# Social programs in ancient societies **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 22, 2017, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-programs-in-ancient-societies/777856 "2017-01-22T19:16:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-programs-in-ancient-societies/777856/1 "2017-01-22T19:16:51Z")
How much is known about social programs in ancient societies? When did they first start appearing? I would include education in this but also programs for the disabled, old, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-programs-in-ancient-societies/777856/2 "2017-01-22T19:26:14Z")
not ancient, but the pirate codes had provisions where if someone lost an arm or a leg or was injured they would get a lump sum payment to help them live. It was a sort of disability system. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-programs-in-ancient-societies/777856/3 "2017-01-22T19:33:36Z")
According to [Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cura_Annonae#Politics_and_the_grain_supply), the Roman dole began in 58 BC. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-programs-in-ancient-societies/777856/4 "2017-01-22T19:34:56Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > How much is known about social programs in ancient societies? When did they first start appearing? I would include education in this but also programs for the disabled, old, etc. Bread and circuses, in Rome from the 2nd century BC onward. Free basic food rations for Roman citizens, and free entertainment. That was all there was in the way of social services, but it was more than existed in any other ancient society. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-programs-in-ancient-societies/777856/5 "2017-01-22T19:56:15Z")
The Old Testament forbids landowners from taking a second pass through harvesting their fields so that the poor and hungry could glean the remaining and dropped grain. While not a formalized welfare program, it was intended to help feed those in poverty. Edit: I’ve also ready of Temple-enforced taxes in ancient Judaic times to go towards a charity fund. I’m hesitant to post cites since most places I’ve seen it are Christian sites talking about how Jesus rebuked this or that tradition so I’m not sure of the bias but perhaps one of our more knowledgeable posters can give a more scholarly opinion on it. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-programs-in-ancient-societies/777856/6 "2017-01-22T20:03:01Z")
\*\* Philanthropy in ancient times: some early examples from the Mediterranean\*\* [http://sofii.org/article/philanthropy-in-ancient-times-some-early-examples-from-the-mediterranean](http://sofii.org/article/philanthropy-in-ancient-times-some-early-examples-from-the-mediterranean) ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2017, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-programs-in-ancient-societies/777856/7 "2017-01-22T23:41:10Z")
Royal and temple bureaucracies probably throughout history have conducted various “social-program” activities. Babylonian temples made [loans to slaves to enable them to buy their freedom](https://books.google.com/books?id=aASnQujNgzoC&pg=PA27&lpg=PA27&dq=temple+of+Marduk+grain+for+the+poor&source=bl&ots=dM2T4AwUuv&sig=SAJUW976q8WXuRi6y93uf5M5ubo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiV-LGN89bRAhVX5mMKHRVmCSkQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=temple%20of%20Marduk%20grain%20for%20the%20poor&f=false), and lent money to the poor at zero interest. Social services often took the form not of subsidizing costs, but of restricting prices. For example, while we think of medical costs as being market-determined (or quasi-market-determined) and partly subsidized by the government for poor people, an ancient law code might have specified differential pricing in the amounts that doctors were allowed to charge different classes of patients. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/social-programs-in-ancient-societies/777856/8 "2017-01-23T07:10:36Z")
From what I recall from introduction to anthropology courses, redistribution of resources (food) goes back to before organized states. [Chiefdoms and States](http://anthro.palomar.edu/political/pol_3.htm): > [@Dr. Dennis O'Neil](#): > > Chiefdoms are similar to bands and tribes in being mostly classless societies. However, chiefdoms differ in having a more or less permanent, fulltime leader with real authority to make major decisions for their societies. These leaders are usually referred to by anthropologists as chiefs. Sometimes there is an advisory council as well, but there is no bureaucracy of professional administrators. The government is essentially just the chief… > > Chiefs and their families generally have a higher standard of living than ordinary people. What makes this possible is that chiefs usually perform a society-wide economic redistribution function that, in some cases, is cloaked in the guise of ritual gift giving. This essentially siphons off surplus agricultural products from farmers and then redistributes them throughout the society. In the process, a small amount is held back in order to support the chief’s more lavish lifestyle. The ritualized redistribution of surplus food and other commodities in chiefdoms is, in a sense, the rudimentary beginnings of a taxation system. It is probably tolerated by people because of the economic advantages that it can provide in addition to social stability. The larger territorial size of chiefdoms often encompasses diverse environmental zones with somewhat different products. The redistribution of surpluses can serve as a method of providing security in times of crop failures as well as greater food variety for the populace as a whole. For instance, a farmer may give up some of his crop but get different kinds of food in return along with enhanced status. For even earlier societies like [bands](http://anthro.palomar.edu/political/glossary.htm#band), we’re basically talking about extended families, so “social programs” would consist of sharing your food with your kinfolk. When chiefdoms transition to full-fledged states–especially centralized states controlling irrigation systems–then the state would have a role in collecting and redistributing agricultural surpluses from the very start; that of course consolidates the power of the king over the farmers, but it can also mean the farmers don’t starve to death if they have a bad crop or two. (Without necessarily accepting it as a historically accurate account, [Genesis, chapter 41](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+41&version=NIV) tells a story of an ancient government collecting surplus food during the good years to make sure everyone doesn’t starve in the bad years, so it’s certainly an old idea–although the text does note that having “take[n] a fifth of the harvest” during the good years, Pharaoh/Joseph sell the people their own surplus food back when the famine hits rather than just giving it away. Old Pharaoh gets you coming and going I guess.)