L’Enfant et la mort dans l’Antiquité I

Nouvelles recherches dans les nécropoles grecques

Le signalement des tombes d’enfants
 Travaux de la Maison René-Ginouvès
12
Collection dirigée par Pierre Rouillard

L’Enfant et la mort dans l’Antiquité I

Nouvelles recherches dans les nécropoles grecques
Le signalement des tombes d’enfants
Sous la direction d’Anne-Marie GUIMIER-SORBETS et Yvette MORIZOT

Actes de la table ronde internationale organisée à Athènes,

École française d’Athènes, 29-30 mai 2008

De Boccard
11, rue de Médicis - 75006 Paris
2010
Directeur de la collection
Pierre Rouillard (CNRS)

Maquettage intérieur et mosaïque d’images de la couverture

Agnès Tricoche (ArScAn)

Maquette de la couverture
Virginie Teillet (Italiques)

Illustrations de la première de couverture (mosaïque d’images)

En haut, de gauche à droite : vase en terre cuite aux traits humains provenant d’une tombe d’enfant,
nécropole Collatina, Rome (cl. M. Letizia) ; vase contenant un squelette de bébé, Île d’Astypalée, site
de Chôra (cl. S. Hillson) ; sépulture d’enfant et mobilier, nécropole de Kalfata, Apollonia du Pont,
Bulgarie (Cl. K. Panayotova).
En bas, de gauche à droite  : nécropole presque exclusivement réservée aux immatures, Mendé,
Chalcidique (Cl. Greek Ministry of Culture, 1st Ephorate) ; sépulture d’enfant n° 278 et mobilier,
Apollonia du Pont, Bulgarie (Cl. L. Damelet, CNRS/CCJ) ; stèle en marbre de la tombe de Proculus,
nécropole de Porta Nocera, Pompéi (Cl. Gaillot/ Fouille Porta Nocera).

Dans la même collection

1 - De la domestication au tabou. Le cas des suidés au Proche-Orient ancien, 2006, Lion B. et Michel C., éd.
2 - La Macédoine : Géographie historique, Langue, Cultes et croyances, Institutions, 2006, Hatzopoulos M. B.
3 - Studia euphratica. Le moyen Euphrate iraquien révélé par les fouilles préventives de Haditha, 2007, Kepinski C.,
Lecomte O. et Tenu A., éd.
4 - Les Écritures cunéiformes et leur déchiffrement, 2008, Lion B. et Michel C.
5 - Essai sur le tissage en  Mésopotamie des premières communautés sédentaires au  milieu du IIIe millénaire avant
J.-C., 2008, Breniquet C.
6 - Et il y eut un esprit dans l’Homme. Jean Bottéro et la Mésopotamie, 2009, Faivre X., Lion B. et Michel C., éd.
7 - La Méditerranée au viie siècle av. J.-C. Essais d’analyses archéologiques, 2010, Étienne R., éd.
8 - Faire de l’ethnologie. Réflexion à partir d’expériences en milieu scolaire, 2010, Lebas C., Martin F. et
Soucaille A.
9 - Hommes, milieux et traditions dans le Pacifique Sud, 2010, Valentin F. et Hardy M., éd.
10 - Paysage et religion en Grèce antique. Mélanges offerts à Madeleine Jost, 2010, Carlier P. et Lerouge-
Cohen C., éd.
11 - Le Rapport de fouille archéologique : réglementation, conservation, diffusion, 2010, Soulier P., éd.

Chez le même éditeur, Colloques de la Maison René-Ginouvès

1 - Autour de Polanyi. Vocabulaires, théories et modalités des échanges, 2005, Clancier Ph. et alii, éd.
2 - La Chasse. Pratiques sociales et symboliques, 2006, Sidéra I., éd.
3 - Mobilités, Immobilismes. L’emprunt et son refus, 2007, Rouillard P. et alii, éd.
4 - L’Eau. Enjeux, usages et représentations, 2008, Guimier-Sorbets A.-M., éd.
5 - Portraits de migrants, Portraits de colons I, 2009, Rouillard P., éd.
6 - Portraits de migrants, Portraits de colons II, 2010, Rouillard P., éd.

© De Boccard, 2010
http://www.deboccard.com

ISBN 978-2-7018-0290-9
ISSN 1954-863X
 TABLE DES MATIÈRES

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-7
Anne-Marie Guimier-Sorbets et Yvette Morizot

L’enfant et la mort dans l’Antiquité : approches . . . . . . . . . 9

Antoine Hermary, Présentation du programme « L’enfant et la mort dans

l’Antiquité [EMA] : des pratiques funéraires à l’identité sociale » . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-17
Véronique Dasen, Archéologie funéraire et histoire de l’enfance dans l’Antiquité :
nouveaux enjeux, nouvelles perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19-44

L’enfant et la mort en Grèce

L’enfant et la mort en Grèce au premier Âge du Fer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Béatrice Blandin, Les enfants et la mort en Eubée au début de l’Âge du Fer . . . . . . . . . . 47-65
Alexandre Mazarakis Ainian, Tombes d’enfants à l’intérieur d’habitats
au début de l’Âge du Fer dans le Monde Grec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67-95
Maia Pomadère, La différenciation funéraire des enfants en Crète centrale
au premier Âge du Fer : l’indice d’une nouvelle structuration sociale ? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97-108

Sépultures d’enfants en Grèce de l’époque géométrique à l’époque romaine :

espaces, rites et intégration sociale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Chryssa Bourbou et Petros Themelis, Child Burials at Ancient Messene . . . . . . . . . . 111-128
Konstantina Kallintzi et Irini-Despina Papaikonomou, La présence des enfants
dans les nécropoles d’Abdère . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129-159
Maria Michalaki-Kollia, Un ensemble exceptionnel d’enchytrismes
de nouveau-nés, de fœtus et de nourrissons découvert dans l’île d’Astypalée, en Grèce :
cimetière de bébés ou sanctuaire ? (Première approche) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161-205
Sophia Moschonissioti, Child Burials at the Seaside Cemetery
of Ancient Mende . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207-225
Athanassios Themos et Elena Zavvou, Recent Finds of Child Burials
in the Area of Ancient Sparta from Protogeometric to Roman Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227-241
Photini Zaphiropoulou, Tombes d’enfants dans les Cyclades :
les cas de Naxos et de Paros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243-250

Sépultures d’enfants dans les nécropoles des colonies grecques de la Mer Noire 251
Anne-Sophie Koeller et Kristina Panayotova, Les sépultures d’enfants de la
de la nécropole d’Apollonia du Pont (Bulgarie) :
résultats des fouilles récentes (2002-2007) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253-264
Vasilica Lungu, Les tombes d’enfants dans les colonies grecques
de l’Ouest du Pont-Euxin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265-286
VI

Le signalement des sépultures d’enfants

Monde grec
Diego Elia et Valeria Meirano, Modes de signalisation des sépultures
dans les nécropoles grecques d’Italie du Sud et de Sicile. Remarques générales
et le cas des tombes d’enfant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289-325
Myrina Kalaitzi, The Representation of Children on Classical and Hellenistic
Tombstones from Ancient Macedonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327-346
Marie-Dominique Nenna, Les marqueurs de tombes d’enfant dans l’Égypte
gréco-romaine : premières recherches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347-360

Monde romain
Hélène Lamotte, Le rôle de l’épitaphe dans la commémoration des enfants
défunts : l’exemple des carmina Latina epigraphica païens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363-373
Solenn de Larminat, Signalisation des tombes d’enfants dans un quartier
funéraire de la nécropole romaine de Porta Nocera à Pompéi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375-385
Stefano Musco et Paola Catalano, Tombes d’enfants de l’époque impériale
dans la banlieue de Rome : les cas de Quarto Cappello del Prete, de Casal Bertone
et de la nécropole Collatina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387-402

Affiliations des auteurs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403

 The Representation of Children
on Classical and Hellenistic Tombstones
from Ancient Macedonia

Myrina Kalaitzi
Research Centre for Greek and Roman Antiquity (Kera)
National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens

The region and the period

T he area of study for this survey lies within the borders of the modern Greek state and
extends eastwards as far as the Strymon and Amphipolis, while to the south it roughly
coincides with the borders of the modern district of Macedonia (fig. 1).1 Figured tombstones
were in use in that area from at least the late 6th-early 5th c.,2 while from about the mid-5th c. the
series continues with no interruption into the Roman Imperial period. This survey is mainly
based on published material, amounting to a little over than 210 figured tombstones, ranging
in date from about the mid-5th to the 1st c.3 The temporal and geographical distribution of the
material is uneven: most tombstones (about half of them) date to the 2nd-1st c., while most
originate from major civic centres, mainly from the two successive capitals of the Macedonian
kingdom, Aigai (Vergina) and Pella, from Beroia, Thessaloniki and Amphipolis.
As the area defined above was transformed into Macedonian national territory as a whole
from the reign of Philip II onwards, one should be vigilant for different representational norms
during the 5th and 4th c. grosso modo between tombstones from the old Macedonian kingdom
on the one hand and from the Greek cities of the lands east of the Axios on the other. Non-
Greek populations, such as Thracians or Illyrians, belonging to the ethnic mosaic of Macedonia
throughout the period in question, are largely unrepresented in the class of figured tombstones,
and, when recognized, they conform to the Greek representational habits.4 Italians hesitantly
began settling in Macedonia from the 2nd c., and in a more coherent way from the last decades
of the 1st c. onwards, but, again, memorials belonging to Italians in this period largely conform

1 I would like to thank the organizers of the table ronde A.-M. Guimier-Sorbets and Y. Morizot for the
invitation to participate. I would also like to thank Prof. M. Hatzopoulos for granting me permission to use the
map seen in fig. 1, as well as Dr M. Stamatopoulou for her useful remarks. The regions of Parauaia, Derriopos and
Parorbelia, and the regions to the east of the Strymon (apart from the city of Amphipolis) were not included in the
areas surveyed.
2 All dates are BC.
3 It is the material which I have studied for the purposes of my D.Phil. thesis (Kalaitzi 2007). In this
article, instead of referring to the tombstones brought into discussion by the catalogue and plate number of an
as yet unpublished thesis, I will refer to them by citing only their first, fullest or latest publication. It should have
become obvious that the numbers with which we are dealing are nowhere near those of Attic figured tombstones
(cf.  Grossman 2007, p. 309-310, with notes 2-5), which have provided us with a standardized mode of
representation of children in a funerary context for the Classical period, or those of Hellenistic figured tombstones
from East Greece.
4 Kalaitzi 2007, vol. I, p. 168-171.

L’Enfant et la mort dans l’Antiquité I. Nouvelles recherches dans les nécropoles grecques. Le signalement des tombes d’enfants, actes de la table
ronde internationale organisée à Athènes, École française d’Athènes, 29-30 mai 2008, Guimier-Sorbets A.-M. et Morizot Y., éd., 2010
(Travaux de la Maison René-Ginouvès, 12)
328 Representation of Children on Tombstones from Ancient Macedonia

to the Hellenistic Greek koine.5

Pictorially identifiable age groups prior to adulthood

Present discussion pertains to figures which can be identified as the free-born children of
the families erecting the monuments – not child servants or slaves –. By applying a multitude
of pictorial criteria, which have been already adequately described by scholars,6 discernible
age groups, or better said, to quote L. Beaumont, discernible “developmental phases... both
biologically and socially defined”, corresponding to broader age bands7 prior to adulthood, on
tombstones from Macedonia are those of infants as babies in arms, of toddlers, of prepubescent
children, and lastly of adolescents.8 But, this is not to say that these categories are in all cases
unmistakably distinguished, greater ambiguity ensuing during the 2nd-1st c.
Information on childhood and age classes prior to adulthood might be less abundant for
Macedonia, but extant evidence shows that rites of passage similar to those of other areas of the
ancient Greek world marked their transition to puberty and adulthood.9 It furthermore shows
that, again, similarly to the rest of the Greek world, the end of childhood and incorporation
into the ranks of adults was differentiated according to gender: marriage, occurring at the age of
biological puberty, signified the transformation of a parthenos into an adult woman,10 whereas
for the males, legally coming of age at the age of eighteen, when they joined the ranks of ephebes,11
complete incorporation into the world of adults was a longer process concomitant with their
training for and eligibility to membership to military and civic institutions.12
This last observation may explain the fact that neither in the Classical nor in the Hellenistic
period did there exist on Macedonian tombstones standardized pictorial types to distinguish
between older adolescent boys from young adult males.13 In the realm of women it would in
theory suffice to tell between a married and an unmarried woman, a distinction which on
Macedonian tombstones might be pictorially clearer during the 5th-3rd c., but is less so during

5 Ibid., p. 174-178.
6 Mainly: Sourvinou-Inwood 1988, p. 15-20, 31-38; Beaumont 1994, esp. p. 81-82, 88-92.
7 Beaumont 1994, esp. p. 82-87, 92-94 (citation from p. 84). For the same concept: Sourvinou-Inwood
1988, p. 16-17, 32; Stears 1995, p. 118-123; Beaumont 2000; Lawton 2007, p. 42-43.
8 Different scholars have attempted various identifications of age groups and further subdivisions, often
depending on the artistic media with which they are concerned, cf. Grossman 2007, p. 310 with note 7; also:
Le  Dinahet 2001, p. 91-94. Here, I more or less follow those of Lawton 2007, as they proved in better
accordance with the representations in the material under discussion.
9 Hatzopoulos 1994.
10 For the parthenoi in Macedonia and rites of passage connected to them: Hatzopoulos 1994, esp. p. 36-37,
41-53, 73-81, 116-117; Psoma 2006, p. 297-298. Marriage and the oikos as the main sphere of activity for women
in Macedonia: Le Bohec-Bouhet 2006, p. 187.
11 Hatzopoulos 1994, p. 89.
12 Ibid., p. 113.
13 On the Classical stelai from Aigai young men dressed in short chiton, chlamys, petasos and krepides, holding
spears, could be taken to belong to the ranks of ephebes, but these items also belonged to the outfit of mature adult
Macedonians: cf. Saatsoglou-Paliadeli 1984, no. 20: Andronikos 1984, fig. 45; Despinis, Stephanidou-
Tiveriou and Voutiras 1997, no. 16, fig. 40. For the outfit of ephebes in Macedonia (attested for the Hellenistic
period), their organization being ascribed to Philip II: Hatzopoulos 1994, p. 99; id., 2001, p. 138; Psoma 2006,
p. 292, 295-297. For the ambiguity of male adolescence in Classical Athenian iconography and its social roots:
Beaumont 2000, esp. p. 42-48; ead. 1994, p. 85-86, whose interpretative approach I found very helpful.
 M. Kalaitzi 329

the 2nd-1st c.
Inscriptions, of course, do help establish family relationships, but the age of the deceased is
rarely stated prior to the Roman Imperial period on Macedonian tombstones, and, with regard
to the present subject, only two figured tombstones have preserved (epigrams with) explicit
information regarding age: Hadea14 (fig. 6) died still an aoros parthenos, while Noumenios15
(fig. 5) died when he was fourteen years old.
Figured tombstones erected as the personal memorials of children amount to about eighteen.16
Most figures of children appear on tombstones with one or more adults, on which children were
either named as well17 or not named at all, their figure remaining nameless and by definition
secondary.18 In many cases, the inscription of tombstones with adult(s) and child(ren) has been
wholly or partly lost, and any inference has to be based on iconography alone.19

The fifth–third centuries

Infants and toddlers

On three tombstones from Pella,20 Tragilos21 and Amphipolis,22 dating to the late 5th and
4th c., babies appear in the arms of a woman. On the first stele the baby, wholly swaddled and
wearing a hood, is meant as a newborn, while older infants should be portrayed on the two latter,
both partly wrapped in drapery and held in a seated position.23 The Tragilos stele was erected
for a woman named Ardrine, whereas the other two do not preserve their inscriptions, and we
are thus on no firm ground in telling whether the babies were meant as deceased or not. The
evidence of inscribed tombstones with similar scenes from other areas, in which babies in arms
are as a rule left unnamed,24 would suggest that the two stelai from Pella and Amphipolis were
erected for (one of ) the adults shown. Again, it is inscriptions that have revealed that a variety
of relations could be denoted with that particular schema, which should not be taken as the
iconographic equivalent of death in childbed; as such the schema was rather generic, defining
one basic aspect of the female world, namely the upbringing and caretaking of children.25
The figure of a nude baby seated on the ground is included in multi-figured scenes of the 4th c.
On a strongly atticizing unpublished relief stele in the Museum of Kilkis (Kilkis Museum 9989),
14 Allamani-Souri 1998.
15 Vérilhac 1978, no. 81, pls. 32, 34; Hamiaux 1998, no. 133.
16 This figure should only be taken as an approximation, as it depends upon correct recognition of age, and does
not include tombstones figuring child(ren) with adult(s) preserving no inscription.
17 Cf. Saatsoglou-Paliadeli 1984, no. 21, pl. 44; Cormack 1970, no. 13.
18 Cf. IG X 2,1, no. *677: Edson and Daux 1974, fig. 5.
19 Cf. the stele from Pydna discussed below: Kostoglou-Despoini 1988.
20 Lilimpaki-Akamati 1998.
21 Koukouli-Chrysanthaki 1983, fig. 34, on p. 144.
22 Hamiaux 1992, no. 261.
23 For the distinction: Grossman 2007, p. 310-311. Their sex is not discernible. On the general assumption
that figures of babies with uncovered chests belonged to boys: Lawton 2007, p. 45.
24 Evidence mainly coming from Classical Attic tombstones: Grossman 2007, p. 312. A Hellenistic stele from
Delos shows that a tombstone figuring a woman with a baby in arms could commemorate the death of the child:
Le Dinahet 2001, p. 97 with note 39.
25 Mainly: Bergemann 1997, p. 64-65; also: Oakley 2003, p. 185, with note 77.
330 Representation of Children on Tombstones from Ancient Macedonia

which does not preserve its inscription, the boy, shown along with the figure of an adult man
and that of a prepubescent boy, is depicted holding a Maltese dog with his left arm and a ball
against the ground with his right hand.26 According to the description offered by Saatsoglou-
Paliadeli,27 the baby (a boy?) on a painted stele from Aigai (who, in all probability, was not
among the persons named in the inscription) was shown extending both arms, reaching for one
of the adults of the scene, in a gesture expressing affection but also, as McNiven rightly observes,
dependency.28
On a 3rd c. stele from Beroia,29 a standing boy, who on the basis of his size, open-handed
gesture, apparent nudity and non-articulate movement should be recognized as a toddler, is
shown as a secondary figure, reaching towards a prepubescent girl, who is the one named in the
inscription (Synesis).

Prepubescent children

I begin with tombstones figuring children as the main figure, with no adults. On four stelai
from Pella and Amphipolis,30 of the late 5th and 4th c., boys are represented in what became a
standard Classical Attic schema,31 accompanied by their favourite pets, a dog and a bird, and, at
least once, with a ball or, rather, a wheel toy (fig. 2).32 On another 4th c. stele from Amphipolis,
a boy named Dionysios was shown as actively playing with knucklebones (once painted) in a
schema known from the Attic series.33 Herakleides from Aigai34 was shown together with his
dog – the species of which is not clear –, possibly also holding a bird or ball in his right hand;
Saatsoglou-Paliadeli has also recognized a staff and tentatively proposed to identify a lagobolon
held by Herakleides,35 two elements which, if correctly identified, would suggest that the boy,
along with enjoying the pleasures of childhood, was also being trained in the activities of youths
and men from an early age.

26 Cf. Clairmont 1993, nos. 0.868, 0.869; Grossman 2007, p. 314. For similar figures in sculpture in the
round cf. Vorster 1983, pls. 9, 21.
27 Saatsoglou-Paliadeli 1984, no. 22, pls. 45-46; non vidi; published illustrations do not permit accurate
figure identification.
28 McNiven 2007, p. 87. See also the figure of a boy in a stele now in Berlin, which has been connected by some
scholars with Macedonia, although it is not certain that it does in fact originate from the region: Clairmont
1993, no. 3.930; Kalaitzi 2007, vol. I, p. 95-96.
29 Gounaropoulou and Hatzopoulos 1998, no. 152.
30 Pella : stele of Xanthos: Akamatis 1987; stele of Damiskos: Petsas 1978, p. 68-69, no. 4, figs. 7-7a, fig. 3
on p. 118. Amphipolis: stele of Arrabaios (scene reconstructed): Scholl 1996, no. 405; ADelt 24 (1969) B2,
355 no. 3, pl. 361a (Ch. Koukouli-Chrysanthaki); stele of Herakleitos: ADelt 22 (1967) 426 (Ch. Koukouli-
Chrysanthaki; unpublished).
31 Clairmont 1993, vol. I, p. 135-136; Scholl 1996, p. 115-118. I am not here concerned with the question
of the origin of the type.
32 The handle would have been painted. On the wheel toy: Akamatis 1987, p. 23, with note 58; Fitta 1998,
p. 72-76. A painted wheel toy could have been included in the scene on the stele of Herakleitos, supra note 30.
33 Clairmont 1993, no. 0.924, with commentary on no. 1.302. The same schema was later used for other
kinds of active playing: cf. Pfuhl and Möbius 1977-1979, nos. 726-727, pl. 109. Generally on games with
knucklebones: Fitta 1998, p. 14-17.
34 Saatsoglou-Paliadeli 1984, no. 8, pl. 21.
35 Ibid., p. 105-106. V. von Graeve believed that what Saatsoglou-Paliadeli proposed to be a lagobolon were
chance traces of the stele’s fainting colours: ibid., p. 106.
 M. Kalaitzi 331

In the realm of girls, on a mid-5th c. pillar-formed stele from Thessaloniki (fig. 3)36 the girl
would have more probably stretched her arm towards a bird,37 while on a 4th c. stele from Aigai,38
Berenno is depicted holding a bird from a cordon, in a scene, which, if not in its exact schema,
is parallel in concept to the Classical stelai of boys shown with birds and dogs.39 Synesis, on the
3rd c. stele from Beroia already mentioned,40 is equipped with a chest – an attribute found often
in relation with adolescent girls and adult women – and holds a fruit or ball in her right hand.
As is habitual for tombstones, playing was more often implied through attributes than
explicitly shown. The bird, a favourite pet and a general iconographic symbol of young age and
of early death,41 was – as regular – common to both sexes, as was also perhaps the ball and the
dog.42

For some of the tombstones figuring children with adults we may be (fairly) certain that
they commemorated the children shown as well, either owing to inscriptions or iconography. A
5th c. stele from Pydna, on which a boy leans against the arms of a woman, holds a conspicuous
place among them,43 owing to its striking expressiveness. A rooster stretches its head towards
the object held by the boy, which, has been plausibly identified as a phormiskos.44 Among the
multiple symbolisms attached by the Greeks to the cock,45 that of the dear pet, underscoring the
familial sentiment of the scene, is the one to be read on the stele from Pydna.46 The 4th c. stele
from Kilkis, to which we have already referred (Kilkis Museum 9989), is important in that it
places a prepubescent boy both in the carefree world of play, as well as in that of athletic training
– and thus in the process of education and incorporation into the world of adult men – : the boy
is shown holding a ball and a bird, which he extends towards the poodle held by the baby boy,
but is also accompanied by a boy servant carrying an oil-flask.

In scenes with children and adults, attributes, including the dog (poodle),47 the ball (?),48
the wheel toy49 and the bird (apart from the cock on the Pydna stele, to be otherwise identified
as a dove), are positively attested only for boys, but this is to be attributed to the weathered

36 Despinis, Stephanidou-Tiveriou and Voutiras 1997, no. 10, fig. 23.

37 As already proposed by scholars: cf. ibid., p. 24; Despoini 1987, p. 294-296.
38 Saatsoglou-Paliadeli 1984, no. 7, pl. 20.
39 Ibid., p. 100-101: the scene possibly included the figure of one more animal on the ground. For the Attic
parallels: Clairmont 1993, vol. I, p. 139-140; Scholl 1996, p. 118-120. For stelai with children with birds and
dogs see also Woysch-Méautis 1982, esp. pls. 25-32.
40 Supra note 29.
41 Mainly: Woysch-Méautis 1982, p. 39-46. Also: Scholl 1996, p. 122-123, with notes 833-834.
42 Supra note 39.
43 As Kostoglou-Despoini 1988, p. 180-181,184, has rightly suggested (and as I originally doubted:
Kalaitzi 2007, vol. I, p. 32).
44 Kostoglou-Despoini 1988, p. 181-183. Again, I now believe that a phormiskos is more plausible than just
a piece of food, as I originally thought (Kalaitzi 2007, cat. no. Pydna 20).
45 Lately: Cohen 2007, p. 16-17, with bibliography, also commenting on the stele from Pydna.
46 So already Kostoglou-Despoini 1988, p. 183.
47 Saatsoglou-Paliadeli 1984, no. 20: Andronikos 1984, fig. 45.
48 Cf. Saatsoglou-Paliadeli 1984, no. 5, pl. 14.
49 Ibid., no. 21, pl. 44.
332 Representation of Children on Tombstones from Ancient Macedonia

state of preservation of some of the tombstones. Boys and girls are often connected to adults
through gestures of affection and dependency, extending their arms towards them, touching
them, leaning on them or being caressed or held by them (fig. 4).50 Birds (doves) are sometimes
proffered to or received from adults in a way familiar from the Classical Attic repertoire.51 On
tombstones on which they were positively not named, children – expectedly, perhaps – tend to
be less well equipped in terms of attributes. On such tombstones less emphasis was placed upon
sketching the children’s realm per se, and more upon showing their active relationship with the
adults (mostly, but not exclusively, with motherly figures); in other words, it was mainly the
adults’ world that children were called forth to annotate in such scenes.52

On better quality pieces children were characterized as such also by bodily proportions and
facial features (chubbiness, protruding stomach, larger head, flat breasts for girls; figs. 2-3).53
In both multi-figured compositions and tombstones figuring the sole figure of a child, no
particular, age-specific, mode of dress can be observed, except that children are sometimes
more comfortably dressed, the long chiton worn without the himation, and the combination of
chiton and himation shared by girls (always in the long chiton: fig. 4)54 and boys.55 Otherwise,
boys may be shown nude (when actively playing, like Dionysios) or in partial nudity (as young
men often are), they may sport the attire of himation only, worn in the way typical for adults as
well, or the short belted chiton, an outfit which they share with slaves;56 and, they may also sport
the short chiton and chlamys (on which see below).
Girls are generally short haired, the girl on the stele from Sphageia (the earliest among
tombstones figuring prepubescent girls; fig. 3), dressed with the fashionable dress of the period,
the peplos,57 standing out among her peers on later tombstones in that she wore her hair in a
sakkos (shared by adult women as well).58 Boys have their hair short, at least once adorned with
a ribbon,59 and once possibly fashioned with a knot or plait above the forehead.60
In all, on the one hand, prepubescent boys and girls appear to share some common attributes,
traits and gestures, which place them both in the world of play and ascribe to both a less restrained

50 Lazaridis 1969b. On this stele the girl is clearly the focus of the scene and the two adults are identified
through personal name alone (no patronym), showing that interest lay on the familial bonds of the girl, not the
parents’; hence, I now believe that this was the personal memorial of the girl (Phanis).
51 Cf. Lazaridis 1969a, p. 112-113 (unpublished). Attic: Clairmont 1993, vol. I, p. 391, vol. II, p. 635.
52 Cf. Scholl 1996, p. 123; Grossman 2007, p. 318.
53 Cf. Despinis, Stephanidou-Tiveriou and Voutiras 1997, p. 24; Despoini 1987, p. 293; Akamatis
1987, p.18.
54 Stele of Phanis, supra note 50: chiton and himation. Biesantz 1965, no. K57, pl. 22: short-sleeved, belted
chiton.
55 Cf. the stele from Pydna, supra note 19 (long chiton); stele of Damiskos, supra note 30 (short chiton and
himation); Chrysostomou 2001, no. 1 (chiton and himation).
56 Cf. Saatsoglou-Paliadeli 1984, no. 5, pl. 14. For the social assimilation of children with slaves, expressed
both in ancient Greek vocabulary and in iconography: Golden 1985; id. 2003, p. 14; Cohen 2007, p. 4.
57 The peplos might have been worn by prepubescent girls also on tombstones of the two following centuries,
but is not identified with certainty.
58 Cf. the stele from Pella, supra note 20.
59 Stele of Xanthos, once painted: Akamatis 1987, p. 18.
60 Stele of Herakleitos from Amphipolis, supra note 30. For this type of hair dress on Attic tombstones:
Vorster 1983, p. 21-23; Clairmont 1993, vol. I, p. 138-139; Scholl 1996, p. 121.
 M. Kalaitzi 333

attitude and characteristics of social immaturity in their relation with adults. On the other hand,
differentiation according to gender and their future social roles as adult men and women did
manifest itself on the tombstones, as they may assume gender-specific adult-like dress, attributes
and activities, such as the chest, preserved for girls, or nudity and athletics, preserved for boys.

Adolescents

There is just one figured stele certainly erected as the personal memorial of an adolescent
boy, the 3rd c. stele of Noumenios (fig. 5).61 Prior to this, in the 4th c., the figure of an adolescent
boy, in the adult-like attire of the himation, is included in a multi-figured composition on a
stele from Pella,62 of which the inscription has been fragmentarily preserved. The boy has an
intermediate position in terms of attitude, underlining the ambiguous status of adolescents:
clasping the right forearm of the central figure (a woman), in a way more tender and less formal
than the dexiosis proper,63 and held by the standing woman on the right, like a child that still
needs to be protected.
Shown as the winner in a torch race, through iconography and epigram64 fourteen-year-old
Noumenios was connected to the religious and social life of the community. His stele advertised
the boy’s prominence in athletics, one of the two major aspects of training in the Macedonian
gymnasium (together with military training), which fourteen-year-olds attended, belonging to
the age class of paides.65

The small group of tombstones erected as the personal memorial of a maiden opens with
the exquisite stele from Nea Kallikrateia (ancient Dikaia)66 and a stele from Dion,67 both
dating to about the middle of the 5th c. They both show the maiden standing alone in profile,
the maiden on the Nea Kallikrateia stele holding a dove with her left hand. Two more stelai
belonged to maidens, the 4th c. stele of Nikeso,68 with a scene which, I would suggest, should be
understood as that of the offering of a libation (the altar, phiale and oinochoe having originally
been rendered in paint), and the late 3rd c. stele of Hadea. The latter (fig. 6)69 is for many reasons
exceptional for Macedonian habits, its importance lying in the exploitation of both epigram
and iconography, in order to expressly advertise the social standing of the maiden, who not only
exhibited the qualities and accoutrements of the elegant daughter of a well-to-do family, but was
also characterized and commemorated in her capacity as a priestess (as the wreath, sceptre, and
61 Supra note 15.
62 Cormack 1974, no. 1, fig. 4.
63 For the dexiosis as a sign of maturity and social equality, not regularly uniting children and adults: Clairmont
1993, vol. I, p. 392; Stears 1995, p. 126; McNiven 2007, p. 95-96; cf. Le Dinahet 2001, p. 97. In the corpus
studied here as a whole, a few examples of dexiosis between children and adults exist.
64 Connected through his name, and the dates marking the beginning and the end of his life to Apollo.
65 For the institution of the gymnasium in Macedonia and age classes: Gauthier and Hatzopoulos 1993,
esp. p. 68-78, 155-172; Hatzopoulos 2001, p. 134-140; Psoma 2006, p. 288-297. Torch running for the age
class of paides, attested at Hellenistic Beroia: Gauthier and Hatzopoulos 1993, p. 76-78, 109-110, 117-121.
66 Despinis, Stephanidou-Tiveriou and Voutiras 1997, no. 9, figs. 21, 24, 27.
67 Stephanidou-Tiveriou 1975.
68 ADelt 24 (1969) B2, p. 355, no. 6, pl. 361b (Ch. Koukouli-Chrysanthaki): Scholl 1996, no. 404.
69 Supra note 14. For detailed discussion and documentation of what follows on the stele: Kalaitzi 2007,
vol. I, p. 107-112.
334 Representation of Children on Tombstones from Ancient Macedonia

key are called forth to demonstrate). The double presence of Hermes, which to the best of my
knowledge is otherwise unattested, shows a high concern with the safe passage of Hadea to the
Underworld, a concern which is related to her early death, but which could be also understood
as the overstatement of a family more actively involved in cultic affairs.
A few more tombstones include a figure which can be positively identified as that of a maiden
among adults.70 No standard figural type71 or iconographic schema can be observed, the small
number of tombstones and their wide distribution in time and space being rather to blame for
this. They exhibit a variety of dress, either more appropriate for maidens (such as the unbelted
open-sided peplos72 of the maiden from Nea Kallikrateia, or the shoulder straps of the maiden
from Dion73) or worn by adult women as well (such as the sleeved chiton and belted peplos of
Hadea). Nonetheless, as opposed to adult women, who are as a rule depicted with the himation
drawn over their heads (and/or often perform the so-called anakalypsis gesture),74 maidens are
represented with their head uncovered by the himation. They mostly sport long hair, hanging
onto their back and shoulders,75 or well combed and tied at the back of the head.76
Gesture, stance and general comportment mould the profile of restrained, self-controlled,
respectful and elegant girls77 of marriageable age, who have left the freer attitude and gestures of
childhood and have been trained in the manners of adult women, ready to assume their roles as
such. Tellingly, on their memorials – through Hadea and, possibly, Nikeso – maidens appear to
actively enter the public sphere only through religious practice, as adult women also did.

Not concerned here with styles and types from an artistic point of view, it is to be observed
that Classical tombstones from both sides of the Axios recognize and attribute to children
the same major qualities. On a more general level, on present evidence, the social profile of
Macedonian boys and girls is generally sketched along lines familiar from the world of boys
and girls of the Classical Greek city-states. Were the recognition of the lagobolon on the stele
of Herakleides certain, one could speak of a boy being trained in an activity, which, along with
athletics and war, belonged to the core of Macedonian male identity and desired skills;78 but it

70 Cf. Biesantz 1965, no. K56, pl. 23: Hamiaux 1992, no. 263.
71 Such as that of a maiden with peplos and back-mantle (and cross straps) of 4th c. Attic iconography:
Roccos 2000.
72 Cf. Tölle-Kastenbein 1980, p. 240-241, cat. nos. 6b, 11b, 11e, 11f, 28a-c, 43d, p. 242-243, pls. 53, 54b.
73 For shoulder straps: Clairmont 1993, Introductory vol., p. 32; Roccos 2000, p. 246; Vorster 1983,
p.  7.
74 Which Llewellyn-Jones 2003, p. 98-107 (esp. p. 104), convincingly pleads should better be termed ‘veil
gesture’.
75 The long hair of the girl on the stele from Dion was held in place with the help of a taenia; Hadea is exceptional
among her peers also in that she wears a hat (cf. Allamani-Souri 1998, p. 21-22, with note 23, although I do not
share her interpretation).
76 The maiden on Biesantz 1965, no. K56, pl. 23 wears a kekryphalos. Short hair: cf. Despinis, Stephanidou-
Tiveriou and Voutiras 1997, no. 16, fig. 40.
77 Jewellery underscores their femininity: Biesantz 1965, no. K56, pl. 23; Hadea: fig. 6. For beauty as a sign that
a parthenos was ready to pass to maturity through marriage: Hatzopoulos 1994, p. 49-50. Cf. Lawton 2007,
p. 55-56. Jewellery is not exclusive to maidens and is also worn by girls (fig. 3), and mature women.
78 In general for hunting, its practical importance, its symbolism and close connection with athletics and war:
Woysch-Méautis 1982, p. 57-60; Barringer 2001, p. 10-53, 174-83. For Macedonia: Hatzopoulos 1994,
p. 87-111.
 M. Kalaitzi 335

is not. It is interesting, nonetheless, to note that another little boy on a 4th c. stele from Aigai,79
still carelessly playing with his poodle at the side of the scene, adopts the outdoor outfit of the
short chiton, chlamys and boots, typical for young and mature Macedonian men of the same
period – especially when shown as riders and/or in arms –.80
No general change in the iconography of children can be observed in the 3rd c. compared to
the two previous centuries, at least no other than that it brings with it a memorial, that of Hadea,
which as yet stands with no precedents, and in fact no followers, in Macedonia.

The second and first centuries

Infants and toddlers are now absent from the corpus examined, as also are figured tombstones
erected to prepubescent children alone. Figures positively identified as prepubescent children,
mostly boys, either named in the inscriptions or not, are included in a few multi-figured
compositions. They are characterized by reduced stature, freer attitude and gesticulations, and/
or gestures connecting them with the figures of adults in a relation of affection.81 They are,
nevertheless, deprived of a specific set of attributes, which would sketch their world in any detail.
On the whole, the pictorial boundaries between prepubescent boys and adolescents, and,
even more pronouncedly, between adolescents and young (adult) men are more blurred now,82
especially as the 1st c. advances. In multi-figured compositions tombstones face us with figures,
which one is inclined to deem adolescents instead of prepubescent boys on the basis of greater
size in combination with adult-like dress, posture and comportment,83 but subjectivity is
certainly lurking. Many more face us with figures which can be positively identified as younger
male members of a family, often explicitly identified as sons (by juxtaposing, for example,
different statures of the male figures, bearded – beardless figures, reclined – standing/seated
position) which could, nevertheless, have as well belonged to young (adult) males, rather than
to adolescents.84
As age groups are not clearly defined, proceeding to comment on attributes would lead us into
discussing the representations of the category of the ‘young Macedonian man’ in general, which
is beyond the scope of the present article. Suffice it to make some general observations: first,
that boys and adolescents/youths generally share the dressing habits of adults, be it chiton and
chlamys or chiton and himation, and that complete nudity for boys, associated with athletics and
playing in the previous centuries, is now lacking. Athletic accoutrements and horse riding may
be connected with figures better generically termed ‘youths’ or ‘young men’ (fig. 7).85 Greater
emphasis was now placed upon literate education, as the presence of book rolls and folding

79 Supra note 47.

80 It is not clear whether the boy in the same attire on Saatsoglou-Paliadeli 1984, no. 4, pls. 12-13, is a
child of the family or a squire.
81 Cf. Hamiaux 1998, no. 134; Lagogianni-Georgakarakos 1998, nos. 55-57, pls. 26-28;

Gounaropoulou and Hatzopoulos 1998, no. 178.

82 For the same phenomenon in Hellenistic Delos: Le Dinahet 2001, p. 92.
83 Cf. Hatzopoulos and Loukopoulou 1992, no. K19, pls. 64-65.
84 Cf. Despinis 2000, fig. 3.
85 Hatzopoulos and Loukopoulou 1992, no. K16.
336 Representation of Children on Tombstones from Ancient Macedonia

tablets in the hands of ‘youths’ and adult men may show,86 and whereas iconography does not
permit us to firmly identify prepubescent boys or adolescents holding book rolls, the epigram
for a boy named Philotas from Kalindoia, underlining his having studied poetry, confirms that
intellectual training was valued and praised in (male) children.87
Maidens are represented on tombstones with multi-figured compositions, on the majority
of which they are also named (fig. 7); few were erected to them alone, although figuring them
among their parents.88 The stele from Edessa (fig. 8),89 a work of the Beroian workshop, is among
the better quality pieces and rather exceptional for the period, as it underscores the intermediary
phase of a girl who, owing to her budding breasts, I would suggest was in her early puberty:
Hadea sports the elegant dress and posture of a proper lady, but at the same time reaches for
one of the foods on the table, in an attitude betraying spontaneity (even if still circumscribed
within a highly conventionalized pictorial language) not to be exhibited by mature women and
generally rarely seen on Macedonian tombstones.
Otherwise, maidens stand in motionless, statuary types, as adult women also did, often facing
the viewer (fig. 7), and sometimes themselves provided with slaves and chests.90 Their scale may
vary from significantly reduced stature to only slightly reduced or full stature, their younger age
being pictorially denoted mainly through their uncovered heads (fig. 7).91 Of the Hellenistic
types employed on Macedonian tombstones none seems to have been preserved for maidens
alone, with the possible exception of the Small Herculaneum Maiden type, which, however,
appears only once in the corpus examined.92

The picture emerges that during the 2nd-1st c. children were not prioritized in receiving a
sculptured funerary monument of their own;93 instead, they were more often included in family
compositions, which now anyway increase and more or less equal personal monuments.94 Even
then, on present evidence, their world was not pictorially supplied with insignia specific to
childhood or specific to the different phases of childhood, as those met in the previous centuries.
The compositional conventions of the period often made figures stand in self-confined, statuary
poses, with no connecting gestures or moves other than the turning of a head, non-adults and
their relation to the figures of adults, more often than not, abiding by these conventions.95
86 A phenomenon paralleled on Hellenistic tombstones from Thessaly, Delos, East Greece: Kalaitzi 2007,
vol. I, p. 59-61, 144; Zanker 1993, p. 218-222; Le Dinahet 2001, p. 96, 101-102. Cf. Schmidt 1991, p. 130-
132.
87 Hatzopoulos and Loukopoulou 1992, no. K18. The age of the boy is restored as either six or twelve
years old.
88 Cf. Lagogianni-Georgakarakos 1998, no. 20, pl. 6.
89 Hamiaux 1998, no. 130.
90 Cf. supra note 88.
91 Cf. also Despinis 2000, fig. 1. It should, however, be noted that, even if it is certain that adult (married) women
were as a rule shown veiled, some tombstones present us with figures of women in full stature who, while veiled,
inscriptions identify as the figures of daughters shown along with (one of ) their parents: cf. Gounaropoulou
and Hatzopoulos 1998, no. 183. No firm indication exists as to the marital status of these women. On the
evidence on the veiling of maidens: Llewellyn-Jones 2003, p. 216-219, 247-248.
92 Gounaropoulou and Hatzopoulos 1998, no. 182.
93 For similar findings in Hellenistic Delos: Le Dinahet 2001, p. 100-101.
94 Kalaitzi 2007, vol. I, p. 184-185.
95 Cf. Zanker 1993, p. 223.
 M. Kalaitzi 337

Rather than some general ‘indifference’ to children, this phenomenon indicates that
Macedonia – not without contrary running currents – partook in the tendency described by
scholars such as Schmidt and Zanker for other areas of the Hellenistic world, by which children
were represented as or praised through epigrams for sharing adult values already from their
tender years.96

One should bear in mind that Macedonian figured tombstones are not a closed body of
material, new pieces being added as excavations proceed and publications multiply. Future finds
will certainly offer further insight into the question of which qualities of children were chosen
(by adults) to be advertised on funerary monuments of Classical and Hellenistic Macedonia,
and might as well confirm, amend or refute findings made here.

Addendum

Of the tombstones bearing on the subject discussed here, which have been published and/or
have come to my attention after the text of this article had been submitted, reference should be
made to two stelai. The first is the stele of a maiden from Beroia, dating to about 340-330 BC
[Allamani-Souri, V. (2009), “Η στήλη μιας άγνωστης κόρης από τη Βέροια”, in Drougou,
S. et. al., eds., Κερμάτια φιλίας. Τιμητικός τόμος για τον Ιωάννη Τουράτσογλου, Athens, p. 369-377,
fig. 1]. The stele has been fragmentarily preserved, but the distinctive costume for maidens on
4th c. BC Attic funerary monuments is clearly recognizable: the maiden is represented wearing
the combination of the Attic peplos and the back-mantle, an edge of which she holds with her
left hand (the crossbands, with or without the medallion, can only be hypothetically restored;
for the costume and its significance: Roccos 2000). Due to the fragmentary state of the stele,
the scene of which the maiden formed part is unknown (more figures originally included?
attributes?), and the inscription has been lost (personal or family memorial? place of origin of the
person(s) commemorated?). The stele, probably the work of a sculptor from Attica, strengthens
the ascertainment that during the 4th c. BC sculpted tombstones from major Macedonian civic
centres often adopted Attic types and themes, and, even if for the moment stricto sensu adding
to the plurality of figural types for maidens on Classical funerary monuments in Macedonia [the
type is again met on a votive relief from Poteidaia, which Roccos 2000, p. 257, no. 68 (Polygyros
Museum 300) lists as unpublished, but which has in fact been published by Stephanidou,
Th. (1973), “Αναθηματικό ανάγλυφο από την Ποτείδαια”, Μακεδονικά 13, p. 106-116, pl. I], it
corroborates the general observations made here regarding the social values praised in them.
The second is a stele from Orestis, carrying both figure decoration and an epigram,
which has been variously dated from the 1st c. BC to the 1st-2nd c. AD [Rizakis, A. and
Touratsoglou,  I.  (1985), Επιγραφές Άνω Μακεδονίας (Ελίμεια, Εορδαία, Νότια Λυγκηστίς,
Ορεστίς). Τόμος Α΄. Κατάλογος Επιγραφών, Athens: no. 193, pl. 77, with prior bibliography].
The stele is now lost, and the photographs through which it is known do not allow a reliable
assessment of the relief. Nonetheless, the letter forms and the composition suggest a Late
Hellenistic, rather than a Roman Imperial date. It was erected for a boy named Nikanor, who,
as stated in the epigram, died when he was twelve years old. The boy, accorded the acclamation
96 Schmidt 1991, p. 135-137; Zanker 1993, p. 220-222.
338 Representation of Children on Tombstones from Ancient Macedonia

heros chaire, was shown in a himation, holding a folding tablet (?), accompanied by his boy
servant and by the tree-and-snake motif, and thus sharing the attire, posture and attributes of
adult men.

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The Representation of Children on Classical and Hellenistic Tombstones from Ancient

Macedonia
 M. Kalaitzi 341

Abstract : The pictorially identifiable age groups prior to adulthood on tombstones from ancient
Macedonia are those of infants, of toddlers, of prepubescent children and of adolescents. On
tombstones of the 5th-3rd c. BC prepubescent boys and girls on the one hand share common
modes of behaviour, mainly through playing and traits of social immaturity and dependency
upon adults; on the other hand, the different social roles which boys and girls were destined
to assume do make themselves manifest among prepubescent children, and even more so on
the tombstones figuring adolescents. On the tombstones of the 2nd and 1st c. BC (on which, in
the corpus examined, figures of infants and toddlers are absent) the stages of childhood are less
clearly defined, as children generally tend to assume the social characteristics of adults from an
early age.
Keywords :Tombstones, Macedonia, Reliefs, Painted stelai

La représentation des enfants sur les stèles funéraires classiques et hellénistiques de la

Macédoine antique

Résumé : Les différentes tranches d’âge des immatures discernables dans les représentations
des stèles funéraires de la Macédoine antique sont celles des nourrissons, des petits enfants
apprenant à marcher, des prépubères et des adolescents. Sur les stèles funéraires datant du ve
au iiie siècle av. J.-C., on constate que les garçons et les filles prépubères d’une part partagent
des comportements communs – notamment à travers le jeu et les traits d’immaturité sociale
et de dépendance par rapport aux adultes –, mais d’autre part se distinguent en fonction des
différents rôles sociaux qu’ils devaient assumer dans la vie adulte, différenciation qui devient
plus évidente dans les représentations d’adolescents. La distinction de ces différentes tranches
d’âge apparaît moins clairement sur les stèles du iie et du ier siècle av. J.-C. (où, dans le corpus
examiné, les nourrissons et les petits enfants en âge de marcher sont absents) ; les enfants sont
alors représentés pourvus des traits sociaux des adultes dès leur jeune âge.
Mots-clés : Stèles funéraires, Macédoine, Reliefs, Stèles peintes

Οι παραστάσεις παιδιών στα επιτύμβια μνημεία των κλασικών και ελληνιστικών χρόνων από την
αρχαία Μακεδονία

Περίληψη : Οι ηλικιακές κατηγορίες προ της ενηλικίωσης που διακρίνονται στις παραστάσεις
των επιτυμβίων μνημείων από την αρχαία Μακεδονία είναι αυτές των βρεφών, των νηπίων λίγο
πριν ή στα πρώτα τους βήματα, των μεγαλύτερων παιδιών προεφηβικής ηλικίας και, τέλος,
των εφήβων. Στα επιτύμβια του 5ου-3ου αι. π.Χ., τα αγόρια και τα κορίτσια προεφηβικής ηλικίας
εμφανίζονται από τη μία να μοιράζονται κάποιες κοινές συμπεριφορές, κυρίως μέσω του παιχνιδιού
και των χαρακτηριστικών κοινωνικής ανωριμότητας και εξάρτησης από τους ενήλικες, αλλά και να
διαφοροποιούνται σε αντιστοιχία με τους διαφορετικούς ρόλους που έμελλε να έχουν ως ενήλικες,
διαφοροποίηση που γίνεται εμφανέστερη μεταξύ των εφήβων. Η διάκριση των ηλικιακών αυτών
κατηγοριών είναι λιγότερο σαφής στα επιτύμβια του 2ου και 1ου αι. π.Χ. (όπου, στα επιτύμβια που
εξετάστηκαν, δεν εμφανίζονται μορφές βρεφών και νηπίων), όταν τα παιδιά φαίνεται από μικρή ήδη
ηλικία να προβάλλονται με τα κοινωνικά χαρακτηριστικά των ενηλίκων.
Λέξεις-κλειδιά : Επιτύμβια, Μακεδονία, Ανάγλυφα, Γραπτές στήλες
 342
Representation of Children on Tombstones from Ancient Macedonia

Fig. 1 : Map of ancient Macedonia. The approximate boundaries of Macedonia proper before the Roman conquest are marked with a line.
©Research Centre for Greek and Roman Antiquity/National Hellenic Research Foundation, M.B. Hatzopoulos.
 M. Kalaitzi

Fig. 2 : Stele of Xanthos, Pella.

Pella AM 1980/454 ©Greek Ministry of Culture, Archaeological Receipts Fund. Fig. 3 : Stele of a girl, area of Thessaloniki (dating prior to Thessaloniki’s synoecism).
After: Lilimpaki-Akamati, M. and Akamatis I. M., eds., Pella and its environs, Thessaloniki AM 11265. ©Greek Ministry of Culture, Archaeological Receipts Fund.
Athens (2004), fig. 85.
343
 344
Representation of Children on Tombstones from Ancient Macedonia

Fig. 5 : Stele of Noumenios, exact provenance unknown (Pella?).

Fig. 4 : Stele of Phanis, Amphipolis. Musée du Louvre, département des Antiquités grecques, étrusques
Kavala AM Λ230. ©Greek Ministry of Culture, Archaeological Receipts Fund. et romaines, Ma822. ©1996 Musée du Louvre/Patrick Lebaube.
 M. Kalaitzi 345

Fig. 6 : Stele of Hadea, Beroia.

Beroia AM Λ160.©Greek Ministry of Culture, Archaeological Receipts Fund.
 346
Representation of Children on Tombstones from Ancient Macedonia

Fig. 7 : Stele of Philippos son of Attalos, Arisstippa daughter of Menelaos, their

daughter Alkyana and their two sons, Attalos and Menelaos, Kalindoia. Fig. 8 : Stele of Hadea daughter of Samos, of Thrason son of Dimnos, of Hadea
Thessaloniki AM 2669. ©Greek Ministry of Culture, Archaeological Receipts Fund. daughter of Archelaos, and of Thrason son of Archelaos, Edessa.
After: Adam-Veleni, P., ed., Kalindoia. An ancient city in Macedonia, Musée du Louvre, département des Antiquités grecques, étrusques et romaines,
Thessaloniki (2008), no. 51. Ma817. ©1997 Musée du Louvre/Patrick Lebaube.