3 ms·
"What this hidden history teaches is that many Greeks and Romans survived without eating animal flesh or using animal products." So, I get it, this post has a
by jkingsbery 8y ago
"What this hidden history teaches is that many Greeks and Romans survived without eating animal flesh or using animal products."
So, I get it, this post has a particular point of view to advance. But this is a terrible argument. The average Greco-Roman was impoverished and had a life expectancy of around 35-40. The average Greco-Roman happily ate meat when given a chance. Today, at least in many parts of the world, meat is pretty cheap, so the idea of meat being a decedent luxury doesn't follow the way it would have 2500 years ago. Further, in the Greco-Roman world, animals and animal products were used for lots of things - leather for sandals, honey from bees, oxen and mules to produce the grain that made up the basis of the vegetarian diet. So even the people who had a vegetarian diet (by constraint, not by choice) very much benefited from animals in ways that many activist groups today would object to.
- maze-le 8y ago>> The average Greco-Roman was impoverished and had a life expectancy of around 35-40 This is more a problem with statistics than anything else. If anything, the median life expectancy should be measured. The reason that the average life expectancy is so low, is that infant mortality was very high (and the procedure of childbirth was extremely dangerous). This means an unusual high percentage of humans, that die very early in their lives. So the 'average', while being a correct average, skews the number downward and thus gives the false impression that the average person only got 30-40. If a peasant survived into his 30ies, chances were high he would get into his 50ies.[0] For the rest of your post: Yeah, I concur, the last thing any roman would have had in mind are animal rights. Not only was slavery the norm, this was a society where you could kill your slaves without repercussions. Human sacrifices in the form of gladiatorial games were not only common but THE social event. And the army had a punishment known as decimation (every 10th of a unit was selected by lot and killed). So, all in all a society with very little regard for human life, never mind the life of an animal... [0]: https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-evolution-human-origins/life-expectancy-myth-and-why-many-ancient-humans-lived-long-077889 https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-evolution-human-origins...
- felipelemos 8y ago50 years old is still a very low number for a life expectancy.
- ams6110 8y agoIt's old enough to raise the next generation to self-sufficient adulthood. That's all that's really necessary for a population to survive and grow.