Att döda ett barn : Våld mot barn i grekiska mytologiska vasmotiv från arkaisk och klassisk tid.

Sammanfattning: The depiction of violence has always been and will always be a fascinating but horrifying subject. Violence shown on ancient vase paintings has been the subject of multiple authors’ works. This study analyzes the depiction of violence against children in mythological scenes on vases from the ancient world by analyzing and comparing 39 scenes where the subject is rendered and explores the question of what happens if the interpretation of the vase painting lays the focus on the child. This is done by examining how the children die, the iconography of their deaths and the traces of violence left on their bodies, their relationship to the perpetrators, the importance of the perpetrator and the spectators in the scenes, how the iconography relates to the myth as known from literary sources, as well as the chronological and geographical evolution of the motifs. The essay focuses on five mythological children, Troilos, Astyanax, the children of Medea and Opheltes, who all are the object of violence and early death in their respective myths and on vase paintings. The comparison between the vase paintings is divided into the scenes that depicts the children about to be killed and scenes showing the children as already dead. An account of the relationship between the children and the perpetrator as well as the perpetrators motive for killing the child and how their appearance in the scenes compare to each other is presented. The results of the comparisons are used in a discussion also including the ancient attitudes towards children and violence and if the children's deaths could be interpreted as human sacrifice. The study concludes that the interpretation of the role of the children in representations of violence is complex and that there are many aspects that affect the understanding of the vase paintings as a whole. Changing the focus to the child will not change the overall interpretation of the mythological motif, however, the innocence of the child will add more horror and gruesomeness to the overall impression of the vase painting.