In ancient times, a method of infanticide or at least child abandonment was to leave infants in a wild place, either to die due to hypothermia, hunger, thirst, or animal attack, or perhaps to be collected and brought up by those unable to produce their own children. Mythological This form of child abandonment is a recurring theme in mythology, especially among hero births. Some examples include: Sargon, King of Akkad – exposed to the river. Karna – exposed to the river. Tang Sanzang – exposed to the river on a wooden plank. The historical person he is based on never suffered such a fate. Moses – exposed to the river Nile on a basket. Oedipus – exposed in the mountains. Paris – exposed at the top of Mount Ida. Zāl – exposed in the Alborz mountains. Telephus – exposed on Mount Parthenion. Atalanta – exposed on Mount Parthenion. Perseus – boxed and cast into the sea with his mother, Danaë. Gilgamesh – thrown from the acropolis. Romulus and Remus – exposed in a tub to the Tiber River. Siegfried – exposed in a glass vessel to the river. Ken Arok, Javanese king – exposed to the river. Momotarō (桃太郎, "Peach Boy") – found inside of a giant peach, floating down a river. Mess Búachalla - exposed to wild beasts. Following exposure, the infants commonly died or were taken by slavers. Sparta According to Plutarch, in his "The Life of Lycurgus: 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. However, this story has little other literary support. Modern excavations at the spot have found only adult human bones – it may have been used as a place for execution of criminals. Early Middle Ages During the Early Middle Ages in Europe, the History of European Morals (1869)