NUMA POMPILIUS

Surveying and property lines were very important in the Roman society.

This is very surprising to most modern observers. If a pregnant woman died, there were in some cases those in the family who were just as happy that she passed away before the child was born as the laws of inheritance and succession were dependent on which children lived. The father might be away, and someone would not want a new or another heir, might just bury the pregnant woman. The Romans actually had some very sophisticated medical skills. Julius Caesar, for example, was born via what we today call a “Ceasarean Section.” If a pregnant woman was close term, and she dies, the Romans had the skill to do a C Section on the dead woman and could sometimes save the baby. That ancient Romans considered the fetus as a potential life, is sometimes used by anti abortion forces. However, if they do their research, they would find that Roman law allowed abortions. The decision however had to be the mother’s and the father’s. What this law did is to preserve the possibility of the fetus’s being born alive with surgery when the mother was dead and the father might not be near.

Surveying and property lines were very important in the Roman society.

This is very surprising to most modern observers. If a pregnant woman died, there were in some cases those in the family who were just as happy that she passed away before the child was born as the laws of inheritance and succession were dependent on which children lived. The father might be away, and someone would not want a new or another heir, might just bury the pregnant woman. The Romans actually had some very sophisticated medical skills. Julius Caesar, for example, was born via what we today call a “Ceasarean Section.” If a pregnant woman was close term, and she dies, the Romans had the skill to do a C Section on the dead woman and could sometimes save the baby. That ancient Romans considered the fetus as a potential life, is sometimes used by anti abortion forces. However, if they do their research, they would find that Roman law allowed abortions. The decision however had to be the mother’s and the father’s. What this law did is to preserve the possibility of the fetus’s being born alive with surgery when the mother was dead and the father might not be near.