Very few contemporary accounts of emperors actually exist- most surviving histories were written well after their reigns and many personal details are lost as a result.
Many emperors didn't die peacefully in their beds. That meant his children were often murdered in order to secure the successor's throne.
The result is you get someone like Marcus Aurelius. We know Commodus, his son, succeeded him. But what is generally not known is Marcus and his wife had thirteen children. Nine didn't survive infancy or very early childhood, and 3 of the survivors were girls.
BTW, don't put much stock into the lead pipe thing. The Romans knew lead was problematic and used clay pipes most of the time. Additionally, chemical reactions with minerals in the water created calcium carbonate deposits in lead pipes which would prevent the lead from leeching into the water. The studies that looked at the lead in wine (from its production) had some issues, including the failure to account for the fact Romans mixed wine with water and that copper vessels were used in winemaking as well.
Sthrax t1_iyeyrn2 wrote
Reply to Why did so few Roman emperors have biological children? by hazhulkha
Several reasons:
The result is you get someone like Marcus Aurelius. We know Commodus, his son, succeeded him. But what is generally not known is Marcus and his wife had thirteen children. Nine didn't survive infancy or very early childhood, and 3 of the survivors were girls.
BTW, don't put much stock into the lead pipe thing. The Romans knew lead was problematic and used clay pipes most of the time. Additionally, chemical reactions with minerals in the water created calcium carbonate deposits in lead pipes which would prevent the lead from leeching into the water. The studies that looked at the lead in wine (from its production) had some issues, including the failure to account for the fact Romans mixed wine with water and that copper vessels were used in winemaking as well.