and it is tied to the decline of religion, morals and female emancipation:
Greek women participated actively in the cultural pursuits of the time, and contributed to letters, science, philosophy, and art. Aristodama of Smyrna gave recitals of her poetry throughout Greece, and received many honors. Some philosophers, like Epicurus, did not hesitate to admit women into their schools. Literature began to stress the physical loveliness of woman rather than her worth and charm as a mother; the literary cult of feminine beauty arose in this period alongside the poetry and fiction of romantic love. The partial emancipation of woman was accompanied by a revolt against wholesale maternity, and the limitation of the family became the outstanding social phenomenon of the age. Abortion was punishable only if practiced by a woman against the wish of her husband, or at the instigation of her seducer. When a child came it was in many cases exposed. Only one family in a hundred, in the old Greek cities, reared more than one daughter: “Even a rich man,” reports Poseidippus, “always exposes a daughter.” Sisters were a rarity. Families with no child, or only one, were numerous.
Elspeth
ReplyDeleteSorry about the rogue comment. Very insightful quote, but the link is broken.
ReplyDeleteStrange, it works for me. Try this:
ReplyDeletehttps://erenow.net/ancient/durantgreece/179.php
Wow! The Romans also practiced infanticide by exposure.
ReplyDeleteI read that some Roman emperors tried to restrict it, and that there was a law that every family had to raise at least 1 daughter and like 2 sons and that those exposed children were sometimes adopted because adoption was normal in Rome for childless couples. Don't know how true it is. I have little doubt that legalised infanticide is the end objective of pro-choice crowd.
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