page_title: List of orphans and foundlings
section_title: Europe
hierarchical_section_title: List of orphans and foundlings / Figures from classical history and religious scripture / Europe
caption_attribution_description: Painting; Paintings
context_page_description: Notable orphans and foundlings include world leaders, celebrated writers, entertainment greats, figures in science and business, as well as innumerable fictional characters in literature and comics. While the exact definition of orphan and foundlings varies, one legal definition is a child bereft through "death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, or separation or loss from, both parents". According to the United Nations, the definition of an orphan is anyone that loses one parent, either through death or abandonment.
context_section_description: Aristotle, Greek philosopher and scientist, orphaned in early childhood
  Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome
  Britannicus, son of the Roman emperor Claudius and his third wife Valeria Messalina
  Caligula, Roman emperor in AD 37–41
  Cato the Younger, Roman Republic, left an orphan and raised by his uncle
  Hadrian, Roman emperor
  Juba II, king of Numidia and then later moved to Mauretania and his wife Cleopatra Selene II
  Julian, Roman Emperor and philosopher
  Oedipus, mythical Greek king, abandoned on a mountain
  Pancras, Roman religious figure
  Galla Placidia, major force in Roman politics
  Romulus and Remus, traditional founders of Ancient Rome, orphaned in infancy
  Sulla, Roman general and statesman
  Lucius Verus, Roman Emperor
caption: Oedipus
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