Swaddling
Videos
Swaddling is an ancient practice of wrapping infants in blankets or similar cloths so that movement of the limbs is tightly restricted. Swaddling bands were often used to further restrict the infant. Swaddling fell out of favour in the 17th century.
Votive offerings depicting swaddled babies from Agia Triada (Crete), Bronze Age, 2600-2000 BC., Heraklion (Iraklion), Crete. Archeological museum Iraklion
Swaddled baby and bad mother, 1505–1510, detail from The Temptation of St. Anthony by Hieronymus Bosch (ca. 1450–1516). Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon
The Cholmondeley Ladies and their swaddled babies. c.1600–1610
Swaddled infant votive
Videos
Swaddled baby votives are figures of babies offered as an entreaty to a god or goddess, for healthy pregnancy and childbirth. They have been recovered from ancient Italian Roman temple sanctuary sites.
Terracotta swaddled Roman infant votive 200 B.C