Poisonous Chemical Found in Pompeii Water Pipe

[Judi Lynn]

Friday, August 18, 2017

POMPEII, ITALY—Researchers have analyzed a fragment of a lead water pipe from Pompeii and found that it contained toxic levels of the chemical element antimony, reports the International Business Times. Previously, scholars had suggested that widespread lead poisoning contributed to the decline of the Roman Empire. “They used it for work pipes, for sweetening the wine, for filling out small holes in aqueducts,” said University of Southern Denmark archaeochemist Kaare Lund. “There was a lot of lead in the Roman Empire.” But Lund and his team are proposing that lead by itself didn’t pose much of a health risk, since most pipes were lined with chalky deposits that would have kept significant amounts of lead from leaking into water. But Lund notes that antimony is much more toxic than lead, and if even trace amounts of it leached into the water supply it would have had disastrous consequences, leading to kidney and liver damage and even contributing to heart attacks. The team hopes to test more Roman lead in the future to determine how common the use of antimony-laced pipes was. To read more, go to “Rome's Imperial Port.”

http://www.archaeology.org/news/5853-170818-pompeii-antimony-water-pipe

[DetlefK]

1. Similar story about the first chinese emperor:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qin_Shi_Huang

Mercury was considered a divine substance, because it is the only "chemical" that can dissolve gold. And if mercury is divine, swallowing mercury will make you immortal, right???

[Silver Gaia]

2. More info: There was a Daoist cult at that time who believed immortality

could be achieved through alchemy. One of the substances they used in their experiments was the mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury). They liked its red color (red is Yang, and of course, is the color of blood), and would grind it and add it to drinks (elixirs). MANY of the immortalists of the Qin dynasty died from mercury poisoning (unfortunately, the opposite of what they'd hoped for!).

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Also widely used in lacquerware and ink.

Supposedly vermillion ink was reserved for the emperor's exclusive use. His carriage was also painted with vermillion (cinnabar).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermilion#Chinese_red

[eppur_se_muova]

4. The antimony ore stibnite (Sb2S3) was widely used in cosmetics -- as mascara and eyeliner.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohl_(cosmetics)#Health_concerns

Apparently, antimony was mistaken for lead in ancient times, and may have been mixed in with lead accidentally.

[NNadir]

5. I doubt very much that antimony is more toxic than lead. It certainly isn't a neurological...

...poison, unlike mercury, cadmium and lead.

Until very recently, antimony was a constituent of many emetics.

Kidney and liver damage do not lead to the decline of civilizations, neurological problems, I believe, can.

I note that the United States has been enthusiastically injecting aerosol mercury directly into the atmosphere for generations from coal.

This may account for the voting patterns of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana in the last election, since these states all voted for a modern day Caligula. These states are coal central.

I seriously wonder if mercury contamination, worldwide at unprecedented levels, is leading to a massive outbreak of mad hatter disease.