“Ancient Spartans practiced infanticide by throwing weak or deformed newborns off cliffs.”

“Offspring was not reared at the will of the father, but was taken and carried by him to a place called Lesche, where the elders of the tribes officially examined the infant, and if it was well-built and sturdy, they ordered the father to rear it, and assigned it one of the nine thousand lots of land; but if it was ill-born and deformed, they sent it to the so-called Apothetae, a chasm-like place at the foot of Mount Taÿgetus, in the conviction that the life of that which nature had not well equipped at the very beginning for health and strength, was of no advantage either to itself or the state.” Plutarch is the only source that reports this practice of Spartan infanticide, and some scholars have doubted the veracity of this claim.

Amazingly, archaeologists have discovered and excavated the Apothetae, the pit described by Plutarch. During the excavation they identified 46 human bodies dating from the sixth and fifth centuries BC. The problem with this physical evidence is that not one of the bodies was under the age of 18, it has been suggested that these are the bodies of criminals, traitors, or prisoners. So archaeologists have found the pit, but no evidence of child remains.

Infanticide was a disturbingly common act in the ancient world, but in Sparta this practice was organized and managed by the state. All Spartan infants were brought before a council of inspectors and examined for physical defects, and those who weren't up to standards were left to die. The ancient historian Plutarch claimed these “ill-born” Spartan babies were tossed into a chasm at the foot of Mount Taygetus, but most historians now dismiss this as a myth.

Much of the Greek infanticide myth comes from the Life of Lycurgus biography, written by the famous Greek philosopher Plutarch around 100 AD. He wrote that ancient Spartans submitted their new-born children to inspections before a council of elders. Plutarch's other historical works reference a Spartan king who was born lame and disabled but proved to be an able and competent leader despite his disabilities.

archaeologist Debby Sneed of California State University, Long Beach, suggests that abandoning disabled infants was not an accepted practice in ancient Greek culture, contrary to a description of the Spartan assessment of newborns by a council of elders written by Plutarch some 700 years later... “We have plenty of evidence of people actively not killing infants, and no evidence that they did,” Sneed concluded.

The tradition of Spartan infanticide has its roots in Plutarch, who specifically describes this cruel custom (Lycurgus: 16), but I personally have number problems with the way the custom is handled in modern literature. First, of course, is the simple fact that the alleged site of these murders on Taygetos has indeed revealed many skeletons – but only of adult males not infants.

Plutarch, who was born in the first century AD and is noted for a series of biographies called Parallel Lives, noted how the ancient Spartans (a nation known for its warfare prowess) would take lowborn, deformed, or weak babies and essentially kill them by casting them away. Recently, researchers have analyzed those remains, noting that they seem to exhibit patterns similar to other areas in the ancient world, finding no evidence of selective infanticide.

Mount Taygetus dominated the skyline of ancient Sparta and inspired fear to any newborn male Spartan. If he was misshapen, though, they took him to Mount Taygetus and threw him into a pit. This popular story (which is almost certainly a myth) was narrated by Plutarch (c. 46 CE-120 CE), a Greek essayist who is known primarily for his Parallel Lives.

The tradition of Spartan infanticide has its roots in Plutarch, who specifically describes this cruel custom (Lycurgus: 16), but I personally have number problems with the way the custom is handled in modern literature. First... is the simple fact that the alleged site of these murders on Taygetos has indeed revealed many skeletons – but only of adult males not infants... Still, neither the lack of infant skeletons nor the singular case of Agesilas II actual refute or disprove Plutarch either. So we must admit the possibility that he is correct.

In Plutarch’s Life of Lycurgus, the ancient writer reports that in Sparta, new-born babies would be taken to a place called Lesche, where they would be examined by the elders of the tribe. If the baby is found to be healthy, the father would be allowed to raise it. On the other hand, children found to be sickly or deformed would be sent to Mount Taygetos, where they were thrown into a chasm called the Apothetae (which means ‘Deposits’). By these means, the Spartans ensured that only healthy individuals had a place in their society.

Plutarch (c. 46–119 CE) in 'Life of Lycurgus' (16) describes Spartan custom: newborns inspected by elders; weak or deformed taken to 'Apothetae' near Taygetus mountain and exposed to die. This is the primary ancient literary source for the claim, written centuries after the Spartan classical period (c. 700–400 BCE). No contemporary Spartan records confirm it.