Another task often represented on vases is the drawing and carrying of water. In many places the public well-houses were the principal source of supply, as the piping of water into dwellings was unusual in Greece until Roman times. A hydria in Case 2 shows a group of women carrying away their jars on their heads from a public well-house (fig. 44). [Illustration: FIG. 45. MARRIAGE-VASE] In Athens, and probably more or less throughout the Greek world, a woman’s life was rather monotonous. Ladies did not go out unattended, and indeed were not expected to go out at all without good reason. A wife did not receive her husband’s guests or take part in his social life; but women were included in family gatherings such as weddings and dinners after the birth of children, they made visits to women relatives and friends, and shared in the frequent religious festivals, which at Athens included the theatre. In the earlier vase paintings there are comparatively few figures of women, and such as appear are usually goddesses or accessory persons in mythical scenes; but with the gradual change to subjects taken from every-day life in the later sixth and the early fifth century, we begin to see women about their usual occupations, or in groups talking with each other or with men. Much of the later Athenian pottery is decorated with charming scenes from the life of women, showing them with their children, at their toilet, busy with embroidery, or playing with pets. The younger ones seem to have enjoyed some games which we have relegated to childhood, such as spinning tops (see fig. 53). On the marriage-vases we see the bride being dressed by her friends and servants, or receiving presents on the day after the wedding, the traditional occasion for the presentation of gifts. Two of these vases are in Case B in the Fifth Room (fig. 45), and a perfume vase in Case Q is decorated with a similar scene. The usual presents seem to have been bands and ribbons for the hair, perfumes, jewelry, and pets, especially birds. [Illustration] [Illustration] V CHILDREN AND EDUCATION CASES 2 AND 3 Little babies were tightly bound in swaddling clothes soon after birth, and the mother, in anxiety for her child’s safety, usually fastened an amulet or charm of some kind around its neck to keep away unfriendly spirits. The grotesque faces of colored glass previously mentioned (p. 8) may have served this purpose. Roman children wore the bulla, a case of leather or gold, according to the means of the parents, containing a charm. A large gold bulla of Etruscan workmanship is in a case at the left side of the Gold Room (fig. 46). The baby became the charge of an old and trusted slave-woman such as the kind old nurse represented in a terracotta statuette on the middle shelf of Case 3. Another of the same type is in Case K in the Sixth Room (fig. 47). The prettily decorated jug with a spout is a feeding-bottle (fig. 48). [Illustration: FIG. 46. GOLD BULLA]