Fig. 65.
Greek children had toys of various kinds, though the excessive luxury attained in these at the present day was unknown to antiquity. A very ancient toy is the rattle, usually a metal or earthenware jar filled with little stones, sometimes made in human form; and there were other noisy toys, with which the children played and the nurses strove to amuse them; though complaints were sometimes made that foolish nurses by these means prevented the children from going to sleep. A very popular toy, found in many pictures in children’s hands, was a little two-wheeled cart (compare Fig. [63]), or else a simple solid wheel, without spokes, on a long pole—a cheap toy which could be purchased for an obol (about three-halfpence). Larger carriages were also used as toys, which the children drew themselves, and drove about their brothers and sisters or companions, as we see in Fig. [64]. Sometimes tame dogs or goats were harnessed to them, and the boys rode merrily along, cracking their whips. (Compare Fig. [65].) The custom of letting the nurses draw the children in perambulators in the street seems to have been unknown, but baby-carriages, in which the children were drawn about in the room, are mentioned by the ancient physicians. (Compare Fig. [60].)
Fig. 66.
The little girls liked to play with all kinds of earthenware vessels, pots, and dishes; and, like our little girls, they made their first attempts at cooking with these. Many such are found in the graves. More popular however, even in ancient times, were the dolls, made of wax or clay and brightly coloured; sometimes
Fig. 67.