Did Ancient Romans Love Their Children? Infanticide in Ancient Rome

Title: Did Ancient Romans Love Their Children? Infanticide in Ancient Rome
Author: Mindy Nichols
Date: 6/6/2008
Abstract: Abandoned babies are not the thing of the past, it still happens today. Every
couple of months one can turn on the news, open the newspaper, or get online and find
that someone else has left an infant in a restroom, or by the side of the road, or on
someones doorstep. Despite the Safe Haven laws in most states new mothers still leave
their children in public restrooms to be found by a stranger, or left to die. Leaving infants
somewhere they can be found is something that started thousands of years ago. This
paper will focus on infants that were abandoned in the first centuries B.C. and A.D. in
ancient Rome with a practice known as infanticide, also called exposure. It occurred
often in the ancient world and there were many reasons why it happened. Parents
endangered their children in this way because they loved their children, the ones they
raised as well as the ones they exposed.
Type: Text
Keywords: Rome; Roman Empire; Infanticide
Language: eng
Rights: Western Oregon University Library has determined, as of 06/09/2022, this item is in copyright, which is held by the author. Users may use the item in accordance with copyright limitations and exceptions, including fair use. For other uses, please ask permission from the author.; http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Department: History
Identifier: his/188