jeroenrottgering

I once heard the lead poisoning led the Roman Empire to his downfall is this true and why?

If it is true the only reason for me would be a shortage of the life expectation, but could that really cause a downfall of an entire Empire?

Naomasa298

This has been mentioned before. I think the consensus is that it's about as credible as the theory of an outbreak of homosexuality bringing the empire down.

Knarly Dan

The notion has long intrigued me. Romans used lead in the production of pottery, jugs, etc. Water pipes were often made of lead. Lead in powdered form was even used to flavor wine.

Lead's toxic effects are well known now, but Romans were blithely ingesting the stuff on a daily basis all their lives, including those famous multi-course, hours-long meals the upper class was fond of. So it seems like lead poisoning would have significantly impacted Rome's population, its decision makers, army, etc., especially over a long period of time.

Cicero

This has the sam efascination for me as well. Chronic lead toxcity could have been a contributing factor, btu nto the only or likely the most important one.

Some serious considerations of the issue.

Lead Poisoning: A Historical Perspective | EPA History | US EPA


ROMAN EMPIRE'S FALL IS LINKED WITH GOUT AND LEAD POISONING - NYTimes.com

Clemmie

And possibly other civilizations as well:

Children's research part of Shang Dynasty lead poisoning documentary

Knarly Dan

From the second link: 'Not only did the Romans drink legendary amounts of wine, he noted, but they flavored their wines with a syrup made from simmered grape juice that was brewed in lead pots. The syrup was also used as a sweetener in many recipes favored by Roman gourmands.

''One teaspoon of such syrup would have been more than enough to cause chronic lead poisoning,'' Dr. Nriagu said.

Adaptation

Haha lol. The only problem with an ''outbreak'' of homosexuality, is that romans didn't make enough kids and all they tend to do all day is have sex(STD's rampant obviously).
Not that there's anything wrong with that!(seinfeld)

Back to topic - its very probably that the lead poisoning had a strong effect, however to say that it is ''the main source of the downfall'' is a bit strong, just like gibbon blames all on christianity, christianity blames all on sexuality. I always like to see it as a mix of all things. Another issue is that i don't recall having seen major experiments on what lead poisoning does to mental aptitude. Im sure it does affect an individual, but i would like to see to what extent.

Salah

I think this is one of the silliest theories I've ever heard. Considering most of the Empire's population outside of the biggest cities didn't drink out of lead pipes, and considering that those who did drank out of them for centuries before the fall of Rome, well...common sense

sylla1

The caveats of these "lead hypotheses" are ostensibly shared by many other on the same topic, where even the minimal correlation is abusively equated with causation.

E.g. to begin with it is usually unclear what is understood by each of the involved authors as the "Fall of Rome" (i.e. the administrative collapse of the Western Empire or the cultural collapse of the Classical civilization on both sides); the exact mechanisms that may have affected the whole Roman state & culture are usually not detailed; and when they are, hard evidence simply don't follow.

And first and foremost, chronological correlation is actually entirely lacking here ...

The following figure (or a similar one) has been posted several times within several threads all along Historum by our Guaporense:

World production of lead, estimated from Greenland ice cores.

It's easy to verifiy that the pattern is exactly the opposite that would have been expected from any of the "lead hypotheses"; i.e. the lead production (and exposure) actually peaked at the acme of the Roman Empire (Augustus Age); by the late V century AD it had been already exponentially reduced from long ago.

General Michael Collins

I agree 110%, as my football manager says.