Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides an introduction to the bioarchaeological evidence of children in Egyptian society, the cultures of Greece and Rome and the world of Late Antiquity/Byzantium. It attempts to do just that for the ancient Mediterranean world and specifically for the societies of Greece, Italy and Egypt from the Bronze Age to Byzantium. The book explores ancient Mediterranean childhood at both the micro and macro levels. At the micro level, the reader may, for example, wish to engage with the definition, perception and experience of childhood within a particular chronological period or, alternatively, diachronically across a specific culture. The book highlights the existence of a number of diachronic pan-Mediterranean common perceptions concerning the sub-division of the youthful life stage into various major phases.