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Její pastorkyňa ( Her Stepdaughter ; commonly known as Jenůfa ( listen ) ) is an opera in three acts by Leoš Janáček to a Czech libretto by the composer, based on the play Její pastorkyňa by Gabriela Preissová . It was first performed at the National Theatre , Brno on 21 January 1904. Composed between 1896 and 1902, it is among the first operas written in prose.

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67-444: The first of Janáček's operas in which his distinctive voice can clearly be heard, it is a grim story of infanticide and redemption. Like the playwright's original work, it is known for its unsentimental realism . While today it is heard in the composer 's original version, Jenůfa' s early popularity was due to a revised version by Karel Kovařovic , altering what was considered its eccentric style and orchestration . Thus altered, it

134-461: A federation such as Australia , Germany and the United States forms a separate jurisdiction. However, certain laws in a federal state are sometimes uniform across the constituent states and enforced by a set of federal courts; with the result that the federal state forms a single jurisdiction for that purpose. A jurisdiction may also prosecute for crimes committed outside its jurisdiction once

201-533: A baby to death was a wicked act. In 318, Constantine I considered infanticide a crime, and in 374, Valentinian I mandated the rearing of all children (exposing babies, especially girls, was still common). The Council of Constantinople declared that infanticide was homicide, and in 589, the Third Council of Toledo took measures against the custom of killing their own children. Some Muslim sources allege that pre-Islamic Arabian society practiced infanticide as

268-621: A boy congratulate one another, but when they produce a girl they put it to death." Among the Hakka people , and in Yunnan , Anhui , Sichuan , Jiangxi and Fujian a method of killing the baby was to put her into a bucket of cold water, which was called "baby water". Infanticide was reported as early as the 3rd century  BCE , and, by the Song dynasty (960–1279  CE ), it was widespread in some provinces. Belief in reincarnation allowed poor residents of

335-693: A daughter, Jenůfa, with his first wife. When the opera opens, Grandmother Buryja's sons and their wives have died, except for the Kostelnička (the sacristan or sextoness of the village church), the younger son's second wife and Jenůfa's stepmother. Custom dictates that Števa alone, as the elder son's only child, will inherit the mill, leaving his half-brother Laca and cousin Jenůfa to earn their livings. Jenůfa, Laca, and Grandmother Buryja wait for Števa to return home. Jenůfa, in love with Števa and secretly pregnant with his child, worries that he may have been drafted into

402-458: A form of "post-partum birth control". The word waʾd was used to describe the practice. These sources state that infanticide was practiced either out of destitution (thus practiced on males and females alike), or as "disappointment and fear of social disgrace felt by a father upon the birth of a daughter". Some authors believe that there is little evidence that infanticide was prevalent in pre-Islamic Arabia or early Muslim history , except for

469-502: A girl), so she or he will not have an identity in the government and they can keep on giving birth until they are satisfied, without fines or punishment. In 2017, the government announced that all children without an identity can now have an identity legally, known as family register . Since feudal Edo era Japan the common slang for infanticide was mabiki (間引き), which means to pull plants from an overcrowded garden. A typical method in Japan

536-724: A group of soldiers, drunk and boasting of his prowess with the girls. He calls for music and drags the miserable Jenůfa into dancing with him. The Kostelnička steps into this rowdy scene, silences the musicians and, shocked by Števa's behavior, forbids him to marry Jenůfa until he can stay sober for one full year. The soldiers and the family leave Števa and Jenůfa alone, and she begs him to love her, but he, unaware of her pregnancy, gives her casual answers and leaves. Laca returns, as bitter as ever. He attempts to goad Jenůfa into criticizing Števa, but she takes her lover's side despite everything. Laca rages that Števa would never even look at her if it weren't for her rosy cheeks, then slashes her across

603-535: A peculiarity of the Egyptians that every child must be reared. Diodorus indicates infanticide was a punishable offence. Egypt was heavily dependent on the annual flooding of the Nile to irrigate the land and in years of low inundation, severe famine could occur with breakdowns in social order resulting, notably between 930–1070  CE and 1180–1350  CE . Instances of cannibalism are recorded during these periods, but it

670-483: A prominent leader, but makes no mention of infanticide. The Primary Chronicle , one of the most important literary sources before the 12th century, indicates that human sacrifice to idols may have been introduced by Vladimir the Great in 980. The same Vladimir the Great formally converted Kiev Rus into Christianity just 8 years later, but pagan cults continued to be practiced clandestinely in remote areas as late as

737-657: A sacrifice of every tenth child during difficult times. Many remains of children have been found in Gezer excavations with signs of sacrifice. Child skeletons with the marks of sacrifice have been found also in Egypt dating 950–720 BCE. In Carthage "[child] sacrifice in the ancient world reached its infamous zenith". Besides the Carthaginians, other Phoenicians , and the Canaanites , Moabites and Sepharvites offered their first-born as

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804-572: A sacrifice to their gods. In Egyptian households, at all social levels, children of both sexes were valued and there is no evidence of infanticide. The religion of the ancient Egyptians forbade infanticide and during the Greco-Roman period they rescued abandoned babies from manure heaps, a common method of infanticide by Greeks or Romans, and were allowed to either adopt them as foundling or raise them as slaves, often giving them names such as "copro -" to memorialize their rescue. Strabo considered it

871-462: A wife might take her now, otherwise she was immediately put to death". The practice of female infanticide was also common among the Kutch, Kehtri, Nagar, Bengal, Miazed, Kalowries and Sindh communities. Jurisdiction (area) A jurisdiction is an area with a set of laws and under the control of a system of courts or government entity that is different from neighbouring areas. Each state in

938-438: A woman had a baby, she would show it to her husband. If the husband accepted it, it would live, but if he refused it, it would die. Babies would often be rejected if they were illegitimate, unhealthy or deformed, the wrong sex, or too great a burden on the family. These babies would not be directly killed, but put in a clay pot or jar and deserted outside the front door or on the roadway. In ancient Greek religion, this practice took

1005-433: Is due to what are called lying-in houses, which are not registered, or under the supervision of that sort, where the people who act as midwives constantly, as soon as the child is born, either drop it into a pail of water or smother it with a damp cloth. It is a very common thing, also, to find that they bash their heads on the floor and break their skulls. The last British woman to be executed for infanticide of her own child

1072-441: Is faced with the necessity of making the lie true. She wraps the baby in a shawl and leaves the house. Jenůfa wakes up and says a prayer for her child's future, but the Kostelnička, returning, tells her that the baby died while she slept. Laca appears and comforts Jenůfa gently, asking that they spend the rest of their lives together. Seeing the tenderness of the couple, the Kostelnička tries to convince herself that she has acted for

1139-478: Is generally illegal, but in some places the practice is tolerated, or the prohibition is not strictly enforced. Most Stone Age human societies routinely practiced infanticide, and estimates of children killed by infanticide in the Mesolithic and Neolithic eras vary from 15 to 50 percent. Infanticide continued to be common in most societies after the historical era began, including ancient Greece , ancient Rome ,

1206-399: Is now engaged to marry Karolka, the mayor's pretty daughter. Števa leaves, and Laca enters. He still doesn't know the truth about the baby, and when the Kostelnička tells him, his first reaction is disgust at the thought of taking Števa's child under his wing. Fearful that Jenůfa will be left with no one to marry, Kostelnička hastily lies that the baby is dead. Laca leaves, and the Kostelnička

1273-484: Is subject to some dispute; however, one commonly quoted estimate is that, by late Qing , between one fifth and one-quarter of all newborn girls, across the entire social spectrum, were victims of infanticide. If one includes excess mortality among female children under 10 (ascribed to gender-differential neglect), the share of victims rises to one third. Scottish physician John Dudgeon , who worked in Peking , China, during

1340-710: Is unknown if this happened during the pharaonic era of ancient Egypt. Beatrix Midant-Reynes describes human sacrifice as having occurred at Abydos in the early dynastic period ( c. 3150–2850  BCE ), while Jan Assmann asserts there is no clear evidence of human sacrifice ever happening in ancient Egypt. According to Shelby Brown, Carthaginians , descendants of the Phoenicians , sacrificed infants to their gods. Charred bones of hundreds of infants have been found in Carthaginian archaeological sites. One such area harbored as many as 20,000 burial urns . Skeptics suggest that

1407-567: Is very rare in industrialised countries but may persist elsewhere. Parental infanticide researchers have found that mothers are more likely to commit infanticide. In the special case of neonaticide (murder in the first 24 hours of life), mothers account for almost all the perpetrators. Fatherly cases of neonaticide are so rare that they are individually recorded. The practice of infanticide has taken many forms over time. Child sacrifice to supernatural figures or forces, such as that believed to have been practiced in ancient Carthage , may be only

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1474-472: The 3rd century BC , short of execution, the harshest penalties were imposed on practitioners of infanticide by the legal codes of the Qin dynasty and Han dynasty of ancient China. China's society practiced sex selective infanticide. Philosopher Han Fei Tzu , a member of the ruling aristocracy of the 3rd century  BCE , who developed a school of law, wrote: "As to children, a father and mother when they produce

1541-418: The Canaanites . Writing in the 3rd century  BCE , Kleitarchos , one of the historians of Alexander the Great , described that the infants rolled into the flaming pit. Diodorus Siculus wrote that babies were roasted to death inside the burning pit of the god Baal Hamon , a bronze statue. The historical Greeks considered the practice of adult and child sacrifice barbarous , however, infant exposure

1608-535: The Inca Empire it was carried out by sacrifice (see below). Many Neolithic groups routinely resorted to infanticide in order to control their numbers so that their lands could support them. Joseph Birdsell believed that infanticide rates in prehistoric times were between 15% and 50% of the total number of births, while Laila Williamson estimated a lower rate ranging from 15% to 20%. Both anthropologists believed that these high rates of infanticide persisted until

1675-645: The Phoenicians , ancient China , ancient Japan , Pre-Islamic Arabia , Aboriginal Australia , Native Americans , and Native Alaskans . Infanticide became forbidden in Europe and the Near East during the 1st millennium. Christianity forbade infanticide from its earliest times, which led Constantine the Great and Valentinian I to ban infanticide across the Roman Empire in the 4th century. The practice ceased in Arabia in

1742-474: The one child policy (which has since changed to a two-child policy ), contribute to infanticide. The sex gap between males and females aged 0–19 years old was estimated to be 25 million in 2010 by the United Nations Population Fund . But in some cases, in order to avoid mainland China's family planning programs, parents will not report to government when a child is born (in most cases

1809-679: The "background noise" of the crises during the Republic . Infanticide became a capital offense in Roman law in 374, but offenders were rarely if ever prosecuted. According to mythology, Romulus and Remus , twin infant sons of the war god Mars , survived near-infanticide after being tossed into the Tiber River. According to the myth, they were raised by wolves, and later founded the city of Rome. Whereas theologians and clerics preached sparing their lives, newborn abandonment continued as registered in both

1876-480: The 'Brixton Baby Farmer', a professional baby-farmer who was found guilty of infanticide in 1870; Jessie King, who was hanged in 1889; Amelia Dyer , the 'Angel Maker', who murdered over 400 babies in her care; and Ada Chard-Williams , a baby farmer who was later hanged at Newgate prison. The Times reported that 67 infants were murdered in London in 1861 and 150 more recorded as "found dead", many of which were found on

1943-586: The 13th century. American explorer George Kennan noted that among the Koryaks , a people of north-eastern Siberia , infanticide was still common in the nineteenth century. One of a pair of twins was always sacrificed. Infanticide (as a crime) gained both popular and bureaucratic significance in Victorian Britain. By the mid-19th century, in the context of criminal lunacy and the insanity defence , killing one's own child(ren) attracted ferocious debate, as

2010-806: The 7th century after the founding of Islam , since the Quran prohibits infanticide. Infanticide of male babies had become uncommon in China by the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), whereas infanticide of female babies became more common during the One-Child Policy era (1979–2015). During the period of Company rule in India , the East India Company attempted to eliminate infanticide but were only partially successful, and female infanticide in some parts of India still continues. Infanticide

2077-624: The Song dynasty note that, in Hubei and Fujian provinces, residents would only keep three sons and two daughters (among poor farmers, two sons, and one daughter), and kill all babies beyond that number at birth. Initially the sex of the child was only one factor to consider. By the time of the Ming dynasty, however (1368–1644), male infanticide was becoming increasingly uncommon. The prevalence of female infanticide remained high much longer. The magnitude of this practice

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2144-545: The ancient Germanic tribes enforced a similar prohibition. He found such mores remarkable and commented: "To restrain generation and the increase of children, is esteemed [by the Germans] an abominable sin, as also to kill infants newly born." It has become clear over the millennia, though, that Tacitus' description was inaccurate; the consensus of modern scholarship significantly differs. John Boswell believed that in ancient Germanic tribes unwanted children were exposed, usually in

2211-403: The army. Laca, in love with Jenůfa, expresses bitterness against his half-brother's favored position at home. As he complains he plays with a knife and, finding it blunt, gives it to the mill foreman to be sharpened. The foreman informs the family that Števa has not been drafted, to Jenůfa's relief and Laca's increased frustration. The others leave, and Jenůfa waits to greet Števa. He appears with

2278-586: The article, "Massacre of the Innocents", highlighting the dangers of baby-farming, the recording of stillbirths, and quoting Athelstan Braxton Hicks , the London coroner, on lying-in houses: I have not the slightest doubt that a large amount of crime is covered by the expression 'still-birth'. There are a large number of cases of what are called newly-born children, which are found all over England, more especially in London and large towns, abandoned in streets, rivers, on commons, and so on... [A] great deal of that crime

2345-535: The below average height of women in prehistoric Menorca . Archaeologists have uncovered physical evidence of child sacrifice at several locations. Some of the best attested examples are the diverse rites which were part of the religious practices in Mesoamerica and the Inca Empire . Three thousand bones of young children, with evidence of sacrificial rituals, have been found in Sardinia . Pelasgians offered

2412-407: The best. It is now spring, and Laca and Jenůfa's wedding day. All seems right again, except that the Kostelnička is a nervous wreck. Števa and Karolka visit, and a chorus of village girls sings a wedding song. Just then, screams are heard. The body of the baby has been discovered in the mill-stream under the melting ice. Jenůfa immediately says that the baby is hers, and in her grief appears guilty of

2479-512: The bodies of children found in Carthaginian and Phoenician cemeteries were merely the cremated remains of children who died naturally. Plutarch ( c. 46–120  CE ) mentions the practice, as do Tertullian , Orosius , Diodorus Siculus and Philo . The Hebrew Bible also mentions what appears to be child sacrifice practiced at a place called the Tophet (from the Hebrew taph or toph , to burn) by

2546-512: The case of the Tamim tribe , who practiced it during severe famine according to Islamic sources. Others state that "female infanticide was common all over Arabia during this period of time" (pre-Islamic Arabia), especially by burying alive a female newborn. A tablet discovered in Yemen , forbidding the people of a certain town from engaging in the practice, is the only written reference to infanticide within

2613-447: The cheek with his knife. Months later, it is winter. The baby has been born, but Števa has not yet come to visit his child. Jenůfa's face is still disfigured, but she is happy in her love for the baby. While Jenůfa sleeps, the Kostelnička summons Števa and demands that he take responsibility. He answers that while he will provide money in secret, no one must know the baby is his. His love for Jenůfa died when Laca spoiled her beauty, and he

2680-571: The country to kill their newborn children if they felt unable to care for them, hoping that they would be reborn in better circumstances. Furthermore, 18th and 19th century Qing reports of villagers in Liaoning show that they did not consider newborn children fully human, instead regarding life as beginning at some point after the sixth month after birth. The Venetian explorer Marco Polo claimed to have seen newborns exposed in Manzi . Contemporary writers from

2747-859: The development of agriculture during the Neolithic Revolution . A book published in 1981 stated that comparative anthropologists estimated that 50% of female newborn babies may have been killed by their parents during the Paleolithic era. The anthropologist Raymond Dart has interpreted fractures on the skulls of hominid infants (e.g. the Taung Child ) as due to deliberate killing followed by cannibalism , but such explanations are by now considered uncertain and possibly wrong. Children were not necessarily actively killed, but neglect and intentional malnourishment may also have occurred, as proposed by Vicente Lull as an explanation for an apparent surplus of men and

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2814-603: The door of church or abbey, and the clergy was assumed to take care of their upbringing. This practice also gave rise to the first orphanages . However, very high sex ratios were common in even late medieval Europe, which may indicate sex-selective infanticide. The Waldensians , a pre-Reformation medieval Christian sect deemed heretical by the Catholic Church , were accused of participating in infanticide. Judaism prohibits infanticide, and has for some time, dating back to at least early Common Era . Roman historians wrote about

2881-539: The early 20th century said that, "Infanticide does not prevail to the extent so generally believed among us, and in the north, it does not exist at all." Gender-selected abortion or sex identification (without medical uses ), abandonment, and infanticide are illegal in present-day mainland China. Nevertheless, the US State Department , and the human rights organization Amnesty International have all declared that mainland China's family planning programs, called

2948-525: The forest. "It was the custom of the [Teutonic] pagans, that if they wanted to kill a son or daughter, they would be killed before they had been given any food." Usually children born out of wedlock were disposed of that way. In his highly influential Pre-historic Times , John Lubbock described burnt bones indicating the practice of child sacrifice in pagan Britain. The last canto, Marjatan poika (Son of Marjatta), of Finnish national epic Kalevala describes assumed infanticide. Väinämöinen orders

3015-738: The high number of infanticides and out-of-wedlock births. The Hospital of the Holy Spirit in Rome was founded by Pope Innocent III because women were throwing their infants into the Tiber river . Unlike other European regions, in the Middle Ages the German mother had the right to expose the newborn. In the High Middle Ages, abandoning unwanted children finally eclipsed infanticide. Unwanted children were left at

3082-501: The ideas and customs of other peoples, which often diverged from their own. Tacitus recorded that the Jews "take thought to increase their numbers, for they regard it as a crime to kill any late-born children". Josephus , whose works give an important insight into 1st-century Judaism, wrote that God "forbids women to cause abortion of what is begotten, or to destroy it afterward". In his book Germania , Tacitus wrote in 98  CE that

3149-477: The infant bastard son of Marjatta to be drowned in a marsh . The Íslendingabók , the main source for the early history of Iceland , recounts that on the Conversion of Iceland to Christianity in 1000 it was provided – in order to make the transition more palatable to Pagans – that "the old laws allowing exposure of newborn children will remain in force". However, this provision – among other concessions made at

3216-540: The literature record and in legal documents. According to William Lecky , exposure in the early Middle Ages , as distinct from other forms of infanticide, "was practiced on a gigantic scale with absolute impunity, noticed by writers with most frigid indifference and, at least in the case of destitute parents, considered a very venial offence". However the first foundling house in Europe was established in Milan in 787 on account of

3283-404: The male children of Israelites (see 2:49 ; 7:127 ; 7:141 ; 14:6 ; 28:4 ; 40:25 ). Infanticide may have been practiced as human sacrifice, as part of the pagan cult of Perun . Ibn Fadlan describes sacrificial practices at the time of his trip to Kiev Rus (present-day Ukraine) in 921–922, and describes an incident of a woman voluntarily sacrificing her life as part of a funeral rite for

3350-450: The most notorious example in the ancient world . A frequent method of infanticide in ancient Europe and Asia was simply to abandon the infant , leaving it to die by exposure (i.e., hypothermia , hunger, thirst, or animal attack). On at least one island in Oceania , infanticide was carried out until the 20th century by suffocating the infant, while in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica and in

3417-414: The murder. The village is ready to exact immediate justice against Jenůfa, but the Kostelnička calms them and says that the crime is hers. Hearing the whole story, Jenůfa forgives her stepmother. The crowd takes the Kostelnička off to jail. Jenůfa and Laca are left alone. Jenůfa asks Laca to leave her, as she cannot expect him to marry her now. He replies that he will not leave her, and that he wishes to spend

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3484-465: The peninsula in pre-Islamic times. Infanticide is explicitly prohibited by the Qur'an . "And do not kill your children for fear of poverty; We give them sustenance and yourselves too; surely to kill them is a great wrong." Together with polytheism and homicide , infanticide is regarded as a grave sin (see 6:151 and 60:12 ). Infanticide is also implicitly denounced in the story of Pharaoh's slaughter of

3551-475: The perpetrator returns. In some cases, a citizen of another jurisdiction outside its own, can be extradited to a jurisdiction in which the crime is illegal even if it was not committed in that jurisdiction. Unitary state are usually single jurisdictions, but the United Kingdom is a notable exception since it has three separate jurisdictions because of its three separate legal systems . Also, China has

3618-471: The poor were left with the option of either entering the workhouse , turning to prostitution, resorting to infanticide, or choosing abortion. By the middle of the century infanticide was common for social reasons, such as illegitimacy, and the introduction of child life insurance additionally encouraged some women to kill their children for gain. Examples include Mary Ann Cotton , who murdered many of her 15 children as well as three husbands; Margaret Waters ,

3685-438: The responsibility away from the parents because the child would die of natural causes, for example, hunger, asphyxiation or exposure to the elements. The practice was prevalent in ancient Rome , as well. Philo was the first known philosopher to speak out against it. A letter from a Roman citizen to his sister, or a pregnant wife from her husband, dating from 1  BCE , demonstrates the casual nature with which infanticide

3752-576: The rest of his life with her. Notes Sources Infanticide Note: Varies by jurisdiction Note: Varies by jurisdiction Infanticide (or infant homicide ) is the intentional killing of infants or offspring. Infanticide was a widespread practice throughout human history that was mainly used to dispose of unwanted children, its main purpose being the prevention of resources being spent on weak or disabled offspring. Unwanted infants were usually abandoned to die of exposure, but in some societies they were deliberately killed. Infanticide

3819-667: The role of women in society was defined by motherhood, and it was thought that any woman who murdered her own child was by definition insane and could not be held responsible for her actions. Several cases were subsequently highlighted during the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment 1864–66 , as a particular felony where an effective avoidance of the death penalty had informally begun. The New Poor Law Act of 1834 ended parish relief for unmarried mothers and allowed fathers of illegitimate children to avoid paying for "child support". Unmarried mothers then received little assistance, and

3886-421: The streets. Another 250 were suffocated, half of them not recorded as accidental deaths. The report noted that "infancy in London has to creep into life in the midst of foes." Recording a birth as a still-birth was also another way of concealing infanticide because still-births did not need to be registered until 1926 and they did not need to be buried in public cemeteries. In 1895 The Sun (London) published

3953-620: The time to the Pagans – was abolished some years later. Christianity explicitly rejects infanticide. The Teachings of the Apostles or Didache said "thou shalt not kill a child by abortion , neither shalt thou slay it when born". The Epistle of Barnabas stated an identical command, both thus condemning both abortion and infanticide. Apologists Tertullian , Athenagoras , Minucius Felix , Justin Martyr and Lactantius also maintained that exposing

4020-524: The work to the memory of his daughter Olga (d. 1903), as he did his choral composition the Elegy on the Death of Daughter Olga . The plot depends on a tangled set of village relationships. Before the opera begins, the mill-owner Grandmother Buryja had two sons. The elder married the widow of a man named Klemeň, became stepfather to her son Laca, and had a son of his own with her, Števa. The younger married twice, and had

4087-584: Was Rebecca Smith , who was hanged in Wiltshire in 1849. The Infant Life Protection Act of 1897 required local authorities to be notified within 48 hours of changes in custody or the death of children under seven years. Under the Children's Act of 1908 "no infant could be kept in a home that was so unfit and so overcrowded as to endanger its health, and no infant could be kept by an unfit nurse who threatened, by neglect or abuse, its proper care, and maintenance." As of

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4154-466: Was not considered to be murder; moreover, the exposed child technically had a chance of being rescued by the gods or any passersby. This very situation was a recurring motif in Greek mythology . To notify the neighbors of a birth of a child, a woolen strip was hung over the front door to indicate a female baby and an olive branch to indicate a boy had been born. Families did not always keep their new child. After

4221-415: Was often viewed: In some periods of Roman history it was traditional for a newborn to be brought to the pater familias , the family patriarch , who would then decide whether the child was to be kept and raised, or left to die by exposure. The Twelve Tables of Roman law obliged him to put to death a child that was visibly deformed. The concurrent practices of slavery and infanticide contributed to

4288-456: Was perceived as barbarous and unlucky and efforts were made to hide or kill one or both twins. Female infanticide of newborn girls was systematic in feudatory Rajputs in South Asia for illegitimate female children during the Middle Ages. According to Firishta , as soon as the illegitimate female child was born she was held "in one hand, and a knife in the other, that any person who wanted

4355-465: Was smothering the baby's mouth and nose with wet paper. It became common as a method of population control. Farmers would often kill their second or third sons. Daughters were usually spared, as they could be married off, sold off as servants or prostitutes, or sent off to become geishas . Mabiki persisted in the 19th century and early 20th century. According to one estimate, at least 97% of homicide victims in Japan in 1900 were newborns. To bear twins

4422-538: Was well-received, first in Prague , and particularly after its Vienna première also worldwide. More than 70 years passed before audiences again heard it in Janáček's original version. Janáček wrote an overture to the opera, but decided not to use it. It was partly based on a song called Žárlivec ( The jealous man ). It is now performed as a concert piece under the title Žárlivost ( Jealousy ), JW 6/10. The composer dedicated

4489-453: Was widely practiced in ancient Greece . It was advocated by Aristotle in the case of congenital deformity: "As to the exposure of children, let there be a law that no deformed child shall live." In Greece, the decision to expose a child was typically the father's, although in Sparta the decision was made by a group of elders. Exposure was the preferred method of disposal, as that act in itself

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