The fall of the Roman Empire was a result of many different causes. Barbarian invasions, disease, a split between East and West portions of the Empire, and lead poisoning were all significant factors. Recently, I wrote a compare and contrast paper on the assassinations of Caligula and JFK and came across an interesting idea. It's a very real possibility that Caligula went mad due to a massive amount of lead he'd consumed in his water and in his wine sweetener (he was an excessive drinker). This of course inspired his massive bloodlust, as Caligula saw to it slaves when brutally murdered in the arena and in his own palace during fine banquets. This is not the act of a sane man, and it crossed my mind that perhaps it wasn't just Caligula with major desire to see blood spilled.
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Caligula)
Ever since the Roman people adopted Hellenistic culture from their Greek predecessors, they had been cheering on bloody gladiatorial games in the areans across the Italian peninsula. When the Romans expanded their empire, Roman culture was brought into the conquered lands along with a ruling governor to run the city. The games were a huge source of income, especially in Rome after Emperor Titus of the Flavian Dynasty saw to the completion of the massive Colesseum.
Emperor Titus of the Flavian Dynasty
The film Gladiator and the STARZ original series Spartacus: Blood and Sand do a good job of portraying the indifferent bloodlust of the average Roman, and the average Capuan (as Spartacus takes place in the Italian city Capua - see my review of the series earlier in the blog). They rarely wished mercy upon the fallen prisoner, gladiator, or Christian slave. Most times, they only wanted to see blood spew onto the sands of the arena. To a lesser extent, some of these behaviors are still seen the in average American public, especially those who chant towards their televisions for football players to knock each other unconscious and mixed martial artists to rearrange each other's faces. Part of this want to see blood spilled is human nature, but in the case of the ancient Romans, they wanted to witness one death after another, the only break between them an emperor-sanctioned lunch recess. My theory is that many of the Roman people who attended the arena games on a consistent basis carried their bloodlust due to the same reason Gaius Caligula carried his. The average arena spectator, whether they knew it or not, was plagued by lead poisoning.
The violent behaviors displayed in the average Roman were also mirrored in the provinces, where the gladitorial games had spread to Roman-conquered lands, along with aqueducts and wine sweetener - the harbingers of a colossal amount of lead. The lower rungs of Roman society also engaged in many a criminal activity, from highly organized acts including protection rackets to unorganized ones such as muggings. Criminal activity is almost a given in a big city setting, but the lead theory is a very plausible one.
In a nutshell, the Romans were a desensitized people who had no qualms with watching blood flow and prisoners and slaves separated forever from their loved ones. This to me is indifference on an unbelievable level. Why the lead never seemed to effect the other emperors in Caligula's line, I'm not sure (though Claudius had a limp, drooled, and a had a stuttering problem - possibly due to his mother's consumption of lead while Claudius was in the utero?) Caligula seemed to be the only emperor considered "mad" on a significant enough level to matter to the historians, but surely, the Roman people, the "mob," weren't too far behind.
Emperor Claudius
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