One sees similar patterns in societies well into the Middle Ages. I believe you are correct in identifying high infant mortality rates as the cause. Thankfully, we have better medical care and more options to help infants to live and prosper.
Ancient literature shows us both the actual practice but also, peeking out from behind, more humane attitudes that were always there but that didn't have the opportunity to flourish.
For instance, Greek myths show the practice of exposing unwanted infants--but in those myths, it backfires every single time. The infant survives and flourishes (wish fulfillment). The people responsible for the exposure suffer as a result of it (deferred justice). Oedipus ends up killing the parents who tried to kill him (though without knowing what he was doing). Perseus accidentally kills the grandfather who tried to kill him. In both cases, the guilty parents were trying to avoid a dire fate but ended up bringing it about instead. In the end, Oedipus (who had tragic flaws of his own) suffers as well, though he ends up as a saintly figure who is forgiven by the gods at the end. However, Perseus becomes one of the very few Greek heroes not to die tragically. There are many other stories of the same type, suggesting that people knew in their hearts throwing out unwanted infants was wrong.
One notices other instances where literary outcomes vary from societal norms. The Greeks treated women as property, yet if one reads their love stories, women certainly don't sound like property. Women do things in stories they generally can't in real life (Amazons, Atalanta) and many of the goddesses are bad asses, Athena in particular.
Speaking of pets, I ran across a Roman poem written to a dead dog. I can't quote it exactly, but it was something like, "As with joy I carried you into my house, so now, with sorrow, I carry you out of it."
Literature may reveal life as it really is, but it also reveals what we want it to be.
Yes! Always sad to read it continued despite the Christians helping any abandoned child in Roman times - which didn’t seem to last, but poverty was always a factor too! I love Greek myths, and yes, abandonment was a huge trope in stories, but growing up, I never thought of it as real life, just part of the tales of demigods, sadly. Mind you, have always thought of the Roman empire, (despite their technological advances) as a lesser, enlightened version of the Greek tradition - minus all those things I’ll never talk about. It always feels like a history repeating thing to me and I hope one day it doesn’t - but great for storytelling. BTW, have a few of your books on my TBO pile and looking forward to ordering them. Also, about the Amazon myth, I’m not sure if you can find the shows, but if you can - Bettany Hughes’ Treasures of the World, are insightful and the one on Azerbaijan giving rise to the Amazons is worth a watch. That poem would defiantly speak volumes about everyday people not always conforming which I love.
I’ll have to look for those shows, and thanks for considering my books.
Another Greek tidbit. Though they weren’t as advanced as we might like in some ways, they had some interestingly advanced views on ethnicity and race. It’s commonplace in ancient times for people to create unflattering origin stories for their enemies, but the Greeks tended in the opposite direction. For instance, they considered Persians (big enemies in the classical period) to be descendants of Zeus (through Perses, son of Perseus). The related Medes were descended from Medus, son of Medea and Aegeus, which related them ultimately to a lot of gods, especially on Medea’s side. The Scythians began as sons of Heracles. And the list goes on.
Also, Greeks don’t seem to have regarded Africans as inferior. The description suggest they knew Ethiopians were Black, for example, but Poseidon favored them. (He’s off feasting with them when Athena asked Zeus to help Odysseus at the beginning of the Odyssey). There is apparently one source, though I can’t find the original, that places an alternative Olympus (vacation retreat?) in Ethiopia. Also, Andromeda, wife of Perseus, is described as Ethiopian, which makes his descendant, Heracles (threw Heracles’s mother) part Ethiopian. The detail is never mentioned directly in any story, suggesting it was no big deal to the Greeks one way or the other. That puts them ahead of the US in some eras.
They surely had their faults, but they are surprisingly advanced in some areas for which they aren’t usually given credit.
One sees similar patterns in societies well into the Middle Ages. I believe you are correct in identifying high infant mortality rates as the cause. Thankfully, we have better medical care and more options to help infants to live and prosper.
Ancient literature shows us both the actual practice but also, peeking out from behind, more humane attitudes that were always there but that didn't have the opportunity to flourish.
For instance, Greek myths show the practice of exposing unwanted infants--but in those myths, it backfires every single time. The infant survives and flourishes (wish fulfillment). The people responsible for the exposure suffer as a result of it (deferred justice). Oedipus ends up killing the parents who tried to kill him (though without knowing what he was doing). Perseus accidentally kills the grandfather who tried to kill him. In both cases, the guilty parents were trying to avoid a dire fate but ended up bringing it about instead. In the end, Oedipus (who had tragic flaws of his own) suffers as well, though he ends up as a saintly figure who is forgiven by the gods at the end. However, Perseus becomes one of the very few Greek heroes not to die tragically. There are many other stories of the same type, suggesting that people knew in their hearts throwing out unwanted infants was wrong.
One notices other instances where literary outcomes vary from societal norms. The Greeks treated women as property, yet if one reads their love stories, women certainly don't sound like property. Women do things in stories they generally can't in real life (Amazons, Atalanta) and many of the goddesses are bad asses, Athena in particular.
Speaking of pets, I ran across a Roman poem written to a dead dog. I can't quote it exactly, but it was something like, "As with joy I carried you into my house, so now, with sorrow, I carry you out of it."
Literature may reveal life as it really is, but it also reveals what we want it to be.
Yes! Always sad to read it continued despite the Christians helping any abandoned child in Roman times - which didn’t seem to last, but poverty was always a factor too! I love Greek myths, and yes, abandonment was a huge trope in stories, but growing up, I never thought of it as real life, just part of the tales of demigods, sadly. Mind you, have always thought of the Roman empire, (despite their technological advances) as a lesser, enlightened version of the Greek tradition - minus all those things I’ll never talk about. It always feels like a history repeating thing to me and I hope one day it doesn’t - but great for storytelling. BTW, have a few of your books on my TBO pile and looking forward to ordering them. Also, about the Amazon myth, I’m not sure if you can find the shows, but if you can - Bettany Hughes’ Treasures of the World, are insightful and the one on Azerbaijan giving rise to the Amazons is worth a watch. That poem would defiantly speak volumes about everyday people not always conforming which I love.
I’ll have to look for those shows, and thanks for considering my books.
Another Greek tidbit. Though they weren’t as advanced as we might like in some ways, they had some interestingly advanced views on ethnicity and race. It’s commonplace in ancient times for people to create unflattering origin stories for their enemies, but the Greeks tended in the opposite direction. For instance, they considered Persians (big enemies in the classical period) to be descendants of Zeus (through Perses, son of Perseus). The related Medes were descended from Medus, son of Medea and Aegeus, which related them ultimately to a lot of gods, especially on Medea’s side. The Scythians began as sons of Heracles. And the list goes on.
Also, Greeks don’t seem to have regarded Africans as inferior. The description suggest they knew Ethiopians were Black, for example, but Poseidon favored them. (He’s off feasting with them when Athena asked Zeus to help Odysseus at the beginning of the Odyssey). There is apparently one source, though I can’t find the original, that places an alternative Olympus (vacation retreat?) in Ethiopia. Also, Andromeda, wife of Perseus, is described as Ethiopian, which makes his descendant, Heracles (threw Heracles’s mother) part Ethiopian. The detail is never mentioned directly in any story, suggesting it was no big deal to the Greeks one way or the other. That puts them ahead of the US in some eras.
They surely had their faults, but they are surprisingly advanced in some areas for which they aren’t usually given credit.