Infanticide, a practice common in the Roman Empire

Infanticide, a practice common in the Roman Empire

In Roman times, where there is some promiscuity and sexual freedom among the different layers of society, one of the contraceptive method used is the introduction into the vagina of a handful of herbs, believe that this is an effective way to control the birth rate.

Nothing could be further from the truth. This experiment homemade diseases and infections often difficult to cure and does not prevent pregnancy at all.

For this reason, during the heyday of Roman orgies orgies and practiced as a general: infanticide.

A number of tombs have been discovered in ancient ruins that are used as a place to deposit the body mass of newborns is not desirable.

Lack of effective contraception are forced to take drastic measures to control the birth rate among the Roma.

One of the groups most likely to be done is a prostitute, a group at the time are completely legal and workers are classified into different classes and ranks, even to pay taxes. The fact that the force can not get pregnant and have to stop working.

Those who eventually became pregnant, and did not find a way to end a pregnancy, choose to kill the baby so as not to have a new burden to maintain and care. We should note that although some practiced at the time of abortion, causes the death of a woman who underwent an interrupt, if not persecuted for justice, so seeing there collided with the permission of neonatal deaths and tightening penalties for abortion.

Babies are not only done within the confines of the Roman Empire near the capital, but have found sufficient evidence in the colony is located along an extensive network of conquered lands. In Ashkelon (Israel), which forms part of the empire, they found the remains of the 100 infants who were not buried but thrown into the sewers under the brothel. According to the researchers, the babies died after being strangled.

Other places like Khok Phanom Di (Thailandia) or Lepinski and Vlasac Vir (Serbia), with findings similar characteristics, they confirm the hypothesis of deliberate killing of babies.

A survey recently published archaeological conducted in the village of Hambleden Roman (UK) and Simon Mays researchers and Jill Eyers has been exposed to the infant's discovery of 97 bodies have been found in excavations in 1921.