TY - CHAP AU - Vicente,D.J. T1 - Mothers and Motherhood in the Ancient Near East From Cuneiform Adoptions LA - eng PY - 2026/01/01/ SP - 465 EP - 474 T2 - Mothering in Antiquity SN - 9781032546551 PB - Taylor and Francis AB - This study analyses the concept of “motherhood” based on the rich cuneiform documentation, and more specifically on adoption contracts. These texts, generally written in Sumerian and Akkadian, provide us with direct or indirect information about what people in the Ancient Near East understood by “motherhood.” Women feature prominently in this documentation, both as adopters, adoptees, and legal guardians who give their children up for adoption. The ideas proposed in the study are based on paradigmatic cases from the 2nd and 1st millennia bce and show the importance and complexity of motherhood, which was generally – but not always – desired. DO - 10.4324/9781003426004-38 UR - https://portalcientifico.uah.es/documentos/6a1b78a4e3ade4144633455f DP - Dialnet - Portal de la Investigación ER -