Sorry, we don't allow throughout history questions. These tend to produce threads which are collections of trivia, not the in-depth discussions about a particular topic we're looking for. If you have a specific question about a historical event or period or person, please feel free to re-compose your question and submit it again.

hi! somehow this topic has evaded the FAQ! Not discouraging more input, but here are a whole bunch o' threads on incest in history

general:

• What are the historical origins of incest as a taboo? Was incest always taboo? If not, how did it become taboo? What were the historical arguments for / against the practice of incest?

• How did incest in mythology interact with the way incest was viewed in those cultures?

• I've once heard an anthropologist claim that every human society ever had a taboo on incest. I know that there were some. Dry strict laws regarding incest in many places in the past. Were ancient peoples really so aware of the genetic effects of incest?

• Was there a society in which incest was not taboo?

• Brother-Sister Marriage

• Was an incestuous relationship ever culturally acceptable in history?

• What was the common view of incest during your period of history?

specific examples:

• What were the Sumerians' views on incest?

• How did the Ptolemies of Egypt interbreed so often without having offspring with genetic diseases or deformities?

• Why did the Egyptian and Hawaiian kingdoms not suffer from the Hapsburg problem of inbreeding to infertility? Was the inter-family marriages of Egypt and/or Hawaii more symbolic than actual?

• During Medieval Europe, how taboo was incest and homosexuality comparatively, and to what extent if at all?

• Incest in Medieval European Villages

• How bad a problem was inbreeding among European nobility between 1000 and 1800? Are there any other cases as bad as Charles II of Spain, or was he an extreme outlier?

• Were the Habsburgs aware about the dangers of inbreeding?

• Did the Hapsburgs have any clue that their marriage traditions were weakening their lineage?