“Natural” selection of children from Antiquity
Rome, a. C. 8th century. According to legend, Romulus and Remo founded the city. The abandoned twin brothers in newborns managed to survive because they were nurtured by a wolf. And they were not the only characters of Antiquity who had been left to die immediately after birth: Perseo, Sargon, Hadis and Edipo were also abandoned in their newborns. Although the majority only existed in the realm of mythology, this indicates that what seems to us an abominable day was quite common at that time.
Plutarch noted that, in Esparta, “the older ones studied the newborn and, although it was well done and strong, made the decision to raise the child. But if they saw that it was degenerate and unpresentable, they sent the little boy to the apothhetai (tornos) that were in a Taigeto ravine.” The most prominent thinkers in Greece did not want to give the newborns that little chance; someone could have picked up the abandoned children from the bulls. Aristotle and Plato recommended leaving newborns in unknown places. At least the first was clear: “As for parenting, a law must be made to prohibit the growth of defective children” (Policy VIII, 15).
That desire to have perfect children was something that was already known in Rome. After delivery, the paters' families had to study the child very carefully. Immediately after birth, the child was placed at the height of his father, and if after the examination he was picked up in his arms, it meant that he was admitted to his family. Otherwise, a servant or slave placed the newborn at a crossroads or in a landfill, in order for him to die cold or feathered.
These customs should not be judged by the current mindset. According to experts, the infant mortality rate in Rome was between 30 and 40 per cent, and the number of children dying before the end of the year did not vary much in the other civilizations. Therefore, the affective bond with the children developed later. Hundreds of years before Darwin developed his theories, men gave some impetus to natural selection through these practices, as many other species of animals do. And screening methods would continue for a long time. The Vikings, for example, left the newborn out of the fences of the villa for one night; if he was able to endure the icy night, he had the right to be part of the community. And the Cossacks would immerse themselves in the cold waters of the river, and if after the bath they would continue screaming, they would accept it.
The infant mortality rate has dropped from 20 percent in the 20th century and in the West alone. Currently, in Niger, 154 out of every thousand children die in the first year and 262 do not reach the age of 5. The future – or lack of future – of these children is often not in the hands of their communities, and is determined by the economic interests of the pharmaceutical industry, for example. Not so much has been done in the year 2000.
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