Greek values and the morality of infanticide

From https://wng.org/opinions/protect-the-children-1650019354 ...The rise of Christianity created moral intuitions we now take for granted: Children are uniquely vulnerable, and we must physically protect them and work to preserve their innocence.

Don't take my word for it. The essential text here is When Children Became People: The Birth of Childhood in Early Christianity by the Norwegian theologian O.M. Bakke. Before Christ, Bakke observes, the ancient Greeks essentially created a societal hierarchy around their notions of "logos" or reason. Free male citizens were said to possess the most capacity for reason. Women and older men had less capacity, and children possessed even less rational capacity. Therefore, they were valued even less.

Indeed, unwanted children were frequently abandoned in the ancient world for trivial reasons, such as the desire to have a son instead of a daughter or in response to political or economic instability. The practice was known as expositio, where infants were simply left outside to die of thirst, exposure, or animal attacks...

Ohhhhh! Suddenly those old Greek myths about babies like Oedipus and Paris being abandoned to wild animals suddenly has a context: the Greeks' moral system didn't consider children to have moral value because babies aren't intellectually impressive! They were wrong of course but no wonder it was a part of their stories.

-Max

 --

I could not love thee dear, so much,
Loved I not honor more.