Byzantine children lived in a world shaped by family, faith, and imperial influence. Their experiences were defined by the Empire’s strict social structures, educational practices, and cultural expectations. From early childhood to adulthood, Byzantine children navigated a landscape of both affection and hardship. This article explores the lives of these children, shedding light on their roles in Byzantine society, their education, and the challenges they faced growing up in such a unique empire.
Procreation and family structure in Byzantium.
Procreation was the primary purpose of marriage in Byzantine society, making infertility a calamity. The birth of a child, especially a boy, was celebrated with great joy. Family size varied significantly. Scholars estimate that households in the domains of Iveron and Lavra—two major monasteries of Mount Athos that preserved Byzantine archives—ranged from 2.9 to 4.9 members in the 14th century, indicating families often had one to three children.
In Byzantine Greek, the terms teknon and pais referred to children of either gender. However, pais could also mean “slave,” while teknon carried connotations of a spiritual relationship. Infants were swaddled at birth and nursed by their mothers or wet nurses, although attitudes toward wet nursing were ambivalent. Breastfeeding is prominently depicted in Byzantine art, particularly in images of the Virgin Galaktotrophousa. High infant mortality was common; for instance, Maria the Younger lost two of her four children during infancy. Children were typically weaned around two or three years old, but diseases were particularly prevalent after weaning.
Illegitimate Children: Bastards (Nothoi) in Byzantium.
Imperial law, as codified in the Codex Justinianus, defined illegitimate children as those born to concubines, unmarried women, or prostitutes. Children of a free woman and a slave were also illegitimate. Such children could not inherit from their fathers but shared the same legal relationship with their mothers as legitimate children.
Justinian I addressed this inequality by requiring fathers to support children born to concubines. He also introduced ways to legitimize nothoi. These included assigning a “charter of dowry” to the mother or naming the child as an heir in a will. Civil and canon laws, however, barred high-born mothers from giving gifts to illegitimate children to protect the inheritance rights of legitimate offspring.
Later Byzantine law upheld these rules. By the 13th century, illegitimate children could not inherit if legitimate heirs existed. Despite these legal disadvantages, some nothoi, particularly those of emperors or courtiers, attained high positions. Basil the Nothos, son of Emperor Romanos I, became a parakoimomenos. Illegitimate children of Manuel I and Andronikos I also achieved prominence. Sons sometimes served as hostages, while daughters entered diplomatic marriages.
Abandonment, orphans and adoption.
Parents were prohibited from selling or abandoning their children, although Constantine I allowed child sales in cases of extreme poverty, with provisions for repurchase. Abandoned children often ended up at churches or in wealthy households.
Orphans faced significant challenges, even when affluent. The Vita of Lazaros of Mt. Galesios recounts neighbors expelling orphans and seizing their belongings. Both the state and the church took measures to assist orphans. Constantinople’s St. Paul orphanage, established by the 6th century, expanded under Alexios I Komnenos. It included schools for orphans and facilities for the blind, crippled, and elderly. Foundlings were housed in brephotropheia.
Adoption provided another solution. Notarial records show that widows and widowers unable to raise their children often gave them up for adoption. Childless couples adopted to secure descendants and heirs. Michael Psellos’s adoption of a daughter is a well-documented example.
Parental Authority.
Although the Roman concept of patria potestas weakened under the Byzantine Empire, parents still held significant authority over their children. They could impose corporal punishment, despite moralists like Kekaumenos criticizing this practice. Parents also had the power to castrate sons to make them eunuchs, even if it conflicted with imperial law. Additionally, they could assign children household tasks or send them out as laborers, apprentices, or servants, keeping the earnings. Parents also arranged marriages for their children. Most children left the parental household upon adulthood, though peasant families often maintained extended households with married children and grandchildren.
Under Roman law, children were legally subordinate to their fathers, a principle that remained in Byzantine law, though with some modifications. For instance, Leo VI’s Novel 25 granted sons legal independence when they established their own households, without requiring formal emancipation. Byzantine law also upheld equal inheritance rights among children.
In the case of widowhood, Byzantine women could take on the responsibilities of fathers to defend their children’s interests against third parties or exert authority over them.
Education and passage to adulthood.
Formal education for boys began around six or seven years old. This education took place at schools, with private tutors, or under the guidance of literate parents. Rote memorization played a central role, especially the recitation of the Psalms. Textbooks included works like Aesop’s Fables, the Hermeneia, and Homer’s Iliad for advanced students. However, few children progressed to secondary education, which required mastery of grammar, rhetoric, and literature.
There was no clearly defined transitional phase marking the move from childhood to adulthood, such as the ephebeia of antiquity. Legal adulthood was set at 25 years of age. In practice, markers of maturity included marriage, monastic vows—which were permitted from as young as ten years old—or employment in military, civil, or artisanal roles. Boys often began such roles by the age of 16 or 18. Literature, like the tale of Digenes Akritas, celebrated exceptional cases of youthful maturity and valor, showcasing a societal ideal of precocious adulthood.
Leisure, toys, and games of Byzantine children.
In their leisure time, children enjoyed a variety of toys, games, and pets. Toys were usually simple and homemade. According to the Vita of Nikephoros of Medikion, infants used “unshaped matter” to create toys. They made playthings from everyday materials like sand, clay, bones, sticks, and rags. Insects and plants often served as improvised toys.
A mosaic in the Great Palace of Constantinople depicts children imitating circus games, wheeling spoked disks around simulated metae. Children also wrestled, played leapfrog, and pushed one another on swings. Boys particularly enjoyed games involving strategy or physical activity, such as board games, dice—especially knucklebones—and ball games.
Girls, who typically stayed indoors, were expected to prefer playing with dolls. Dolls were sometimes elaborately crafted, with articulated limbs and colorful clothing, reflecting the culture’s emphasis on preparing girls for domestic roles. Children’s games occasionally imitated adult activities or important events, such as the liturgy, exorcisms, horse races, or battles.
In Byzantine thought, toys and games often symbolized frivolity and instability. Popular opinion associated the word athyrma (toy) with lightheartedness or a lack of seriousness. Hagiographical texts frequently depicted saints as avoiding or rejecting playful behavior, emphasizing piety over childhood pleasures.
Feelings and sentiments between parents and children.
Byzantine literature and art reveal strong family bonds. Michael Psellos mourned deeply his young daughter Styliane, and Anna Komnene remained devoted to her parents. The Theotokos Eleousa (of tenderness, or showing mercy) or Glykophilousa (of the sweet kissing) icon type is a striking illustration of a mother-child relationships in art.
Sources:
Brigitte Pitarakis. “The Material Culture of Childhood in Byzantium.” In Becoming Byzantine: Children and Childhood in Byzantium, edited by Arietta Papaconstantinou and Alice-Mary Talbot, Washington, D.C., 2009