Adoption in the United States has a long history, and it is a history of progress. From casual arrangements that were sometimes more like indentured servitude than like family relationships to modern adoption law, which focuses on the best interests of the child and also protects adoptive and birth parents equally, American adoption has learned from the past and grown into a supportive and empowering process. Ancient adoptions were quite different — but they certainly took place.
Some examples have stronger evidence than others, but adoptions have been part of human history since the first records were kept — and probably before. Once writing was developed, we almost immediately began to have records of ancient adoptions.
Sargon
Sargon the Great was an early king of Mesopotamia, approximately in the location of modern-day Iraq. His birth date is unknown, but historians say that her was the ruler of Mesopotamia from about 2334 to 2279 BC. The legend of his birth was found on cuneiform tablets by archaeologists in the 1800s. It said, “My mother conceived me in secret, she gave birth to me in concealment. She set me in a basket of rushes, She sealed the lid with tar. She cast me into the river…The water carried me to Akki, the drawer of water. He lifted me out as he dipped his jar into the river. He took me as his son, he raised me.”
While the record doesn’t use a word we could translate as “adoption,” the fact that Akki took Sargon as his son and raised him makes the relationship clear. This is one of the earliest written histories in the world. While it doesn’t use a special word for adoption, it also doesn’t give a detailed explanation of the idea. The writer must have expected readers to understand this relationship.
Moses
In Exodus 2:1-10, we can read about the birth of Moses. Traditionally, his birth is out at around 1390 BC, in Egypt where the Israelites were enslaved. His mother put him in a basket sealed with tar and pitch and put him in the river to save him from the Pharoah’s plan to kill all Hebrew boy babies. The Pharoah’s daughter went down to the river to bathe and saw him. Realizing that he was a Hebrew baby and feeling sorry for him, she adopted him. Acts 7:21 confirms this, saying that “Pharaoh’s daughter adopted and raised him as her own son.”
The Bible has other examples of adoption, especially Romans 8:15, which says that “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, we become his children and call him our Father. This and other similar passages show that the word “adoption” meant in those days what it means now: becoming the child of the adoptive parent.
Octavian
The Roman Emperor Octavian was adopted by his uncle, Julius Caesar, in 44 BC. Unlike the infants Sargon and Moses, this was an adult adoption. The great Emperor Julius Caesar had no heirs, so he adopted his nephew Gaius Octavius, who was 19, and made him heir to the position of Emperor.
Adopting a young adult to clarify an inheritance has also been a common form of adoption even into modern times. In fact, the first legal adoption in America came about when Massachusetts Governor Sir William Phips adopted his nephew Spencer.
Zhu Houcong
Imperial China also saw adoptions by emperors without heirs. Imperial China stretched from 221 BC to 1912 AD, and both customs and laws about adoption changed during that time, but one example was Zhu Houcong, who became emperor in 1521 AD. While 1521 isn’t the ancient world, this is an example of an individual whose name was recorded. Most ancient Chinese adoptions were not recorded.
In ancient China, the teachings of Confucius required that all adoptions be kinship adoptions, specifically within a single surname. Adoptive parents were not allowed to change the child’s name. But these adoptions were very common. The position of eldest son was very important in a family. If a man did not have sons, it was common for him to adopt the son of a brother so that he would have an heir. Girls were also adopted, either because they had lost their parents or in order to bring up a girl from the same clan (that is, the same surname), to become the bride of a son of the family.
It’s interesting to think about ancient adoptions, but when you are considering adoption in your own family, you need a qualified adoption lawyer. Heimer Law specializes in adoptions. Call us at (479) 225.9725 or fill out our simple form.
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