See Lead Poisoning. For problems on the theory and evidence for lead poisoning, read: "Old Wine in Old Lead Bottles: Nriagu on the Fall of Rome," by Charles Robert Phillips III. The Classical World, Vol. 78, No. 1 (Sep. - Oct., 1984), pp. 29-33.
"Does anyone know why the Roman Empire (after Rome falls in 476 A.D.) is called the Byzantine Empire? I have read that around the 300s A.D. the capital of the western empire was moved into northern Italy. Is the Byzantine Empire just a modern name that was given to the empire after the west collasped?" - from ZULULAND1: Read the Ancient/Classical History Forum thread for answers.
Division of the Empire
Rome The Late EmpireRichard Hooker marks the Fall during the reign of Diocletian (284-305) when the Empire was split into two halves. Each half had a senior augustus and a junior caesar. Together these four rulers were known as the "tetrarchy." While the tetrarchy didn't last long, the division of the Empire became the norm.
Fall of Rome
Adrian Dorrington says the Empire was split not just geographically, but culturally, with a Latin Empire and a Greek one, the latter of which survived because it had most of the population, a better military, more money, and better rulers.
Lead
Lead and the FallA bibliography of sources since the nineteenth century that have suggested lead poisoning led to the Fall of Rome.
