The historical Greeks considered the practice of adult and child sacrifice
barbarous.[SUP]
[26][/SUP] However,
exposure of newborns was widely practiced in ancient Greece. In Greece the decision to expose a child was typically the father's, although in Sparta the decision was made by a group of elders.[SUP]
[27][/SUP] Exposure was the preferred method of disposal, as that act in itself was not murder; moreover, the exposed child technically had a chance of being rescued by the gods or any passersby.[SUP]
[28][/SUP] This very situation was a recurring motif in
Greek mythology.[SUP]
[29][/SUP] To notify the neighbors of a birth of a child, a woolen strip was hung over the front door - this indicated a female baby. An olive branch indicated a boy had been born. Families did not always keep their new child. After a woman had a baby, she would show it to her husband. If the husband accepted it, it would live, but if he refused it, it would die. Babies would often be rejected if they were illegitimate, unhealthy or deformed, the wrong sex (female for example), or too great a burden on the family. These babies would not be directly killed, but put in a clay pot or jar and deserted outside the front door or on the roadway. In ancient Greek religion, this practice took the responsibility away from the parents because the child would die of natural causes, for example hunger, asphyxiation or exposure to the elements.
The practice was prevalent in ancient Rome, as well.
Philo was the first philosopher to speak out against it.
In some periods of
Roman history it was traditional for a newborn to be brought to the
pater familias,
the family patriarch, who would then decide whether the child was to be kept and raised, or left to die by exposure.[SUP][33][/SUP] The Twelve Tables of Roman law obliged him to put to death a child that was visibly deformed.
