Arvioustus Posted January 16, 2006 Report Share Posted January 16, 2006 The Science channel (BBC too) had a feature on recently claiming the average ancient Roman consumed a very dangerous level of lead. Through various cooking utencils and pans making many mainstay foods and drinks. Somwhere in the neighborhood of 30 ml. grams per day. This would have caused many problems including infertility and mental issues. They allude to this as a one of the main reasons for the slow decline and downfall of the empire. I say...maybe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phil25 Posted January 16, 2006 Report Share Posted January 16, 2006 A major source of lead poisoning may have been water-pipes!! You can see them in places in Pompeii. Infertility, as a result, has long been argued - hence the small numbers of children we know from the sources were born in noble families (there were many cases of adoption to keep a name alive), and why some families died out. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Favonius Cornelius Posted January 16, 2006 Report Share Posted January 16, 2006 My personal opinion is this theory is all bunk, but you can read more about it here: http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2951 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursus Posted January 16, 2006 Report Share Posted January 16, 2006 Thus topic was moved to the Humanitas forum and merged with the poisened wells topic. Please discuss it there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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