Naissance Et Petite Enfance Dans L'Antiquite

In late 2001 a conference was held in Fribourg which focused on the evidence for, and experience of, birth and infancy in the ancient world. These twenty-four papers form the proceedings and cover material from Egypt and the Near East, the Greek and Roman worlds and, to a less degree, Byzantium. Drawing on iconographic and textual evidence, such as funerary monuments, ancient medical and philosophical treatises, as well as skeletal remains, the contributors discuss the medical reality of giving birth and surviving the first years of life in antiquity, religious attitudes, magic and superstitions, knowledge concerning the origin and source of the embryo, and the social significance of high mortality and funerary practices. The specialised papers cover such subjects as: Egyptian infant remains; birth in Bablyon and Assyria; unnatural conception and birth in Greek mythology; mourning Greek mothers; divine procreation; Roman medicine; reincarnation; early Christian attitudes towards the embryo; Byzantine texts. Three papers in English, two in German, the rest in English.