The idea of a parent or a mother abandoning their child in a designated place to determine their fate to strengthen society is unethical in many ways in today’s society. However, this was not new in ancient societies like Rome, Greece, Japan, and China (Gosselin, 2019). They had a designated place where the parent would take their child and leave it for someone to take them. The child could be left whether naked or clothed, and they also believed that their fate would be decided by gods too. This report focuses on how the abandonment of some children strengthened the population in the ancient communities.
One of the ways they used to control the population in the society was children’s exposure. The children were left out in the wild to starve to death, be eaten by wild animals, or be taken by a family that did not have children. In the early Middle Ages, children were left at places like churches, and a small fee was offered as an oblation (Gosselin, 2019). The exposure was a way for the family to save economically or financially because the arrival of an extra mouth to feed in a family struggling with poverty is a problem. Wealthy families adopted the lucky children while others died. The children abandoned in the wild did not have a chance of survival anyway, considering there were wild animals.
The roman society often valued children with what they brought to the table or their proper function to the community. Female children were most likely to be exposed to or abandoned than male children (Holzwarth, n.d). They termed the ancient roman society as the man’s world because they controlled if a child was to live or die, and the mother had no opinion on it. The males were considered necessary because they continued the family legacy or name. Although the society preferred males, if a family had more male children, they would expose even the healthy ones to avoid sharing wealth between them.
The society also exposed children with physical deformities because they saw that they were an embarrassment to their families. They had to get rid of them to avoid taking care of them, considering they had no value to the society and would only become a burden to the family (Cook, n.d). The exposure did not only involve children with deformities but healthy children were not spared at all. Children with deformities were also considered a threat to the economy, and they would drain the family if the child were sick from the deformation.
Infanticide was another way the ancient societies used to strengthen their population, which involved killing newborns. According to ancient Rome, a child was not considered human until they could eat solid food or talk. Girls were often killed, and if society did not kill them, the community would sell them into slavery and prostitution. Infanticide was done when a child was illegitimate, or they posed a threat to society.
Giving up the child or exposing them still exists in today’s world, but it is more humane than the previous way. With the introduction of the adoption method, the children can survive with a good family. Even though the family is not well off, the child can get a good family to take care of him/her. Contraceptives have made it possible for a family can control the number of children they have.
References
Cook, S. (n.d.). Roman women and children Part 3 – Newborns. Web.
Gosselin, D. K. (2019). Family and intimate partner violence: Heavy hands. Sixth Edition. Pearson.
Holzwarth, L. (n.d). Population control was no joke in Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire. Web.