Red and blue glass were made with lead and cobalt I think.... They were notable for their bright lasting colors, frequently used in pigments, and it wasn't known until much, much more recently that they were horribly toxic over the long term.
Funny enough, the Romans actually knew how to counter the effects of lead pipes. Due to the functioning of their water flow, the Romans knew that lead pipes built up calcium plaque which prevented lead from leeching into the water.
No, the truth is much worse. The Romans used lead vessels to boil down wine into sweetener, because the lead made it taste even sweeter. They understood the health risk and just said "lmao but it's sweet"
Is that so! I had always heard the pipes blamed for the cumulative effects, I was under the impression they didn't know about the connection between lead and dementia until much later. But it was just the Italian love of sweet wine all along. I guess I can't name a more iconic duo.
Yeah, they actually knew that lead caused problems, at least in large amounts. They associated the problems of acute lead poisoning with miners and metalworkers, or with overuse of cosmetics and medicines. But sweetener? Just a little tasty lead sweetener? Surely that won't be too harmful!
They added the sweetener (defrutum) to everything they could. Fed it to animals before slaughter so their meat would taste better, put it in their wine, put it on their bread, added it to their fish sauce, literally everything. At least for those wealthy enough to afford it!
Yeah, I just went down a really fun rabbithole, thanks for that!
"So many poisons are employed to force wine to suit our taste—and we are surprised that it is not wholesome!" - Pliny the Elder, Natural History (XIV.xxv.130), c. 78 CE
A funny question, and difficult to answer. But not significantly different than less lead-happy societies before and after them. Too many other causes of death for it to really make a big difference.
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