This course looks at the issue of child sacrifice and abandonment in Western Europe from antiquity up until the Middle Ages. We will consider the religious and social reasons for infanticide, exposure and abandonment and what drives a parent to dispose of a child in this way. The question of law and punishment for killing a child will also be considered from the Egyptian’s abhorrence at such an act, through the Greek and Roman worlds into England in the 17th century and the draconian law that tried to stop mothers passing off murdered newborns as stillbirths by punishing any woman who gave birth without a witness and couldn’t produce a living child. This illuminative course offers a new look at attitudes to childhood, the nature of the family, property and the nature of birth control from the ancient into the modern world.
This course looks at the issue of child sacrifice and abandonment in Western Europe from antiquity up until the Middle Ages. We will consider the religious and social reasons for infanticide, exposure and abandonment and what drives a parent to dispose of a child in this way.
Price: £35.00
For more information and to book go to: www.ginamay.co.uk/, email events@ginamay.co.uk, call Gina on 07873-561560