This slim volume, published in the series Studies in the History of the Ancient Near East, serves as a useful and succinct introduction to an ever-burgeoning field of the history of childhood in antiquity. It contains ten articles ranging from biblical and ancient Near Eastern vows (involving birth and sacrifice) to Mary of the earliest infancy gospel in contemporary adolescent perspectives and is arranged in three thematic sections (Hebrew Bible and ancient Near East, Christian writings and the Greco-Roman world, and material culture).

In the foreword, the editor hails the inclusion of two “unique” (xi) contributions, one combining biological anthropology with forensic expertise (Susan Guise Sheridan) and the other “looking back at an ancient text from a more contemporary vantage point,” focusing on the female child (Kieser) (xi). It is, however, worth noting the many interesting points that emerge from other contributions.

Analyzing narratives of parturition in Genesis, for instance,...

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