Children in Antiquity: Perspectives and Experiences of Childhood in the Ancient Mediterranean

Cover
Endorsement
Half Title
Series Information
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of contents
Figures
Tables
Contributors
Abbreviations
Introduction: Investigating the ancient Mediterranean ‘childscape’
Note
References
Part I What is a child?
1 The ancient Egyptian conception of children and childhood
Terminology
Characteristics of children and childhood
Childhood markers and “rites of passage”: Physical development, body modification, dress and relative social status
The representation of children’s physical development
Body modification
Hair
Tattoos
Circumcision
Dress, undress and life stage
Relative social status, social class and gender
Social status
The impact of social class and gender
Conclusions
References
2 What is a child in Aegean prehistory?
Before the palaces: the Early Bronze Age Aegean
Constructions of childhood in the period of the Minoan palaces
The artistic evidence: a typology of Minoan and Cycladic age grades
Girls
Boys
Discussion: Minoan constructions of childhood
Age grades, hairstyle and costuming
Rites of passage and gendered social roles
Education
Children and families
Children as social actors
Conclusions: what was a Minoan child?
Mycenaean constructions of childhood
Mycenaean evidence
Linear B tablets
Funerary evidence
Artistic representations
Discussion: Mycenaean constructions of childhood
Conclusions: what was Mycenaean childhood?
References
3 Ideological constructions of childhood in Bronze and Early Iron Age Italy: Personhood between marginality and social ...
Introduction
Theoretical framework
Methodological issues
Personhood and archaeological theory
Funerary and field archaeology
Biology and bioarchaeology
Evidence from Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Italy
Discussion and conclusion
References
4 Defining childhood and youth: A regional approach to Archaic and Classical Greece: the case of Athens and Sparta
The presentation of male childhood and youth at Sparta and Athens in the ancient literary sources
The presentation of female childhood and youth at Sparta and Athens in the ancient literary sources
The presentation of female childhood and youth in Spartan and Athenian iconography
The presentation of male childhood and youth in Spartan and Athenian material culture
Conclusions
References
5 The child in Etruscan Italy
Before the art of writing: a boy warrior of the “Villanovan” culture (c. 900–720 BC)
The wide world of the orientalizing period and an angry girl (c. 720–575 BC)
Becoming visible: children of the masters of central Italy (c. 575–475 BC)
Set-back for the Etruscans and closer family unity (c. 475–300 BC)
The last three centuries BC: loss of political power and renewed family values
The Augustan age in northern Etruria: a renaissance for Etruscan children
Children in their family context
In conclusion: children and continuity
References
6 Children and the Hellenistic period
First problem: gaps in the literary sources
Second problem: are there differences between classical and Hellenistic authors and artists?
Third problem: Hellenistic attitudes towards children are evident earlier
Fourth problem: developments affected only part of the Hellenistic world
Fifth problem: broad generalisations
The exposure of newborns
Adoption
Athletic competition
Education
Conclusions
References
7 Roman childhood revisited
In search of Roman childhood
Infantia
Shaping and bonding
Amulets and transitions
The constraints of pueritia
The memory of children and familial identity
Children’s imagines
Remembering children
Conclusion
References
8 From birth to rebirth: Perceptions of childhood in Greco-Roman Egypt
Introduction
From conception to birth
Conceiving a child
Protecting the infant
Lived experiences of children
A child’s first birthday
Education and child–parent relationships
Child apprenticeships and household interactions
Gendered initiation rites
The death of a child
Child mummies and family burials
Child portraits and apotropaic imagery
Adolescent funerary shrouds and social commemoration
Conclusion
References
9 Looking for children in Late Antiquity
Where and how to find the child in Late Antiquity
Children and childhood in theory
Children in life
Children in sickness and in death
Conclusion
References
10 From village to monastery: Finding children in the Coptic record from Egypt
Coptic in a multicultural and multilingual land
The textual evidence
Identifying children
Family sizes and orphanhood
The first years
The lived experience
In villages
In monasteries
Death
Conclusion
References
Part II Daily life
11 The child’s experience of daily life in ancient Egypt
Coming into Egyptian society: birth and nurture
Birth
Nurture
Play and education
The role of education in socialisation and enculturation
The importance of gender and social class in daily life
Conclusions
References
12 Changing states: Daily life of children in Mycenaean and Early Iron Age Greece
Nurturing the young: a view to attitudes
Gendering the young
Children in rituals
Work, education, and training
Regional variation
Conclusion
References
13 Children in early Rome and Latium
Birth, death and infant exposure
Nurture
Dress as an indicator of age and gender
Play
Everyday tasks
Education
Conclusions
References
14 Being a child in Archaic and Classical Greece
Demographic imperatives
Economic constraints
Vulnerability to accident, illness and physical abuse
Relationship between parents and children
Caregivers
Play
Education
Socialisation
Sexual awakening
Conclusions
References
15 The daily life of Etruscan babies and children
Births and babies
Raising the child
Nursing and kourotrophoi
Images and life of toddlers and children
Adolescents
Conclusion
References
16 Being a child in the Hellenistic world: A subject out of proportion?
Introduction: some thoughts on Hellenism, continuity and change
Asia Minor in the Seleucid empire
Macedonia and Greece
Ptolemaic Egypt
Central Asia: the Seleucid and the Parthian empire, Bactria and Indian kingdoms
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
References
17 Different lives: Children’s daily experiences in the Roman world
Life in the domestic sphere
School, work, and play
Social and religious rituals
Conclusions
References
18 Children as instruments of policy in Hadrian’s Egypt
Note
References
19 Daily life of children in Late Antiquity: Play, work and vulnerability
Introduction
Birth, religion and early life
Education and household relationships
Work and play
Conclusion
References
Part III Religion and ritual
20 “Child in the nest”: Children in Pharaonic Egyptian religion and rituals
The child as subject
The child as agent
The child as otherworldly being
The child as religious player
Conclusions
References
21 Children and Aegean Bronze Age Religion
Infants and toddlers in Aegean Bronze Age religion
The Cyclades
Minoan Crete
Mycenaean Greece
Children and adolescents in Aegean Bronze Age religion
Mycenaean Greece
Mycenae
Tiryns
The Mycenae gold ring
Akrotiri, Thera
The crocus-gatherers and the goddess of building Xeste 3, Akrotiri, Thera
Religious activity in front of tree-shrines
Offering fish and incense in the West House at Akrotiri
Minoan Crete
Girls in religious contexts
Boys in religious contexts
The Palaikastro Kouros
The sacrificial killing of children and adolescents in Minoan Crete
Conclusion
References
22 Initiating children into Italian Bronze and Early Iron Age ritual, religion and cosmology
Introduction
Burial outside cemeteries
Children in caves
Domesticating the dead
Gender set in stone
Iconic places
Standing tall
Small things
Figurines
Miniature worlds
Role play
Conclusion
References
23 Children in Archaic and Classical Greek religion: Active and passive ritual agency
Introduction
‘Sweet voices of the child honouring the gods’: choruses of parthenoi and paides
Pais amphithales: ‘good looking and blooming on both sides’
Athenian parthenoi in cult
Athenian and Spartan boys and youths in cult
The Apatouria: boys become men
Boy and girl priests
Boys and youths at sacrifices: the splagkhnoptes (entrail cooker)
Children and Asklepios
Children and Artemis
Boys and girls at the Olympic festival
Marriage: girls become women
Conclusion
References
24 Children in Etruscan religion and ritual
Epigraphic and linguistic evidence
Special funerary evidence: rituals for children
Children in religious cults: literary evidence
The evidence of votives
Iconographic evidence
Sacrifice and divination
Divine protection
Cults with special reference to the young?
Conclusions
References
25 Children’s roles in Hellenistic religion
Passive roles for children: children as spectators and participants
Active roles for children: children as participants in processions
Active roles for children: children as cult agents
Active roles for children: children as priests and priestesses
Conclusion
References
26 Children in Roman religion and ritual
Children in utero and during the first weeks of life
Childbirth and post-partum rituals
Children and domestic religion
Children and state religion
Conclusion
References
27 Children, religion and ritual in Greco-Roman Egypt
The protection of children
Amulets and spells
Harpocrates in the Late Dynastic and Greco-Roman period
Children in temples, rituals and festivals
Children in temples
Children as mediums
Children in religious festivals
Conclusions
References
28 The child in Late Antique religion and ritual
Christianity and children
Children and baptism
Christian rituals aimed at protecting children
Children at church
Children in the clergy or in monasteries
Conclusion
References
Part IV Death
29 Child, infant and foetal burials in the Egyptian archaeological record: Exploring cultural capacities from the ...
Introduction
Data
Limitations of the study: representativeness
Discussion
Cultural capacities: position, value, agency
Conclusion
References
30 “Do not say ‘I am young to be taken’.”: Children and death in ancient Egypt: Second Intermediate Period to the Late Period
Introduction
Second and Intermediate Period (1650.1550 BCE)
New Kingdom (1550.1069 BCE)
Third Intermediate Period (1069–664 BCE)
Late Period (664.332 BCE)
Analysis: concern or indifference?
Notes
References
31 Children and death in Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Greece
Introduction
Bronze Age
Early Helladic (3100.2000 BC)
Middle Helladic (2000.1600 BC)
Mycenaean period
Early Iron Age (1050–700 BC)
Conclusions
References
32 Children, death and society in Late Bronze Age and Iron Age Sicily
Introduction
Cassibile
Pantalica
Monte Dessueri
Finocchito
Discussion
Conclusions and an epilogue
References
33 Children and death in Archaic and Classical Greece
The death of a child
The geography of child burials
Modes of child disposal
The material accompaniments
Means of commemoration
A sanctuary for infant burials? The case of Astypalaia
Exposure, exclusion, infanticide
Concluding remarks
Note
References
34 Infancy and childhood in funerary contexts of Early Iron Age Middle Tyrrhenian Italy: A comparative approach
Introduction: childhood in the past
The anthropology of death
Childhood in Early Iron Age funerary contexts of Latium vetus
Data sample
Demography and context
Funerary rite and tomb structure
Grave goods
Latium vetus: conclusions
Children in other Early Iron Age funerary contexts of middle Tyrrhenian Italy: a comparison
Etruria
Etruscans outside Etruria: Verrucchio and Pontecagnano
Pithekoussai
Other Central Italian Populations: Abruzzo
Conclusions
References
35 Child death in the Hellenistic world
Time and space
Burial treatment
Special resting places
Offerings and rituals
Conclusion
References
36 Death of a Roman child
Introduction
Demographics and early childhood death
Infanticide
Exposure and its ambit
Foundlings
Stages of childhood: terminology and significance
Attitudes to the loss of young lives
Inversion of norms: expectations of children, and pressure to leave a successor
Children’s careers and attainment
Loss of potential and impact on survivors
Funerals and their timing
Rituals and their significance
Burial/cremation and children’s cemeteries
Grave offerings
Mourning
Regulation of mourning
Perceptions of the appropriate scale of mourning
Children as mourners
Commemoration
Sarcophagi and other commemorative monuments
Conclusion
References
37 Death of a child: Demographic and preparation trends of juvenile burials in the Graeco-Roman Fayoum
Excavation methods and recording
Archaeological and textual sources of data
Paleodemography and modern terminology
Analysis of burials
Spatial burial patterns
Cluster burials
Patterns of preparation for burial
Conclusion
References
38 Infant mortality, Michael Psellos and the Byzantine demon Gillo
References
Part V Bioarchaeology
39 The bioarchaeology of children in Greco-Roman antiquity
Introduction
Background
The sites
Childhood mortality
Childhood infection and disease
Weaning (paleodiet)
Mortuary practices
Conclusion
References
40 Infancy and childhood in Roman Egypt: Bioarchaeological perspectives
Introduction
The bioarchaeological context
Kellis and the Kellis 2 cemetery
Evidence of childhood health and disease in Roman Egypt
Conclusion
References
41 “The greatest of treasures”: Advances in the bioarchaeology of Byzantine children
The Zoodochos Pigi cemetery excavation at Alikianos (Crete)
Anthropological and paleopathological evidence for Byzantine Greek non-adult populations
Feeding the Byzantine child: the contribution of stable isotope analysis
The link between weaning practices and the development of pathological conditions
(Re)Thinking Byzantine children: towards the future
References
Index