Thanks for reading! Sources here!

Tuori, Kaius. "Augustus, legislative power, and the power of appearances." Fundamina: A Journal of Legal History 20, no. 2 (2014): 938-945.

Field, James A. "The purpose of the lex Iulia et Papia Poppaea." The Classical Journal 40, no. 7 (1945): 398-416.

Seeing as the right for women to choose decisions regarding pregnancy is under attack, this becomes all the more concerning. Elon’s poor argument seems indicative of his desire to further legislate and remove agency from women, tying their ability to choose to the decline of civilization.

of extreme prosperity.

So, this read of history doesn’t really hold up. But why even bother doing this? Well, Elon seems to suggest that current birth rates are indicative of an ongoing decline. This is disturbing when you take into account Elon’s recent interest in the Trump administration.

and The Social War. Not to mention, the expansion Rome experienced in the centuries leading up to the fall of the Republic was marked by serious conflict in the areas they claimed, which presented real external threats. It seems that these events cannot be characterized as a period

intention of the law.

Elon also seems to suggest that Rome “had no meaningful external threat” and was “very prosperous” which led to a suggested decline in birth rate. Rome, in 50 B.C.E. was experiencing severe strife. In fact, the last five decades were marked by nearly constant slave rebellions

have even interpreted this law as a Eugenic measure, due to the influx of non-Roman slaves imported into the Italian peninsula. It is important to note that there has been doubt cast on this interpretation of the law, though most historians agree that overall population growth was not the primary

Jus trium liberorum (the right of three children). Elon really mischaracterizes the nature and purpose of this law. Recent scholarship has highlighted that this law was mostly an attempt to preserve the size and power of the upper class Senatorial order. Some scholars (sources at end of thread)

Obviously, not all of these results directly address the topic, but that’s still more than enough to say that this is far from an “overlooked” topic.

Next, Elon brings up a law that provided a bonus to any Roman citizen that would have a third child. What I believe he is referring to is

First he claims that Roman birth rates are overlooked by historians. This is flatly wrong, and a quick look at Google Scholar is all you need to disprove this. Searching “Ancient Roman Birth Rates” and limiting the date to the last 25 years of scholarship shows over 19,000 results.