The spirit of social solidarity began with the Minoan food for the poor and continued with the Spartans, while in Roman times Trajan enacted the law lex alimentaria, which provided for the free feeding of needy children.
It was not the Spartans who invented this institution, for similar efforts had preceded it in Greece, beginning with the Minoan common meals for poor people which flourished several centuries earlier. Each citizen in the wealthy Cretan cities gave 1/10 of his produce to the institution, and under the guidance of a woman, it was made into food, which was distributed to the common meals. Adult citizens, seated on large benches, drank watery wine and received exactly the same amount of food. But the woman in charge could reward someone's military or social virtue by choosing the best portion for them. The children were offered half the amount - with the exception of the orphans, who received it in full, without the obligation to deposit goods or money.
About two centuries after the -critical- reforms of Lycurgus, it was Athens' turn to establish common meals. To rid the city of the epidemic caused by Cylon Agos Solonas summoned the seer, lawgiver, and healer Epimenides from Crete. After cleansing the city, he offered his advice to the Athenian sage, who reflected the Cretan conception of the ideal way to govern a state. Thus the great work of legislative reform was born, which, thanks to laws, relieved the weaker economic classes and led Athens to its golden age. It was also at this time that the free, poor men's food of cheese, bread, olives and legumes was introduced in the Rectorate. Later the term "feeding in the rectorate" meant the honorary provide of food for life, usually for a distinguished general.
A few centuries later, the Romans also organized common meals for the citizens. Efforts were made to help orphans with food and clothin which, of course, were plentiful because of incessant wars. In fact, the care of the "alimantari", the children of the very poor but necessarily free families, was usually not taken over by the state, but by wealthy patricians who wanted to increase their popularity with it, "hungry" as they were for public office.
For things to change permanently, Emperor Trajan, also called "Optimus," had to rise to the highest office (98-117 AD), that is, to be distinguished, for he did not inherit the right to rule, but was chosen as the best. Not only did he erect magnificent buildings, build roads and aqueducts, and promote agriculture, but he truly ruled with humanity. Of particular note is the law he enacted, lex alimentaria, which provided free food for needy children until they reached adulthood (from age 3 to 14 for girls and to 16 for boys). It spread rapidly to other cities except for Rome (in that first year at least 1,000 children were fed daily) and was maintained until the middle of the 3rd century AD. It was not, however, merely a consequence of the emperor's charitable disposition, but was also aimed, as he notes somewhere, at filling the state with honest citizens and - what else? - strong soldiers. In other words, the circle with the orphans never closes.
