A STUDY OF THE HISTORY OF CHILD-ABUSE

Abstract

From ancient times to the present, many societies have practiced child abuse for various reasons. In this study, documents related to child abuse, scriptures, publications on medical history, ethics, sociology, anthropology, art history, mosaics in the Kariye Museum, and pictures from the Topkap1 Museum in Istanbul were reviewed. The first miniature picture of an albino "Zal" was found and his story is presented briefly, and a mosaic representation of the story of the nationwide infanticide of King Herod was found in the ceiling of the Kariye Museum in Istanbul. It can be concluded that the abuse of female infants, illegitimate children, and malformed neonates was predominant. According to the results of this study, pediatric surgeons can benefit from a look at the history of child abuse in order to handle this problem adequately.