June, 1917
PREFACE
The frequent mention of the nurse in connection with the child and the family and the numerous descriptions of her in Greek art have suggested the investigation of Greek classical literature and the inscriptions with the purpose of ascertaining and presenting the position and characteristics of the nurse as a contribution to the private life of the Greeks. The subject here dealt with is viewed solely from the social standpoint, though the writer recognizes its value from the literary and psychological sides.
The scope of this study practically includes the whole range of Greek literature from Homer to Plutarch. A correct notion of the part played in Greek life by this character could not have been obtained from a narrower field. Certain phases of the nurse’s life are discussed by Becker in his “Charicles” (Excursus to Scene I), and references to different aspects of the subject are found in Hermann’s “Lehrbuch” (3rd. ed., pt. IV). Friedländer’s “Sittengeschichte Roms” (5th. ed., I, p. 468ff.) was of special value in throwing light on some of the μυθόι of Chapter IV. Wherever the works of other modern authors dealing with Greek domestic life have been used, due credit will be given them.
Sister Mary Rosaria.
Feast of St. Joseph,
March 19, 1917.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
| PAGE | ||
|---|---|---|
| PREFACE | [3] | |
| CHAPTER I. Terms Used for Nurse. | ||
| τροφός, τίτθη, τιθήνη, μαῖα | [7] | |
| CHAPTER II. Social Status of the Nurse. | ||
| From Homer to Herodotus—In Tragedy—In Athens—Foreign Nurses | [9] | |
| CHAPTER III. The Nurse and the Family. | ||
| Duties to the Child—Bathing—Swaddling—First Nurture—Wet nurses—Food—Child in the Nurse’s Arms—Carrying of Child—Motion Profitable for Young Children—Moulding of Child’s Body—Cradles—σκάφη ... λίκνον,—Rocking of the Cradle—Amusements Furnished by the Nurse—Making of Toys—Balls—Rattles—Dolls—Dandling Fruit—Theatres—General Care Over Children—Keeping them Clean—Fondling Children—Pet Names—Humoring Child—Method of Finding Out What Children Want—Crying of Children—Amulets—Time Spent in Nursery. | ||
| The Nurse and the Grown Daughter—Nausicaa’s Nurse—Tragic Nurse—Care of Young Maiden—Go-between in Maiden’s Love Affairs—Comfort and Consolation. | ||
| The Nurse and the Grown Son—Eurycleia—Cilissa—Moschio’s Nurse—Old Nurse in Demosthenes—Esteem for Nurse.... | ||
| The Nurse in the Household—Washing—Eurycleia’s Duties—Duties Enumerated by Demeter—Tragedy—Comedy—General Characteristics of the Nurse—Eurycleia—Nurse in Herodotus—Orestes’ Nurse—Nurse in Medea—in Trachiniae—in Hippolytus—Aristophanes’ πιστὴ, τροφός—Nurse’s Care Shown in Samia—in Real Life—Instances of Unkindness Few—Plutarch—Stobaeus—Aristophanes—Chattering and Tippling Propensities—Metaphors of Nurse | [16] | |
| CHAPTER IV. Nursery Tales and Lullabies. | ||
| The Nurse in Education—First Lessons Imparted by Means of Tales—Isolated Traces of Nursery Tales—Held in Contempt by the Greeks—Apotropaic Tales—Lamia—Gorgon—Mormolyke—Acco—Alphito—Empusa—Strigla—Wolf—Example from Theocritus—from Callimachus—Mormo—Bad Effects of these Tales—Protreptic Tales—Subject Matter—Censorship by Plato and Aristotle—Immoral effects of Stories about the Gods—Hermes—Hercules—Odysseus—Theseus and Ariadne—Magic Rings—Rings of Gyges—Tales Told for Comfort and Consolation—Festival of the Oschophoria—Style—Purpose—Aesopic Tales—Libyan—Cyprian—Sybaritic—Traces of Lullabies—Metrical Humming—Peculiar Tune—Imitations of Lullabies—Lullaby of Alcmena—Lament of Danae—Chorus in Philoctetes—in Orestes | [34] | |
| CHAPTER V. Monuments to the Nurse. | ||
| Form—Relief—Melitta—Malicha—τίτθη χρηστή—Name of Nurse Added—Her Master—Country—Simple Word τίτθη—Nurse represented on Monument of Mother—Shared in Grief of Family—Literary Evidence of Monuments—Theocritus—Anthology—Callimachus | [45] | |
| BIBLIOGRAPHY. | ||
| I. | Texts of Sources | [49] |
| II. | Secondary Authorities | [50] |