What Was The Cause Of Rome's Fall?

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I have always been interested in the Roman Empire: how they came into power, the size of their kingdom, and the time span of their ruling. The Roman Empire was the most powerful Empire during ancient past. It is considered to have fallen in 476 C.E, when Rome’s last emperor was cast out of office. Many theories have been presented as to why it fell, from unsound economic and social policies, to mass lead poisoning. The actual cause of Rome’s fall is the result of many factors, but was mainly caused by Rome’s poor public health conditions. So, how did the public health conditions contribute to the fall of Rome? According to Linda Gigante, an associate history professor at the University of Louisville, the environment of the public health in Rome was lacking in three major places: nutrition, sanitation, and disease. …show more content…
The diet of an average Roman consisted of cereals, olives, wine, as well as fruits and chickpeas. Fish was a luxury and rarely eaten, and the primary source of met came from pigs says LInda. Food was transported to town markets on a daily basis. Since the cleanliness of these urban markets was marginal at best, there is no doubt that food contamination was a major problem, making intestinal parasites a common occurrence. Linda gives the example from her website, because of its proximity to the Tiber, the Cattle market was routinely flooded and, therefore, food was most likely contaminated on a fairly regular basis. With food contamination being on the rise, the aqueducts and water pipes became less manageable by the people being that they were all