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I think the fact that it seems incredible to us that people could sacrifice their children is a testament to the advance of civilisation. children were not alw
by slim 3y ago
I think the fact that it seems incredible to us that people could sacrifice their children is a testament to the advance of civilisation.
children were not always so precious. if memory does not fail me, in the 20th century, there were still laws that stated that children were property of their parents who disposed of their lifes as they wish. that means you could kill your child without consequences. child labor : legal. etc...
- jlawson 3y agoThey lived at the Malthusian population limit of their ecosystem anyway. Sacrificing children was just another way to get rid of excess population and would absolutely improve the lives of whoever was left. Any children not sacrificed would have to die by disease, war, or starvation at some point anyway, because again, the population cannot grow above the Malthusian limit. This core concept - that preindustrial people all lived at their Malthusian population limit - is incredibly important in understanding the preindustrial world and it's shocking that it's not more broadly understood and applied.