A mold-made earthenware votive effigy of a swaddled infant, Etruscan, 300-200 BCE, at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada
In the ancient world, after an infant was born, the umbilical cord was cut and tied, and then the baby was washed, rubbed with salt and oil, and wrapped with strips of cloth. These strips kept the newborn child warm and were thought to ensure that the child's limbs would grow straight. The earliest depictions of swaddled babies are votive offerings and grave goods from Crete and Cyprus, 4000 to 4500 years old. Votive statuettes have been found in the tombs of ancient Greek and Roman women who died in childbirth, displaying babies in swaddling clothes. In shrines dedicated to Amphiaraus, models representing babies wrapped in swaddling clothes have also been excavated. Apparently, these were frequently given as thank-offerings by anxious mothers when their infants had recovered from sickness. Amphiaraus was a mythical hero that was the son of Apollo and the mortal Hypemnestra. In Greek mythology Amphiaraus was a seer and greatly respected in his time. He was also one of ...