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Lead and the Romans

Aravind Reddy and Charles L. Braun*

Department of Chemistry, Dartmouth College, Hanover,

New Hampshire 03755

 J. Chem. Educ., Article ASAP

DOI: 10.1021/ed100631y

Publication Date (Web): August 3, 2010

Copyright © 2010 The American Chemical Society and

Division of Chemical Education, Inc.

*charles.l.braun@dartmouth.edu

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Lead poisoning has been a problem since early history and continues into modern times. An

appealing characteristic of lead is that many lead salts are sweet. In the absence of cane and

beet sugars, early Romans used “sugar of lead” (lead acetate) to sweeten desserts, fruits, and

sour wine. People most at risk would have been those who consumed the most wine, the

aristocracy, although they appeared unaware of the neurological and reproductive damage to

themselves and their children. This article focuses on lead use in the Roman Empire as an

example and attempts to address some of the major concerns voiced by opponents of Nriagu’s

1983 article, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, on saturnine gout in the

Roman Empire. Despite new theories formulated since 1983, current archeological evidence

does not match the claims of widespread use of leaden vessels made by historical accounts.

Although historical sources are consistent, more substantive archeological evidence is needed

before convincing arguments can be made in favor of the role of lead poisoning in the

downfall of the Roman Empire.

Keywords:General Public

Keywords:History/Philosophy; Public Understanding/Outreach; Safety/Hazards

Keywords:Misconceptions/Discrepant Events

Keywords:Metals; Toxicology; Food Science

Keywords:CLIC

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Abstract

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8/14/2010http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1021/ed100631y