the child. With the mother alive, wet-nursing seems to have
been less common, though the fact that some wet-nursing
contracts survive is clear evidence that the practice was well
established. Moreover, in Mesopotamian prayers and temple
inscriptions from the third to the fi rst millennium b.c.e., the
bond between a goddess and her adorant is oft en likened to
that of a wet nurse and her charge: Th e comparison is mean-
ingful only in a society accustomed to this intimate and nur-
turing relationship between a woman and a child that is not
her own.
Once toddlers reached an age when they could be in-
structed to perform simple tasks without the need for ongo-
ing supervision (typically at the age of four years), they were
treated as adults. Th is is best demonstrated by the fact that
we fi nd them listed as individuals in rosters of temple de-
pendents and similar administrative texts; the crucial factor
was not a person’s age in years but his or her physical ability.
Hence, a boy of 10 who was small for his age could fi nd him-
self at work with children several years his junior, while his
physically more developed contemporary would work along-
side grownup men. If concessions were made to the working
conditions of children, it was not because as children they
would automatically enjoy privileged treatment but because
anybody with a weaker physique, including the aged or dis-
abled, was eligible for adjustment.
Most children were educated at home, and it is impor-
tant to note that education and work went hand in hand. Girls
learned from their mothers all the many skills expected to
be mastered by women, such as spinning, weaving, sewing,
laundering, cooking, and baking, while boys were usually in-
structed in their father’s trade: Hence, a smith would teach
his son how to refi ne and work metal, a stonemason would
train his son in the diff erent stone-working techniques, and a
scribe would instruct his son how to read and write the cunei-
form script and also how to prepare writing materials. In this
way, specialized knowledge and skills were passed through
the generations within family networks.
Th ere was no compulsory school attendance in the an-
cient Near East. Still, the ability to read and write was an
advantage for the sons and, to a far lesser extent, also the
daughters of the urban elite, who were typically predestined
to follow the family tradition and take on a role in government
and administration. A number of satirical compositions shed
light on the schooldays of these students and mock their oft en
strained relationship with their teachers, who are referred to
as “master” or “father.” Many, if not most, kings received for-
mal schooling; some, such as Shulgi of Ur (ca. 2000 b.c.e.) and
Ashurbanipal of Assyria (r. 668–ca. 630 b.c.e.), even proudly
referenced their high level of education in the inscriptions
that celebrated their accomplishments, by recording them
for posterity on public monuments. As shown by a scolding
letter of the crown prince Ashurbanipal’s sister Sherua-eti-
rat to his young wife, at the time in her teens, a good school
performance was considered essential also for a future queen:
“Why don’t you write your paper [literally, “clay tablet”] and
do your homework? For if you don’t, people will say: Is this
really the sister of the royal princess Sherua-etirat? You are,
aft er all, married to the crown prince of Assyria.”ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
BY KIRK H. BEETZ
In Asia and the Pacifi c during ancient times, most children
lived harsh lives. In some cultures—among the aborigines of
Australia, for example—children appear to have had more
free time than in other societies. Elsewhere in the region,
however, children had to work hard beginning at a young age
to help their families survive. Early in the Stone Age, about
6000 b.c.e., some peoples in central and northern Asia be-
gan following herds of game such as reindeer, linking their
survival to the welfare of the herd animals; certain groups of
people continued that way of life throughout ancient times.
Children in these families were expected to learn to care for
the animals, and as soon as they could walk they would begin
participating in the work of their nomadic existence.
In societies based on pastoral nomadism children were
expected to care for horses and domesticated cattle, sheep,
and goats. With the development of horseback riding both
girls and boys learned to ride early, and their initiation
rites at puberty usually required them to display feats of
horsemanship by participating in races, by capturing or
herding domesticated animals, by hunting, or by display-
ing fighting skills.
By the second millennium b.c.e., throughout China and
India, agricultural societies were settling near rivers and
fl oodplains. Nearly all these societies practiced human sac-
rifi ce, oft en using children. Th roughout southern Asia, east
of India, children were bought to be ritually murdered in sac-
rifi ce to a goddess of fertility so that crops, especially rice,
would grow abundantly. Th is practice continued in Burma
into the 20th century.
In the early agricultural communities children were ex-
pected to learn the skills of their parents, nearly every task
needed for survival. A child would learn to gather wood,
make ovens, craft pottery, tan animal hides, sew, and develop
any other necessary skill. As communities grew more settled,
people began to specialize. Th e future life of children was
generally determined by what their parents did: Peasant chil-
dren were to be peasants, potter children were to be potters,
and noble children were to be nobles. Most were peasants.
From 1500 to 500 b.c.e. children of the rich and powerful had
beautiful clothes, were taught by tutors, and played with fi ne-
ly craft ed toys. From the Harappan civilization of the Indus
valley of 2300 b.c.e. in India and in China from before 1500
b.c.e., small objects have been found that may have been toys:
little clay animals such as horses with thick, stubby legs from
ancient India and clay tigers from Asia. Th ese items suggest
that even poor children had time to play. However, through-
out most of Asia children were most oft en victims: In India
they were war trophies to be sold into slavery; in China they192 children: Asia and the Pacific