Editing Infanticide (section)

=====Greece and Rome=====
[[File:Eugène Ferdinand Victor Delacroix 031.jpg|thumb|[[Medea]] killing her sons, by [[Eugène Ferdinand Victor Delacroix]] (1862)]]

The historical Greeks considered the practice of adult and child sacrifice [[Barbarian|barbarous]],<ref>{{Cite book| last= Hughes|first = Dennis D.|title = Human Sacrifice in Ancient Greece | publisher = Routledge|year = 1991|page = [https://archive.org/details/humansacrificean00hugh/page/n201 187]|url =https://archive.org/details/humansacrificean00hugh| url-access= limited| isbn=978-0-415-03483-8 }}</ref> however, [[infant exposure]] was widely practiced in [[ancient Greece]].<ref>Robert Garland, "Mother and child in the Greek world" ''History Today'' (March 1986), Vol. 36, pp 40-46</ref><ref>[[Sarah B. Pomeroy]], "Infanticide in Hellenistic Greece" in ''Images of women in antiquity'' (Wayne State Univ Press, 1983), pp 207-222.</ref><ref>Richard Harrow Feen, "The historical dimensions of infanticide and abortion: the experience of classical Greece" ''The Linacre Quarterly,'' vol 51 Aug 1984, pp 248-254.</ref> It was advocated by Aristotle in the case of congenital deformity: "As to the exposure of children, let there be a law that no deformed child shall live."<ref>{{cite journal|title=Aristotle (384–322 BCE): philosopher and scientist of ancient Greece| pmc=2672651 | pmid=16371395|doi=10.1136/adc.2005.074534|volume=91| issue=1 |year=2006|pages=F75–77 | author = Dunn PM| journal=Archives of Disease in Childhood: Fetal and Neonatal Edition}}</ref><ref>(Alternate translation: "let there be a law that no deformed child shall be reared") [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0086,035:7:1335b Politics, Book VII, section 1335b] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220513082601/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0086,035:7:1335b |date=13 May 2022 }}</ref>

In Greece, the decision to expose a child was typically the father's, although in Sparta the decision was made by a group of elders.<ref>See Plutarch's ''Life of Lycurgus''.</ref> Exposure was the preferred method of disposal, as that act in itself was not considered to be murder; moreover, the exposed child technically had a chance of being rescued by the gods or any passersby.<ref>See (e.g.) Budin 2004, 122–23.</ref> This very situation was a recurring motif in [[Greek mythology]].

To notify the neighbors of a birth of a child, a woolen strip was hung over the front door to indicate a female baby and an olive branch to indicate a boy had been born. Families did not always keep their new child. After a woman had a baby, she would show it to her husband. If the husband accepted it, it would live, but if he refused it, it would die. Babies would often be rejected if they were illegitimate, unhealthy or deformed, the wrong sex, or too great a burden on the family. These babies would not be directly killed, but put in a clay pot or jar and deserted outside the front door or on the roadway. In ancient Greek religion, this practice took the responsibility away from the parents because the child would die of natural causes, for example, hunger, asphyxiation or exposure to the elements.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

The practice was prevalent in [[ancient Rome]], as well. [[Philo]] was the first known philosopher to speak out against it.<ref>{{Cite book| last = Philo| author-link = Philo| title =The Special Laws| publisher =[[Harvard University Press]]| year =1950| location =Cambridge| pages =III, XX.117, Volume VII, pp. 118, 551, 549| no-pp = true}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Infanticide {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/anthropology-and-archaeology/customs-and-artifacts/infanticide |access-date=2022-03-23 |website=www.encyclopedia.com |archive-date=23 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323013809/https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/anthropology-and-archaeology/customs-and-artifacts/infanticide |url-status=live }}</ref> A letter from a Roman citizen to his sister, or a pregnant wife from her husband,<ref name="Woolf2007">{{cite book|author=Greg Woolf|title=Ancient civilizations: the illustrated guide to belief, mythology, and art |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=94NuSg3tlsgC&q=letter+pregnant|year=2007 |publisher=Barnes & Noble |isbn=978-1-4351-0121-0|page=386}}</ref> dating from {{BCE|1}}, demonstrates the casual nature with which infanticide was often viewed:

{{blockquote|I am still in Alexandria{{nbsp}}... I beg and plead with you to take care of our little child, and as soon as we receive wages, I will send them to you. In the meantime, if (good fortune to you!) you give birth, if it is a boy, let it live; if it is a girl, expose it.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lefkowitz |first1=Mary |author-link=Mary Lefkowitz |last2=Maureen |first2=Fant |title=249. Exposure of a female child |url=https://diotima-doctafemina.org/translations/anthologies/womens-life-in-greece-and-rome-selections/vii-private-life/249-exposure-of-a-female-child/ |website=[[Diotíma (website)|Diotíma]]: Women's Life in Greece and Rome (selections) |date=1992 |access-date=28 December 2022 |archive-date=28 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221228211344/https://diotima-doctafemina.org/translations/anthologies/womens-life-in-greece-and-rome-selections/vii-private-life/249-exposure-of-a-female-child/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | contribution = Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 744| editor-first = Naphtali| editor-last = Lewis| editor-link = Naphtali Lewis | title = Life in Egypt Under Roman Rule| page = 54| publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]| place = Oxford| year = 1985}}</ref><ref name="Woolf2007 1">{{cite book|author=Greg Woolf|title=Ancient civilizations: the illustrated guide to belief, mythology, and art|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=94NuSg3tlsgC&q=expose+money|year=2007 |publisher=Barnes & Noble |isbn=978-1-4351-0121-0|page=388}}</ref>}}

[[File:Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bibel in Bildern 1860 172.png|thumbnail|[[Massacre of the Innocents]] by [[Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld]], 1860]]

In some periods of [[Roman history]] it was traditional for a newborn to be brought to the ''[[pater familias]]'', the family [[Patriarchy|patriarch]], who would then decide whether the child was to be kept and raised, or left to die by exposure.<ref name=Crossan>John Crossan, ''The Essential Jesus: Original Sayings and Earliest Images'', p. 151 (Castle, 1994, 1998) {{ISBN|978-1-55635-833-3}}</ref> The [[Twelve Tables]] of [[Roman law]] obliged him to put to death a child that was visibly deformed. The concurrent practices of [[Slavery in ancient Rome|slavery]] and infanticide contributed to the "background noise" of the [[Crisis of the Roman Republic#Institution of Slavery|crises during the Republic]].<ref name=Crossan />

Infanticide became a [[capital offense]] in Roman law in 374, but offenders were rarely if ever prosecuted.<ref name="SXR">{{Cite book| last=Radbill| first=Samuel X.| contribution=A history of child abuse and infanticide| editor-last=Steinmetz| editor-first=Suzanne K. |editor-last2=Straus |editor-first2=Murray A. |editor-link2=Murray A. Straus| title=Violence in the Family| pages=173–79| publisher=Dodd, Mead & Co.| place=New York| year=1974}}</ref>

According to mythology, [[Romulus and Remus]], twin infant sons of the war god [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]], survived near-infanticide after being tossed into the Tiber River. According to the myth, they were raised by wolves, and later founded the city of Rome.