[Magdalen] praising the Liberal Arts

[sally.davies at gmail.com]

I remember reading somewhere that the only society routinely practicing
polyandry is one so miserable that they sacrifice female babies, leaving a
deficit when the children grow up. Men "share" a woman but it's not as
though she has any social or economic  power whatsoever.  Somewhere in
Southern Asia?

We don;t have to go back so far to find shortages of men due to losses in
war...
Human being are a sad lot

Sally D

On Fri, 01 Jun 2018 at 11:32 PM Ann Markle <ann.markle at aya.yale.edu> wrote:

> I see. Agreed, though the literature you cite is from the Middle East, not
> primarily Europe per se (and my assumption is they’re referring to northern
> and western Europe, which may be incorrect). The curious/surprising thing
> to me was the 17:1 woman/man ratio, and how that was deduced by reading the
> human genome. It makes it surprising that polygamy developed (though again,
> not in northern and western Europe — in fact, maybe that’s why it DIDN’T
> develop there!): polyandry would make a lot more sense!
>
> On Fri, Jun 1, 2018 at 3:18 PM ME Michaud <michaudme at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > The Old Testament is full of just the sort of thing the scientists are
> > describing.
> > People moving from one area to another,
> > along with their families and livestock,
> > conquering cities,
> > killing the residents (or at least the men).
> > Sometimes in battle.
> > Sometimes by stealth.
> >
> > Nearly all of ancient literature is about war and occupation.
> >
> > And here are these scientists surprised to discover (in their study of
> > genetics)
> > that loads and loads of men died just as history was about to be born.
> >
> > If they’d done their undergraduate reading they wouldn’t have been
> > surprised at all.
> > -M
> >
> > On Friday, June 1, 2018, Ann Markle <ann.markle at aya.yale.edu> wrote:
> >
> > > Margaret, I'm trying to puzzle out what you mean here, but I just
> > can't.  I
> > > hate to be so dim, but could you say a little more?
> > >
> > > Ann
> > >
> > > The Rev. Ann Markle
> > > Buffalo, NY
> > > ann.markle at aya.yale.edu
> > >
> > > On Fri, Jun 1, 2018 at 10:44 AM, ME Michaud <michaudme at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > > I just read a news article that says that seven thousand years ago
> wars
> > > had
> > > > so reduced the male population that there was only one man living for
> > > every
> > > > seventeen women.
> > > >
> > > > Apparently these people have never read the Old Testament.
> > > > Or the Bhagavad Gita.
> > > > Hello Philip of Macedon. Hello Alexander the Great.
> > > > Homer? That guy on the Simpsons?
> > > > There was a time when epic was a noun.
> > > > -M
> > > >
> > >
> >
> --
> Ann
>
> The Rev. Ann Markle
> Buffalo, NY
> www.onewildandpreciouslife.typepad.com
>