By understanding the history of ancient Rome, we can find that during that period, the social phenomenon of abandoned babies was very common, and the widespread appearance of this situation also led to many tragic stories. At that time, many heroes were cruelly abandoned at the beginning of their lives.

Some people may think that the so-called abandoned baby scene is only an exaggerated description of literary works, but in fact, abandoned baby is very common in ancient Roman society. Not only that, the rulers at that time did not enact laws prohibiting abandoned babies. Then, why did such a cruel phenomenon happen in such a developed ancient Roman society?

The main reasons of abandoned baby in ancient Roman society

Among the children in ancient Rome, there is such a proverb:

"After the child is born, whether the family can accept his arrival depends only on the father's words."

Due to the obvious patriarchy in ancient Roman society, the father in a family could dominate the fate and development of the whole family. For the new life in the family, whether they can survive in the world is also between the father's thoughts. In the "Twelve Copper Table Method", there is such a passage:

"Family members are subject to parental authority for life, and parents have the right to imprison, beat, enslave, betray and kill their families."

Therefore, the status of parents in the family is supreme.

Because the society at that time was not developed as modern society, whether a new life can grow smoothly is often influenced by many social factors. In this case, some babies will become abandoned babies when they come into this world.

For poor families in ancient Roman society, once a child was born, there was a great probability of being abandoned. After all, the cost of raising a child is very high. In the eyes of those poor families, only by abandoning their newborns can they maintain their existing lives.

In addition, under the influence of property inheritance, many unexpected lives have become the objects of family abandonment. In the view of the leaders of these families, only by reasonably controlling the population within the family can the property allocated to each child be appropriate. Based on the influence of male chauvinism, in ancient Roman society, abandoned babies were basically baby girls.

In addition to social factors, the newborn's physical condition also determines whether he will be abandoned. Due to the limited medical conditions in ancient Rome, when women were pregnant, they could not receive a complete prenatal examination as in modern society to ensure the health of newborns. At that time, if there were deformed children or weak children in a family, people would take the means of infanticide or abandonment to reduce their family's support burden. Not only that, influenced by decadent and backward ideas, most people think that abnormal children are an ominous sign. In order to get rid of these curses, they will also think of killing babies or abandoning babies to exorcise evil spirits.

In addition to the reasons mentioned above, some babies will also be abandoned because of improper birth. At that time, all children born of rape or extramarital affairs will become abandoned babies. However, some female slaves will be abandoned if they get pregnant and have children after receiving their master's blessing unexpectedly, so that their master's honor will not be damaged.

Based on the influence of Greek religion, people in ancient Roman society also had lofty beliefs in religion. In the religious culture at that time, it was believed that babies had no social status, so people naturally did not respect their lives. In this way, abandoning babies will not only make people feel psychological burden, but also be considered as a reasonable and effective method to improve the quality of the population. In the study of ancient Greek and Roman society, there is such a discussion:

"Babies can't escape the blame and eventually become victims."

The ownership of abandoned babies after being abandoned

Although abandoned babies will not directly kill babies, some babies will still face the threat of death after being abandoned because they cannot be rescued and adopted by others. Abandoning babies was a very common phenomenon in ancient Rome, so the Roman emperor at that time did not prohibit it. After all, the Romans had the freedom to adopt children besides abandoning their babies. In this case, many infertile women will realize their dream of being mothers by adopting abandoned babies. In addition, if a man loses all his children and can't find an heir, he will also adopt an abandoned baby to inherit.

In addition to the above, the proliferation of abandoned babies can also help limit the size of civilian families and make the rulers have stronger control. In the history of ancient Rome, this policy is described as follows:

"In order to restrain family norms, city-state legislators stipulate that abandoned babies and abortions are allowed."

Relevant measures taken by the rulers of ancient Rome on the problem of abandoned babies

Although the Roman rulers at that time did not order the prohibition of abandoned babies, they also considered the special group of abandoned babies in the process of amending the law. At that time, Tula, the monarch of the Roman Empire, stipulated that all children in the Roman Empire should be registered so that the state could manage these people. At the same time, with this filing file, the state will have evidence to follow when it plans to formulate welfare policies.

After Tula left office, his successor Anthony also inherited this system well, and then Constantine the Great demanded that the sale of children be restricted. In order to ensure the lives of the parents of those poor children, he also decided to continue to subsidize them with the funds from the state treasury. Although in the later period, this subsidy made the national treasury very deficit, his behavior laid a benign foundation for the protection of children in later generations.

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By analyzing the phenomenon of abandoned babies in the ancient Roman Empire, we can find that in the society at that time, although ancient Rome had a relatively advanced social system and state management model, compared with modern society, their ideas were still relatively backward, so some abandoned babies were forced to have a tragic fate under the influence of decadent ideas.

Although, from one aspect, the proliferation of abandoned babies has helped some families survive and eased the pressure on the country and society, this way of improving the quality of the population is obviously contrary to human relations. So in modern society, abandoned babies have gradually disappeared.

References:

Children in ancient Rome, twelve tables, social studies in ancient Greece and Rome, history of ancient Rome.