The Classical Period Of Athens Children

Athens was one of the major poleis of the ancient Greek, especially in the classi-cal period of Greece, which has played a pivotal role in the history stage. In the past, many historians regarded history as a male-centered process of social evolution. In the latter of 20th century, with the rise of the new historiography and the development of women's history, there is a space for women in the stage of historiography. However, academic interests did not arouse enough attention of childhood which is critical for the growth of people in a very long period. How did the ancient Athenian children live? How did they grow to qualified citizens from kids? The answer of all these ques-tions will help us to learn better about the ancient Athenian society. Children should not be seen purely as a passive object in the process of social evolution. The processes of social evolution and child development are interactive, children in which not only played a submissive role but also a role by nature. Starting with the study on child-ren's roles in different living spaces, this paper attempts to use history, sociology, psychology and other research methods and theories to clarify the situation of children in classical Athens and then observe the Athenian society of the day.This paper consists of three parts:the first chapter states the ancient Athenians' view on children and the feature and attribute of children themselves according to the literary and artistic works. ChapterⅡand ChapterⅢdescribe the situation of Athe-nian children both in the private living sphere and the public living sphere. The author thinks that in the male-centered society of classical Athens, although children are always drawn in a class of non--authority among women, the ancient Athenians did give children a certain position and pay the necessary attention, as they will be the future of the polis.