For the ancient Romans, the first years of life of boys followed precise rules because childhood was considered a fundamental stage of life, without which they were unable to move on to the next stage of adulthood.
As soon as they were born, children were held tight in swaddling clothes (it was thought that this would help them to have a more dignified posture), and entrusted to the care of the mother or wet nurse, in the cases of more affluent families, who looked after them until they were seven years old.
Nine days after birth, in the
dies lustricus
, the children received their
name
, which identified them as belonging to their family.
The leather ball and the wooden doll were the games of the youngest children, while as teenagers typical adult games began to take over, involving the
gladiator
or circensian games.
At seventeen years of age, boys received their toga, which marked their entry into adulthood.
