A child of Ancient Rome. Image by Lara Badioli from Pixabay
Here the second part discovering the world of toys in ancient Rome.
The older boys and girls had outdoor toys… sticks and hoops, balls, yo-yos, swings, bow and arrows, sling shots, hobby horses, marbles, and games similar to kick-the-can, hide-and-seek and tag. And you can imagine some great racing games using toys with wheels on them… “My chariot can beat your ox cart! I’ll bet 5 marbles that I can!”
Sling shots–the same type David used to slay the Giant–came in useful to teach young boys how to hunt. And swimming was enormously popular for Roman boys. They would either go to a special swimming pool (Roman baths were too shallow for “plunging”) or to the river. Boys were taught to swim as part of their formal education.
Of course, all a kid needed to do was have a ball and a stick and he’d make up a game. If he didn’t have a ball, a rock or pine cone would do. When I was a boy we played stickball with an old broomstick and a cheap 10 cent pink ball called a Spalding (Spaldeen, we called it). Even thousands of years ago kids had games similar to field hockey or baseball or basketball–they had baskets, after all.
Games were popular too, just like today. One of the most common was tic-tac-toe–played just as we do today, with Xs and Os. Some were carved into walls while most games were just scratched into the ground for temporary fun. Another similar game, Rota, was played with small stones on a layout that looked like pizza cut into 8 slices.
Cube shaped dice, as we know them, were around for at least 5000 years. There were always dice games, many for children and others for adult gambling.  A precursor of dice, and a popular game, in and of itself, is Knucklebones (also called astragaloi), a game usually played with five or ten small bones. In ancient times, the “knucklebones” were the the actual knucklebones (astragalus), small ankle bones of a sheep, although there are ancient “bones” made from precious gems, bronze or glass. The oldest version of a knucklebones game determined a winner depending on which side of the knucklebones landed facing up. (Both sides are distinctly different in shape.)
A Roman doll.Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution — Jastrow / Public Domain
In another, the bones were tossed up in a manner similar to modern Jacks, with one knucklebone tossed into the air, and the player trying to pick up as many others as possible while it is airborne. Curiously, differently shaped bones would be worth different points.  In another Roman game called Tali, the knucklebones are marked as dice are, with dots representing numbers–the resulting toss gives a player a hand to beat, similar to dice or playing cards. You can actually still purchase Knucklebone pieces.
There was also a game called Tabula that was very similar to backgammon of today, except it was played with three dice, but for most part, dice games of chance were left to adults–especially soldiers–for gambling. Still, boys have to learn the game from someone. I can imagine a father teaching his son how to play, as I’ve taught Lucas to play backgammon.
An interesting fact is that when Greek and Roman girls, “came of age” (at 12-14 years old) it was customary for them to sacrifice the toys of their childhood to the gods. On the eve of their wedding, young girls around fourteen would offer their dolls in a temple as a rite of passage into adulthood. And yes… girls were married off after the age of 12.
Here are some other facts about what childhood was like in the Ancient World:
Boys were raised by their mother until age seven, and then turned over to their father to a trade
Children of the rich and politically powerful attended a youth gymnasium
Poor children went out to work and became apprentices in various industries
Slave children were also able to become apprentices
Girls stayed at home to learn domestic chores, with some exceptions
Wealthy children belonged to groups similar to modern scouting, to help them become good citizens
Wealthy boys over 12 attended a secondary school until age 16. 
Girls did not receive formal education.
f a kid got bored with his toys, there was always spending time with his best friend, Il Cane, who might be called Craugis (Yapper) or Asbolos (Soot) or Scylax (Puppy). The ancient Romans loved using Greek names for their pet dogs. I sure did… first with Teddy, then with Prince and most of all with Sargent Pepper when I was a teen.

Receive more stories like this in your inbox