickedly, which might indicate that no such view was largely held about them.
