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 202nd trans-Atlantic crossing. In the early 20th century German shipping lines were aggressive competitors in the transatlantic trade. In the face of the competition, Cunard responded by trying to outdo them in speed, capacity, and luxury. Cunard used assistance from the British Admiralty to build Lusitania, with the convit that the ship was available as a light merchant cruiser in time of war. Lusitania had gun mounts for deck cannons, but no guns were ever installed. Both "Lusitania" and "Mauretania" were fitted with revolutionary new turbine engines that enabled them to maintain a service speed of . They were equipped