Ada Nifosi, Lecturer in Ancient History in the Department of Classical and Archaeological Studies, recently published a chapter in ‘Children in Antiquity’, a prestigious publication which looks into perspectives and experiences of childhood in the ancient Mediterranean.
The chapter, entitled ‘Children, religion and ritual in Greco-Roman Egypt’ focuses on children in Greco- Roman Egypt (3rd century BC– 4th century AD) in the context of religion and rituals.
Terracottas, amulets and spells suggest that child- deities and female deities were particularly associated with the protection of juveniles. However, children were not just vulnerable beings in need of protection, they were also active participants in rituals, employed as cult assistants in temples, performers in festivals and mediums in oracular rituals.
Dr Nifosi is interested in children in the Greco-Roman World, especially their role in religious rituals, as well as their funerary commemoration.
She has published on coming-of-age rituals for young women in Greco-Roman Egypt in her book Becoming a Woman and Mother in Greco-Roman Egypt (Routledge, 2019). In her next book (Maidenhood in the Greco-Roman World: A Social History through Funerary Materials and Texts, (Liverpool University Press, under contract), she will discuss the commemoration of young maidens in burials and funerary monuments in the Greco-Roman world.
For more information about ‘Children in Antiquity‘ (Routledge, 2020), please follow the link.