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
RMS Lusitania and arches to the decorative scheme. The ship was finally delivered to Cunard on 26 August although the problem of vibration was never entirely solved and further remedial work went on through her life. The White Star Line's vessels were almost longer and slightly wider than "Lusitania" and "Mauretania". This made the White Star vessels about 15,000 tons heavier than the Cunard vessels. Both "Lusitania" and "Mauretania" were launched and had been in service for several years before "Olympic", and "Britannic" were ready for the North Atlantic run. Although significantly faster than the "Olympic" class would be, the speed of