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 ammunition for years. The fact that "Lusitania" had been carrying shells and cartridges was not made known to the British public at the time. In the 27-page additional manifest, delivered to U.S. customs 4–5 days after "Lusitania" sailed from New York, and in the Bethlehem Steels papers, it is stated that the "empty shells" were in fact 1,248 boxes of filled 3" shell, 4 shells to the box, totaling 103,000 pounds or 50 tonnes. President Woodrow Wilson refused to immediately declare war. During the weeks after the sinking, the issue was hotly debated within the U.S. government, and correspondence was