Did ancient Romans know asbestos was dangerous? The widely-cited "proof"—Pliny the Elder's passage about workers wearing bladder-skin masks—is a mistranslation.

The passage appears in Natural History Book 33, Chapter 40, which discusses cinnabar (mercury sulfide) workers, not asbestos. Scholars Browne and Murray documented this correction in The Lancet in 1990, yet the myth persists in textbooks, litigation documents, and Wikipedia. This episode examines why ancient observers couldn't have connected asbestos to disease: mesothelioma's 20-50 year latency period exceeded Roman life expectancy of 25-40 years for laborers.

In this episode:

• The famous "bladder-mask" quote and its century-long misattribution to asbestos workers
• Why Pliny's Natural History Book 33 describes mercury poisoning, not asbestos exposure
• Strabo's "sickness of the lungs" passage: another misattribution (arsenic mines in Pontus, not asbestos)
• The latency problem: 20-50 years for mesothelioma vs. 25-40 year ancient lifespans
• What we know about slave labor in ancient asbestos production
• Why the absence of ancient documentation isn't a cover-up—it's the limits of observation

Who this episode is for: History enthusiasts, researchers investigating asbestos exposure claims, and anyone who has encountered the claim that "the Romans knew asbestos was deadly 2,000 years ago."

Sources cited: Pliny the Elder's Natural History (c. 77 CE), Strabo's Geography (c. 20 CE), Browne & Murray's "Asbestos and the Romans" (The Lancet, 1990), Bianchi & Bianchi (La Medicina del lavoro, 2015).

Resources:

• What Is Mesothelioma? — Learn about symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment options
• Mesothelioma Latency Period — Why symptoms appear 20-50 years after exposure
• Asbestos Exposure History — Common exposure sources and occupations at risk
• Meet Our Team — Paul Danziger, Dave Foster, Anna Jackson, and the patient advocacy team
• Free Consultation — Talk to someone who understands what you're facing

Learn more: Dandell.com

Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is produced by Danziger & De Llano, a nationwide mesothelioma law firm with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For a free consultation, visit Dandell.com.

Resources:

→ Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/

→ Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/

→ Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/

→ Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/

Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast:

http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/

Around 400 BCE, the sculptor Callimachus—nicknamed "katatêxitechnos" (the perfectionist) by the Athenians—created a golden lamp for the Erechtheion temple in Athens that burned continuously before the statue of Athena. The secret: an asbestos wick that never consumed itself. Oil refills were required only once per year. This is one of the earliest verified uses of asbestos technology, documented in the primary source account of Greek traveler Pausanias (c. 150 CE).

In this episode, we examine the verified historical record of asbestos in the ancient Mediterranean—and separate fact from persistent myth.

Topics covered:

• Pausanias's firsthand account of the golden lamp of Athena in his Description of Greece (Book 1.26.6–7)
• Why the claim that Vestal Virgins used asbestos wicks has no primary source evidence—Plutarch's Life of Numa describes wood, oil, and incense instead
• "Linum vivum" (live linen): Pliny the Elder's account of asbestos napkins fire-cleaned at Roman banquets (Natural History, c. 77 CE)
• Dioscorides' De Materia Medica (c. 50-70 CE): reusable napkins sold to theater patrons, fire-cleaned between performances, and resold the next night
• Strabo's independent confirmation of fire-cleaned towels from Karystos, Greece (Geography, Book X)
• Royal funeral shrouds: how asbestos cloth preserved cremation ashes separate from the pyre
• Pliny's valuation: asbestos cloth "equals the prices of exceptional pearls"cover

Who this episode is for: Anyone researching the ancient history of asbestos, the Vestal Virgin eternal flame, Pliny the Elder's writings on minerals, Dioscorides' De Materia Medica, or the use of asbestos in Greek and Roman religious practice.

Sources cited:

• Pausanias, Description of Greece (c. 150 CE)
• Pliny the Elder, Natural History (c. 77 CE)
• Dioscorides, De Materia Medica (c. 50-70 CE)
• Strabo, Geography (c. 1st century BCE/CE)
• Plutarch, Life of Numa
• Vitruvius, De Architectura (Callimachus nickname source)
• Loeb Classical Library scholarly annotations

Next episode preview: The "sickness of the lungs" passage everyone cites—and why it may not be about asbestos at all. What Pliny actually wrote, and the mistranslation that persisted for over a century.

Resources

• Learn more about asbestos-related diseases: Dandell.com
• Mesothelioma legal resources: Dandell.com/mesothelioma
• Asbestos exposure sources: Dandell.com/asbestos-exposure

Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is produced by Danziger & De Llano, a nationwide mesothelioma law firm with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For a free consultation, visit Dandell.com.

Resources:

→ Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/

→ Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/

→ Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/

→ Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/

Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast:

http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/

Archaeological evidence from Finnish Neolithic sites pushes the first known human use of asbestos back to 4700–5000 BCE—nearly two thousand years earlier than commonly cited, and predating both the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge.

In Episode 2 of Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making, we separate archaeological fact from historical myth—correcting widespread misconceptions about ancient asbestos while tracing its journey from Stone Age pottery to medieval legend.

5 Ancient Asbestos Myths Exposed in This Episode:

1. The origin date is wrong by 2,000 years — Peer-reviewed archaeology from Lake Saimaa, Finland reveals asbestos-tempered pottery dated to 4700–5000 BCE, not the commonly cited 2500 BCE. These vessels contained 50–90% mineral fiber content.
2. Egyptian pharaohs were NOT wrapped in asbestos — Despite appearing in countless histories, zero archaeological evidence supports asbestos mummy wrappings. Biomolecular analyses confirm linen from flax plants, not mineral fibers.
3. The salamander myth was a medieval invention — The Letter of Prester John (c. 1165), a famous forgery, introduced the false claim that asbestos was "salamander wool." This myth persisted 500+ years despite Marco Polo debunking it in 1280.
4. "Asbestos" is technically the wrong word — The original Greek term was "amiantos" (meaning "undefiled"). "Asbestos" (meaning "unquenchable") originally described quicklime—Pliny the Elder's mistranslation stuck for 2,000 years.
5. Benjamin Franklin perpetuated the salamander myth in the 1720s — Even during the Enlightenment, Franklin sold "salamander cotton" purses in London. Sir Thomas Browne's 1642 Pseudodoxia Epidemica had debunked the myth 80 years earlier.

Why Asbestos History Matters for Mesothelioma Families:

• 3,000 Americans are diagnosed with mesothelioma annually — Understanding mesothelioma diagnosis and legal options
• 20–50 year latency period between asbestos exposure and diagnosis — Common asbestos exposure sources by occupation
• $30+ billion available in asbestos trust funds for victims — How to file asbestos trust fund claims
• 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered — Danziger & De Llano represents mesothelioma families nationwide — Free case evaluation

About This Series:

Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making traces the complete history—from ancient wonder material to the largest corporate cover-up in American history. Subscribe to follow the full story.

Companion Podcast: MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast — Medical guidance, legal rights,

Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano, a nationwide mesothelioma law firm with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, visit https://dandell.com/ for a free consultation.

Resources:

→ Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/

→ Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/

→ Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/

→ Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/

→ Companion podcast—MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast: https://dandell.com/podcast/

Between 1930 and 1980, asbestos was used in more than 4,000 consumer products—from the fake snow in “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) to toasters, hair dryers, crayons, ironing board covers, and Kent Micronite cigarette filters. Over 3,000 Americans are diagnosed with mesothelioma every year, and the exposed often don’t develop symptoms for 20 to 50 years after their first contact with the mineral.
This season preview of Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making maps the investigative journey ahead—from Stone Age Finland (2500 BCE) through the September 11, 2001 attacks, where 400+ tons of asbestos were pulverized into lower Manhattan air.

What we’ll cover this season:
• The exposed products in your home: Asbestos exposure occurred through artificial fireplace embers, Christmas tree decorations, vermiculite garden soil (Libby, Montana), oven mitts, brake pads, and talc-based cosmetics—the FDA found asbestos contamination in Claire’s makeup products as recently as 2019

• The 1935 Sumner Simpson letter: The Raybestos-Manhattan president wrote “the less said about asbestos, the better off we are”—a document that became Exhibit A in thousands of lawsuits against Johns-Manville and the asbestos industry

• The 1943 suppressed mouse study: Dr. LeRoy Gardner at Saranac Laboratory found an 81.8% tumor rate in asbestos-exposed mice—Johns-Manville executives ordered him not to publish, and the research stayed buried until his death in 1946

• The “dropped dead” deposition: In 1984, witness Charles Roemer testified that Johns-Manville executive Lewis Brown said the company would let workers “work until they dropped dead” because “we save a lot of money that way”

• The September 11 mystery: The World Trade Center North Tower (with asbestos fireproofing on floors 1-38) stood for 102 minutes after impact; the South Tower (built after New York City’s 1970 asbestos ban, with no asbestos) collapsed in 56 minutes—and over 44,000 people have since been diagnosed with 9/11-related cancers

• The city called Asbest: A Russian city of 70,000 people sits beside the world’s largest open-pit asbestos mine (7 miles long), with cancer rates 20-40% higher than surrounding regions—and an asbestos museum as a tourist attraction

• The $30+ billion in asbestos trust funds: Exposed workers and families can file for mesothelioma compensation through bankruptcy trusts established by Johns-Manville (1986), W.R. Grace, and dozens of other manufacturers—plus VA disability benefits for the nearly 30% of mesothelioma patients who are military veterans

From Pliny the Elder documenting sick Roman slaves in the 1st century CE, to the WHO classifying all asbestos as a Group 1 carcinogen in 1977, to the EPA’s 2024 chrysotile ban (with a 12-year implementation period)—this is the story of what they knew, when they knew it, and how long they hid it.
New episodes weekly. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.

RESOURCES:
→ Mesothelioma overview: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/
→ Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/
→ Compensation options: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma-compensation/
→ Veterans & asbestos: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma-veterans/
→ Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact-us/

Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is sponsored by Danziger & De Llano, a nationwide mesothelioma law firm with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, visit https://dandell.com/ for a free consultation.

The North Tower of the World Trade Center stood for 102 minutes after impact. The South Tower collapsed in 56. One had asbestos fireproofing. One didn't. In 4,500 years of asbestos killing people, could September 11th be the one day it saved lives?

That question opens this series—and this episode takes us back to where it all began.

Roman historian Pliny the Elder documented asbestos workers dying from "sickness of the lungs" nearly 2,000 years ago, watching slaves fashion crude respirators from animal bladders to filter the dust. They knew. The pattern of knowing and ignoring has continued ever since.

In this premiere episode of Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making, we trace humanity's relationship with the mineral the ancient Greeks named "asbestos"—meaning indestructible. From Finnish Stone Age pottery (2500 BCE) to Roman tablecloths that cleaned themselves in fire, we uncover how wonder became denial, and denial became catastrophe.

Together, we explore:

• The first documented warnings: Pliny the Elder's account of asbestos weavers dying while creating what he called "funeral dress for kings"—and the bladder-skin masks they wore in a futile attempt at protection

• The salamander myth that lasted 2,000 years: How Aristotle's 350 BCE writings spawned a legend that asbestos was woven from fire-lizard skin—a myth that persisted even after Marco Polo debunked it in 1280, and why Benjamin Franklin still advertised "salamander cotton" purses 450 years later

• Sacred flames and lethal stakes: The asbestos wicks that kept Athena's golden lamp burning in ancient Athens (requiring oil refills only once per year) and Rome's Vestal flame that burned for over 1,000 years—where letting it die meant being buried alive

• The pattern that explains everything: How the people closest to the dust always understood the danger while those farthest away admired the spectacle—the same dynamic that enabled the longest corporate cover-up in history

This is the first chapter of a story that spans Stone Age Finland to Russian propaganda, ancient temples to the World Trade Center, dying slaves to dying workers to dying veterans. The mineral changed. The excuses didn't.

For more information about asbestos exposure and its health effects, visit https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/

To understand mesothelioma—the cancer most associated with asbestos—visit https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/

Asbestos: A Conspiracy 4,500 Years in the Making is produced by Danziger & De Llano, a nationwide mesothelioma law firm with over 30 years of experience and nearly $2 billion recovered for asbestos victims. This podcast is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For a free consultation, visit Dandell.com.

Resources:

→ Mesothelioma legal rights: https://dandell.com/mesothelioma/

→ Asbestos exposure sources: https://dandell.com/asbestos-exposure/

→ Asbestos trust funds ($30B+ available): https://dandell.com/asbestos-trust-funds/

→ Free case evaluation: https://dandell.com/contact/

Sister Podcast - MESO: The Mesothelioma Podcast:

http://mesotheliomapodcast.com/