Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks

94 Daily Life of the Ancient Greeks
that his feet were deformed as a result of his injury did not deter his
parents from adopting him.
Orphans
Given the hazards of life coupled with the low life expectancy, a
very large number of children must have grown up fatherless, the
primary meaning of orphanos, which gives us the word orphan.
Hektor’s wife Andromache paints a haunting image of the fate of their child
Astyanax, who, she envisages, will become an outcast after his father’s death
( The Iliad 22.490 – 498):
The day a child becomes an orphan he . . . goes always with head bowed low
and cheeks wet with tears. . . . Anyone who feels pity for him briefly offers him
his cup and wets his lips but not his palate. But a child who has both parents living
drives him from the feast, beating him and upbraiding him: “Clear off! Your
father doesn’t dine among us.”
To safeguard fatherless children, and equally to encourage the
fathers of young children to risk their lives in the service of the
state, many Greek poleis made it their policy to support orphans at
public expense until they reached their eighteenth year. Athens at
the end of the fifth century b.c.e. set the maintenance that orphans
received at one obol per day. Although their welfare was administered
by the eponymous archon, we also hear of orphanophylakes, or
“protectors of orphans,” who may have been assigned to individual
orphans to perform a role not dissimilar to that of social workers
today.
A Child’s First Years
In the fourth year of his life, an Athenian boy was brought to the
Anthesteria, or Flower Festival, which took place in early spring.
Here he was presented with a wreath to wear on his head, a small
jug known as a chous, and a small cart. This was also the occasion
when he experienced his first taste of wine. Since wine was the
gift of the god Dionysos and the drinking of wine was, as we shall
see later, invariably accompanied by religious ritual, the Anthesteria
was thus a rite of passage, marking an important transitional
moment in the child’s life.
Athenians felt particular tenderness toward children who died
before attending their first Anthesteria. A chous was placed beside