00:00Well, it's no big surprise that plumbing is super important for our daily lives.
00:05But surprisingly, bad plumbing might have played a crucial role in the fall of the Roman Empire.
00:11No, it wasn't just the corruption, the splitting of the empire, or even the invasions of Germanic tribes.
00:17No, it was likely the lead pipes they used to bring fresh water into their homes.
00:22High amounts of lead neurotoxins contained in Roman water could lead to serious mental health issues,
00:28especially in the elite.
00:30The water could have gotten contaminated through lead aqueducts and cups.
00:35Some scientists even believe the empire eventually fell because, well,
00:39it's tough to run an empire with a leader whose brain has been poisoned.
00:43Now, I hope you didn't completely buy into that theory, did you?
00:47Recent studies show that while lead poisoning was an issue in ancient Rome,
00:50it wasn't severe enough to cause the empire's downfall.
00:54The French might say,
00:55Chercher la fin, which is look for a woman, when looking for the reason for some issue.
01:00But in the Roman Empire, we should probably look for an emperor to blame.
01:05Now, if we were to rank the emperors,
01:08Caesar Augustus would definitely be in the S-tier,
01:11along with Vespasian, who brought peace and stability to ancient Rome,
01:14and Marcus Aurelius.
01:16Well, that's because I like him.
01:18But there were F-tier characters like Nero and his infamous uncle Caligula.
01:23Caligula, both considered madmen, and for a good reason.
01:26Hey, what if those were daffy rulers who screwed up the powerful empire?
01:31Caligula wanted to be treated like a deity, yet there was nothing divine about his actions.
01:37He brought nothing but chaos.
01:39For instance, he threatened to make his horse a council.
01:42While that never happened, his horse lived his best life in his own mansion,
01:47complete with furniture and slaves,
01:48and even had the privilege to dine with Caligula himself.
01:52Hey!
01:53Now, if that doesn't sound crazy enough,
01:56there's a legend that Caligula challenged Neptune himself
01:59and tried to fight the English Channel.
02:01Yeah, the guy fought water,
02:03which sort of alludes to the fact that his IQ level wasn't exactly high.
02:07Remember I mentioned lead before?
02:09Not only was it in those pipes,
02:11but the Romans, Caligula not excluded,
02:14used lead acetate to sweeten up their drinks.
02:16And, well, even air was polluted.
02:19Now, let's crunch some numbers.
02:21The first lead pipe started appearing in 200 BCE,
02:24and Caligula reigned in 37 to 41 CE.
02:28Scientists suggest lead might have caused a drop of around 3 points in IQ.
02:33Now, a 2.5 to 3-point dip might not seem like a big deal.
02:37But when you consider it lasted for centuries,
02:40Pax Romana will probably remind you of the Idiocracy movie.
02:43Chances are, Homer, not the author of the Odyssey,
02:47but Simpson, was somewhat smarter than some Roman emperors.
02:52Now, it's time to go back to the F-listers.
02:55And now, let's welcome Nero,
02:57who, in his turn, played a big part in the physical destruction of ancient Rome.
03:02During his reign, the great fire of Rome raged for 6 days and 7 nights.
03:06It devastated 10 out of 14 of Rome's districts,
03:10destroying countless homes, shops, and temples.
03:13The fire started in the merchant shops.
03:16And just when it seemed under control after 6 days,
03:19it reignited and burned for another 3 days.
03:22By the time it was over, 71% of Rome was in ruins.
03:27Countless Romans were left homeless.
03:29You might say, well, at least Nero provided new homes for people.
03:33Well, true, he did.
03:34But as the saying goes, a stitch in time saves 9.
03:38And Nero didn't act soon enough.
03:42Caligula and Nero are so infamous, they become ancient Roman memes.
03:47But there's another, less famous, but equally destructive figure,
03:51Emperor Honorius.
03:52I don't even know where to begin with him.
03:54But one thing's for sure,
03:56Romans shouldn't have expected much from a 12-year-old guy,
03:59who, upon taking the throne, consulted a chicken named Roma.
04:04Yes, the same name as the city.
04:07Honorius made some truly absurd decisions.
04:09But by the time he became emperor,
04:11the empire had already been in deep trouble.
04:14He took the role of the emperor of the West,
04:17while his brother Arcadius became the emperor of the East.
04:21This division was a game-changer,
04:23setting the two parts of the empire on separate paths.
04:26Previous divisions had still allowed the empire to function as a unit,
04:30with one emperor having seniority.
04:33But the rise of Arcadius and Honorius
04:35is seen as the true split of the Roman Empire
04:38into two completely separate entities.
04:41Arcadius is often considered the first Byzantine ruler.
04:46Honorius ruled the Western Empire from 393 to 423,
04:51a period when much of it was overrun by invading tribes,
04:55and Rome itself was captured and plundered by the Visigods.
04:59After his demise, the empire managed to hang on for another 50 years
05:03until its final fall in 476 CE.
05:07But it was more due to inertia than any smart emperor's decisions.
05:11The bottom line?
05:12It wasn't an emperor who made the Roman Empire fall,
05:16but the emperors who all contributed to the end of the empire.
05:20So, we've got poor administration and lead.
05:24That doesn't seem to be enough to destroy something as powerful as Pax Romana, does it?
05:29True, the reasons, in reality, were numerous.
05:32First off, the empire was running low on cash,
05:35because they were spending way too much while trying to expand their territory.
05:39It's like they forgot the old saying,
05:41don't bite off more than you can chew.
05:44Their overspending left the imperial treasury feeling pretty empty.
05:48And guess who they decided to squeeze for money?
05:51Regular folks, duh.
05:53What?
05:53The second century isn't that different from the 21st.
05:57The oppressive taxation made the gap between the rich and the poor wider.
06:01And the wealthy even fled Rome to build their own fiefdoms with blackjack and meritrix.
06:07If you know, you know.
06:08At the same time, there was a major labor shortage.
06:12Rome needed workers to farm the land and craft goods.
06:16But even with their ever-growing demands,
06:18many of those workers weren't even Romans.
06:20They were, ahem, imported to work there.
06:24By 2 CE, Roman expansion hit a pause,
06:27which meant the influx of new labor came to a halt as well.
06:31And then, to top it off,
06:32the Vandals swooped in, took over North Africa,
06:35and controlled the Mediterranean, cutting off Rome's trade routes to Africa.
06:40Now, remember how I mentioned that the empire got split in two?
06:44Well, the Roman Empire was massive, and it kind of makes sense why they did it.
06:49This all went down to the late 3rd century CE,
06:52which was about 80 years before it ultimately fell apart.
06:55It was Emperor Diocletian in the F tier who made the split.
07:00The Western Empire set up shop in Milan,
07:02while the Eastern Empire took root in Byzantium,
07:05which later became known as Constantinople.
07:08At first, breaking it up seemed like a good idea for keeping things manageable.
07:13But over time, the two halves started to drift apart.
07:17East and West didn't really collaborate well
07:19when it came to dealing with outside threats.
07:22And they often ended up bickering over resources and military support.
07:25As the divide widened, the Eastern Empire, mostly Greek-speaking,
07:31started raking in wealth,
07:33while the Latin-speaking West fell into economic trouble.
07:36A big deal was that the strength of the East
07:39helped keep barbarian invasions at bay,
07:41mainly protecting the West.
07:43Emperors like Constantine made sure Constantinople was fortified and well-defended.
07:49But places like Italy and Rome,
07:50which held more symbolic importance for the East,
07:53were left pretty exposed.
07:55Eventually, the Roman Empire started crumbling in 395 CE.
08:00But the Eastern Empire managed to hang on for nearly another thousand years
08:04before getting taken over by the Ottoman Empire in the 1400s.
08:09Hey, and what do you think?
08:11Was it because of the split, bad emperors, or ultimately led?
08:15Let us know in the comments.
08:17That's it for today.
08:18So hey, if you pacified your curiosity,
08:21then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
08:23Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
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