3. TIL black people in ancient Rome were not discriminated against because of their...

TIL black people in ancient Rome were not discriminated against because of their skin colour or physical features. They were not excluded from any profession and there was no stigma against mixed race relationships. Classical writers did not attach social status or degree of humanity to skin colour.

Okay, random guy on the Internet. It's not like we have 2000+ years of intense historical study of one of the most famous civilizations of all time or anything...

http://www.duhaime.org/LegalDictionary/J/JusVitaeNecisque.aspx

"The Roman law of persons provided for the patria potestas, the power of the father, about which Gaius wrote in the first century A.D. It included jus vitae necisque, the power of life and death, and, a fortiori, of uncontrolled corporal chastisement over wife, children, and other family members."

Stone, Christopher D., Should Trees Have Standing - Toward Legal Rights for Natural Objects, 45 S. Cal. L. Rev. 450 (1972)

"... jus vitae necisque - the power of life and death-over his children.... he had power of uncontrolled corporal chastisement; he can modify their personal condition at pleasure; he can give a wife to his son; he can give his daughter in marriage; he can divorce his children of either sex; he can transfer them to another family by adoption; and he can sell them. The child was less than a person: an object, a thing."

And yes, it was a real thing:

245 A.U.C. L. Junius Brutus put his sons to death (Plut. Popl. 6, 7).

531-536 A.U.C. M. Fabius Bruteo put his son to death as a punishment for theft (Oros. 4.13).

691 A.U.C. A. Fulvius Nobilior inflicted the punishment of death on his son for taking part in the Catiline conspiracy (V. Max. 5.8, 5; Sal. Cat. 39; D. C. 37.36).

Pontius Aufidianus put his daughter to death for immorality (V. Max. 6.1, 3); as did also P. Alilius Philiscus (V. Max. 6.1, 6).

A father, named Tricho, put his son to death (Sen. de Clem. 1.15, 1).

This is not something specific to the Romans, either. Both Sunni and Shia Islamic texts prohibit punishment of fathers who kill their children:

Sunni Islam:

The following are not subject to retaliation:

A father or mother (or their fathers or mothers) for killing their offspring, or offspring’s offspring

Shia Islam:

Conditions of retaliation

The slayer is not the father of the slain, nor the parental grandfather

Article 220 of the Iranian Criminal Code states:

“[If a father] or his male ancestors kill their children, they will not be prosecuted for murder.”

Honor killings are still happening today.

Within 72 hours of each other, a 12 y.o. girl and a 13 y.o. girl were recently killed in Pakistan.

/r/todayilearned Thread Parent Link - en.wikipedia.org
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