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 layers, which could be laid over a static background layer, relieving animators of the tedium of retracing static images onto drawing after drawing. McCay adopted the cel method beginning with "The Sinking of the Lusitania". As with all his films, McCay financed "Lusitania" himself. The cels were an added expense, but greatly reduced the amount of drawing necessary in contrast to McCay's earlier methods. The cels used were thicker than those that later became industry standard, and had a "tooth", or rough surface, that could hold pencil, wash, and crayon, as well as ink lines. The amount of rendering caused