there is set out an olive branch. Five days after the birth, the
nurse takes the baby, wrapped almost to suffocation in swaddling
bands, to the family hearth in the "andron," around which she runs
several times, followed doubtless, in merry, frolicking procession,
by most of the rest of the family. The child is now under the care
of the family gods. There is considerable eating and drinking.
Exposure now is no longer possible. A great load is off the mind
of the mother. But on the "tenth day" comes the real celebration
and the feast. This is the "name day." All of the kinsmen are
present. The house is full of incense and garlands. The cook is
in action in the kitchen. Everybody brings simple gifts, along with
abundant wishes of good luck. There is a sacrifice, and during
the ensuing feast comes the naming of the child. Athenian names
are very short and simple.[*] A boy has often his father's name,
but more usually his grandfather's, as, e.g., Themistocles, the
son of Neocles, the son of Themistocles: the father's name being
usually added in place of a surname. In this way certain names
will become a kind of family property, and sorrowful is the day
when there is no eligible son to bear them!

The child is now a recognized member of the community. His father
has accepted him as a legitimate son, one of his prospective heirs,
entitled in due time to all the rights of an Athenian citizen.

[*]Owing to this simplicity and the relatively small number of
Athenian names, a directory of the city would have been a perplexing
affair.

47. Life and Games of Young Children.--The first seven years of a
Greek boy's life are spent with his nurses and his mother. Up to