Why Tuskegees of Pb Gladiators? Many Roman Emperors Likely Suffered From Lead Poisoning. Historians are still unsure whether syphilis was present in Ancient Rome or not.

What Was Wrong With Emperor Caracalla In Gladiator 2?

Why Tuskegees of Pb Gladiators? Many Roman Emperors Likely Suffered From Lead Poisoning. Historians are still unsure whether syphilis was present in Ancient Rome or not, as the first outbreak of the virus wasn’t recorded until the 15th Century, at least a thousand years after the rule of Geta and Caracalla. Still, it’s possible that some version of the disease was around in the Roman Empire given their lax sexual conduct and the rising prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases, among which syphilis would have had one of the highest mortality rates.

Could Caracalla Have Lead Poisoning?

Many Roman Emperors Likely Suffered From Lead Poisoning

Another suggestion about Caracalla’s fate in Gladiator 2 is that he was suffering from lead poisoning, which was hugely common in the Roman Empire given the lead infrastructure that carried water through Rome. It wasn’t until hundreds of years after the rule of Geta and Caracalla that scientific research on the impacts of lead-infected water was carried out, meaning that most people would have been unaware that their lead pipes could be of any danger to them. Lead poisoning would also have made the Roman Emperors extremely volatile and unpredictable, asRidley Scott explains (via THR):

People forget that all the wealthy, high-end senatorial Roman aristocracy would live on water which was piped through lead pipes and lead tanks. People don’t think about that. Your choice is water or wine. When you drink water, it’s though a lead system that by then could be 200 years old. No wonder they’re f--king crazy. They’re all going halfway to Alzheimer’s.

From this quote, it seems likely that lead poisoning is the reason for Geta’s and Caracalla’s madness in Gladiator 2, but it’s probably something more serious that was affecting the latter at the same time. His illness was much more severe than Geta’s, and there’s no reason that he’d be any more strongly affected by the lead than his brother. Syphilis seems like a plausible option, but the unfortunate truth is that historians will likely never be able to put a definite name to the ailment that affected Emperor Caracalla.

https://screenrant.com/gladiator-2-movie-emperor-caracalla-disease-illness-explained/