This is the first full treatment of Jewish childhood in the Roman world. It follows minors into the spaces where they lived, learned, played, slept, and died and examines the actions and interaction of children with other children, with close-kin adults, and with strangers, both inside and outside the home. A wide range of sources are used, from the rabbinic rules to the surviving painted representations of children from synagogues, and due attention is paid to broader theoretical issues and approaches. Hagith Sivan concludes with four beautifully reconstructed 'autobiographies' of specific children, from a boy living and dying in a desert cave during the Bar-Kokhba revolt to an Alexandrian girl forced to leave her home and wander through the Mediterranean in search of a respite from persecution. The book tackles the major questions of the relationship between Jewish childhood and Jewish identity which remain important to this day.

The first full treatment of Jewish childhood in the Roman world. Explores the lives of minors both inside and outside the home.

About the Author
Hagith Sivan is a Professor in the Department of History at the University of Kansas. She has published six books and many articles on subjects ranging from the Ten Commandments to Palestine in Late Antiquity and from Romans and barbarians to the last Roman empress.


Book Information
ISBN 9781107090170
Author Hagith Sivan
Format Hardback
Page Count 478
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 890g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 156mm * 25mm