BardicSense t1_j8of936 wrote
This kinda reminds me of that horrible Spartan practice of judging the babies on day 1 if their life, and deciding to put the rejects out into the wild to be killed.
Will the test be able to tell me what major the embryo will choose? If it's anything in business or finance, I'm gonna lobby my spouse to terminate the pregnancy.
I want a lawyer or a doctor, only. /s
just-a-dreamer- t1_j8ojf3y wrote
It is actually the exact opposite. A council of elders was put in charge to save male babies, not kill them. Too many healthy male babies were killed by their parents.
Disabled babies were allmost always left to die in ancient times, that was not the issue. Infanticide was a problem for spartan manpower im regards to the military.
The spartans did not toil the land or build things. They were landlords, wariors, writers, poets. Quite lazy asses, drunk and feasted a lot. They did not work.
Every spartan family was given a lot with thralls to work on. Thralls grew food and delievered to the spartan landlord living in the capital communual barracks.
Yet if there were too many male children, there was trouble. A land lot cannot be divided in too many small pieces, or a warrior cannot live off it and hold his station in society. Thus male babies were killed off.
In time spartan elders worried about their numbers relative to the slaves in their land and neigbouring powers. Thus regulation was set in motion to keep up the right balance in population control.
sexy_starfish t1_j8qs13t wrote
Still sounds pretty fucking dystopian.
just-a-dreamer- t1_j8qty8w wrote
It was an improvement. Keeping your numbers in balance is a requirement for peace. There is only so much land and slaves to leech off. The same is true for assets and passive income today.
There is nothing worse than a 2-4 son with military training, growing up with status and no inheritance in sight. Throat cutting is guaranteed under such conditions.
Spartan society was all about keeping the ranks tight.
Lord0fHats t1_j8oje1u wrote
Now consider that this is a myth invented much later about Spartan society by Romans to try and illustrate how backwards and barbaric the Spartans, and Greek culture, were.
advester t1_j8ptg6w wrote
The pregnancy wouldn’t have even started yet. It is about choosing which embryo to implant, not terminating pregnancy.
BardicSense t1_j8puadm wrote
The warning stands for any child of mine looking to go to business school...
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