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The interesting article by Hirschmann et al, titled "Death of an Arabian Jew,"¹ brought back fond memories of a sabbatical spent in Israel in 1974. While working as a volunteer at several archeological digs, I had the opportunity to read Josephus, and came upon the description of Herod’s life and death. As a nephrologist, I found it easy to be persuaded at that time that he died of chronic renal failure and was surprised to find that no book in the medical library indicated this. Given the fact that Herod was a very wealthy man and a leader in the Roman Empire, I came up with a possible cause that was not mentioned in the article by Hirschmann et al.¹ There had been substantial speculation over the years that exposure to lead contributed to the downfall of the Roman Empire.^2-7 Apparently, only the wealthy could afford the wines that contained . . . [Full Text of this Article]

AUTHOR INFORMATION
Norman K. Hollenberg, MD, PhD

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RELATED ARTICLE

Death of an Arabian Jew
Jan V. Hirschmann, Peter Richardson, Ross S. Kraemer, and Philip A. Mackowiak
Arch Intern Med. 2004;164(8):833-839.
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