Why were the methods of infanticide in the past (such as the Spartan chasm) so painful?

by Old_Satisfaction9236

Hi.

Smothering would have been the most merciful method to have killed an infant so what's with these "facts" about these horrible deaths (and I'd think that people in the past would have understood that suffocation caused death)? Were they made up by rival nations to smear the reputation of those societies?

Thank you.

EdHistory101

There's always more that can be said, but you might find these posts by /u/iphikrates around the inaccurate history of Spartan child abandonment useful and interesting!