29. The Ancient Romans Used Lead in Just About Everything
Nowadays, we know that lead should be avoided as much as possible. It once was used in children’s toys, but not anymore, and it is no longer used in paint like it was back in the days. In ancient Rome, however, people were ignorant of what we know of lead’s adverse health effects. So they put it to widespread use in ways that modern science has shown to be quite dangerous. For example, lead was widely used in Roman hair dyes. Rich Romans also used lead pipes to carry water to their homes, and it is theorized that those pipes caused widespread lead poisoning. That might explain why so many Roman rulers were off their rockers.
Recent research has pushed back against that theory, on grounds that lead levels from Roman pipes might not have been as hazardous as previously thought. However, Romans were still exposed to lead in a variety of other ways that ensured they ingested it at exceptionally high levels. They drank water and wine from lead jugs, poured into lead cups. Their cooking pots were made of lead. They used amphorae to transport and store chief staples such as wine, olive oil, and their favorite sauce – a rotten fish concoction called garum. Lead was used to seal those amphorae, so lead particles made it into just about every sip of wine, or bite of their staple meal – bread dipped into olive oil or garnished with garum. Lead was also used in jewelry, to keep precious stones in place.