Roman Empire Fan loyalty was fierce and at times erupted into sports riots. Racing was perilous, but charioteers were among the most celebrated and well-compensated athletes. One star of the sport was Diocles, from Lusitania (present-day Portugal), who raced chariots for 24 years and had career earnings of 35 million sesterces. Horses had their fans too, and were commemorated in art and inscriptions, sometimes by name. The design of Roman circuses was developed to assure that no team had an unfair advantage and to minimize collisions ("naufragia," "shipwrecks"), which were nonetheless frequent and spectacularly satisfying to the crowd. The races retained a
The Sinking of the Lusitania that it "did not revolutionize the film cartoons of its time" as McCay's skills were beyond what animators of the time were able to follow. In the era that followed, animation studios made occasional non-fiction films, but most were comedic shorts lasting no more than seven minutes. Animation continued in its role of supporting feature films rather than as the main attraction, and rarely received reviews. "Lusitania" was not a commercial success; after a few years in theaters, "Lusitania" brought McCay about $80,000. McCay made at least seven further films, only three of which are known to have seen commercial