As its empire spread around the Mediterranean, Rome accumulated vast wealth - and Romans accumulated gold. Julius Caesar, Augustus, Nero, and their successors used gold to pay for conquests, motivate soldiers, buy off enemies, fund Rome's famous infrastructure, and coat everything they owned in gold leaf, from walls to chamber-pots.
But behind that gold was tons and tons of mercury, used to extract gold from ores that had defied pre-Roman extraction technology. In this episode of How Minerals Made Civilization, explore how Spanish mercury produced Roman gold, Roman power, and Roman bling - and explore what happened when the supply ran out.