This is the first volume ever to systematically study the subject of disabilities in the Roman world. The contributors examine the topic a capite ad calcem, from head to toe. Chapters deal with mental and intellectual disability, alcoholism, visual impairment, speech disorders, hermaphroditism, monstrous births, mobility problems, osteology and visual representations of disparate bodies. The authors fully engage with literary, papyrological, and epigraphical sources, while iconography and osteo-archaeology are taken into account. Also the late ancient evidence is taken into account....

Roman children often seem to be absent from the ancient sources. How did they spend their first years of life? Did they manage to find their way among the various educators, often slaves, who surrounded them from an early age? Was Roman education characterised by loving care or harsh discipline? What was it like to be a slave child? Were paedophilia and child labour accepted and considered 'normal'? This book focuses on all 'forgotten' Roman children: from child emperors to children in the slums of Rome, from young magistrates to little artisans, peasants and mineworkers. The author has...