Roman Children’s Sarcophagi Why I Taught the Sources I use
images of two Roman marble sarcophagi for topics on children and
childhood in undergraduate courses on ancient society, family,
gender, representations, and historiography. The sarcophagi can
be used to study one period of antiquity or to examine changing
notions of childhood over time. My aim in using the sarcophagi
is to increase students' awareness of the rich variety of
accessible material sources about Roman society—especially
archaeological resources such as art, architecture,
inscriptions, and topography—that can supplement traditional
literary sources. A careful analysis of images from an
unfamiliar society can help students already exposed to visual
material in their daily lives become more discriminating in
their interpretations. Students' present-day interest in
children and childhood—in daily life and in academic studies—is
a good basis on which to build. But there is a danger of
applying our own modern, Western attitudes and values to oth