How Lead (Maybe?) Caused the Downfall of the Roman Empire

Ancient Rome’s emperors did some pretty bizarre stuff—bursting into uncontrollable fits of laughter, appointing a horse as a priest, dressing in animal skins and attacking people… the list goes on. Why did they act this way? Possibly… lead poisoning. In this week’s episode, we unwrap the possibility that lead caused the Roman Empire’s collapse.

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Credits:
Executive Producers:
George Zaidan
Hilary Hudson

Producers:
Andrew Sobey
Elaine Seward

Writer/Host:
Sam Jones, PhD

Scientific consultants:
Leila Duman, PhD
Christopher Holstege, MD
Brianne Raccor, PhD
Sean Scott, PhD

SOURCES
Why ancient Rome kept choosing bizarre and perverted emperors
https://www.vox.com/2015/5/7/8564895/crazy-roman-emperors

Neuronal Calcium Signaling
https://www.cell.com/neuron/comments/S0896-6273(00)80510-3

The cationic (calcium and lead) and enzyme conundrum
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30917763/

Pb Neurotoxicity: Neuropsychological Effects of Lead Toxicity
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3909981/

Lead and Lead Poisoning from Antiquity to Modern Times
https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/23252/V088N3-078.pdf?sequence=1

The Exposure of Some Romano-British Populations to Lead
https://www.jstor.org/stable/26294986?seq=1

Lead in ancient human bones and its relevance to historical developments of social problems with lead
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0048969787903664

Enhanced methods for assessment of the trace element composition of Iron Age bone
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969708002350

The first artificial sweetener poisoned lots of Romans
https://gizmodo.com/the-first-artificial-sweetener-poisoned-lots-of-romans-5877587

Lead Chemistry
https://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/82/lead

Why lead is dangerous, and the damage it does
https://theconversation.com/why-lead-is-dangerous-and-the-damage-it-does-116506

Lead poisoning and health
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lead-poisoning-and-health

Tracking Roman lead sources using lead isotope analysis. A case study from the imperial rural estate at Vagnari (Puglia, Italy)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352409X2100033X?via%3Dihub

Lead between the lines
https://www.nature.com/articles/nchem.1761

Lead in ancient Rome’s city waters
https://www.pnas.org/content/111/18/6594

Lead poisoning and the fall of Rome
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/02/17/lead-poisoning-and-the-fall-of-rome/

Deadly lead: how lead poisoning affected the Roman Empire
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/nr/lead-poisoning-roman-empire-research-italy-archaeology-1.740191

Londinium Romans’ blood lead levels so high they may have lowered birth rates
https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/londinium-romans-blood-lead-levels-so-high-they-may-have-lowered-birth-rates/4010808.article

Lead: Versatile Metal, Long Legacy
https://sites.dartmouth.edu/toxmetal/more-metals/lead-versatile-metal-long-legacy/

Ancient Roman Metal Used for Physics Experiments Ignites Science Feud
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ancient-roman-lead-physics-archaeology-controversy/

ScienceShot: Did Lead Poisoning Bring Down Ancient Rome?
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2014/04/scienceshot-did-lead-poisoning-bring-down-ancient-rome#:~:text=Some%20historians%20argue%20that%20lead,and%20hastened%20the%20empire's%20fall.&text=While%20the%20lead%20contamination%20was,major%20culprit%20in%20Rome's%20demise.

Elevated lead exposure in Roman occupants of Londinium: New evidence from the archaeological record
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/arcm.12513

Saturnine Gout among Roman Aristocrats — Did Lead Poisoning Contribute to the Fall of the Empire?
https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJM198303173081123

The deadly biology of lead exposure
https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2016/deadly-biology-lead-exposure/

Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder Charged In Flint Water Crisis
https://www.npr.org/2021/01/13/956592508/new-charges-in-flint-water-crisis-including-former-michigan-gov-rick-snyder

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