Marathon – 2500 years later

I am going to have to watch these lectures.  They sound very interesting.

I can give you several big flaws in Cartledge's theories which will make you question that ''expert'' part..I am not nearly as famous as he is, yet he failed to answer few of my questions. Most famous one including pederasty issues. He forgot to keep up with the pace of modern research…as did many of them, skipping the 2007 excavations in Sparta, Taygetos range for example, which proved there was no infanticide by throwing babies down the cliff, and that only male prisoners and criminals were killed there..Cartledge did change this traditional view a bit, but not enough for him to grasp the custom of GREEK people leaving VERY sick,DYING children in SACTRED places for the will of Gods.Same thing done until very recently even in Christianity.He is a big expert on archeology of Laconia in general though.P.Krentz is a revelation to me. Especially his Nature of hoplite combat paper..PURE GOLD!And Krentz's Marathon is magnificent as well. Great read, great points...

What Christian society did this?  I have been studying history, particularly European history for over 20 years and have never heard of a Christian society that practiced this custom.  If you are going to make an outlandish claim like that you should probably back it up with some kind of citation.  That definitely does not fall into the category of common knowledge.

It wouldn't matter Scout, Medieval Christians were probably too busy chasing witches, heretics, and running from the bubonic plague to have the time to kill their babies.

I have also never come across stories of Christians abandoning dying babies in sacred places.  The closest I can think of offhand is the moving of plague-stricken people to isolated areas, but those were people of all ages (to my knowledge) and do not think they were “abandoned” to their deaths.

Well it looks the guy won't answer and thus can be safely classified as a roll who just wanted to do a drive-by.  I may change my mind if he comes back but that is my preliminary call.

Maybe the guy just doesn't have enough free time as yourself. Manners and your classification practices aside...European history is a very broad term, so only 20 years of research is not something to brag about. Especially since you obviously did not spend too much time in the Greek section.Anyhow, I should have been more clearer, and maybe make a difference between unwanted and sick and explain myself a bit better. Remember the point of all this is that abandoning of sick or unwanted children was not exclusively Spartan custom, and also that there was no infanticide in Sparta at all. So, for Middle Ages:,,Whereas theologians and clerics preached sparing their lives, newborn abandonment continued as registered in both the literature record and in legal documents.[4] According to William L. Langer, exposure in the Middle Ages "was practiced on gigantic scale with absolute impunity, noticed by writers with most frigid indifference".[43] At the end of the 12th century, notes Richard Trexler, Roman women threw their newborns into the Tiber river in daylight.[44]Unlike other European regions, in the Middle Ages the German mother had the right to expose the newborn.[45] In Gotland, Sweden, children were also sacrificed.[46]In the High Middle Ages, abandoning unwanted children finally eclipsed infanticide. Unwanted children were left at 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.''Boswell, John Eastburn (1984). "Exposition and oblation: the abandonment of children and the ancient and medieval family". American Historical Review 89 (1): 10–33.Langer, William L. (1974). "Infanticide: a historical survey". History of Childhood Quarterly 1 (3): 353–366. PMID 11614564.Trexler, Richard (1973). "Infanticide in Florence: new sources and first results". History of Childhood quarterly 1: 99.Westrup, C.W. (1944). Introduction to Roman Law. London: Oxford University Press. pp. 249.Turville-Petre, Gabriel (1964). Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. pp. 253PS: If we are to speak in street language, what I am willing to do is more of an overkill than a drive-by.

Maybe the guy just doesn't have enough free time as yourself. Manners and your classification practices aside...European history is a very broad term, so only 20 years of research is not something to brag about. Especially since you obviously did not spend too much time in the Greek section.

Careful, pesonal attacks will not be tolerated.  By the way, how much research qualifies someone to bragging rights?  Not what I was doing but now I am curious.

Yeah and apparently I am in no position to question it since I have “only” studied for 20 years.