TIL that the worst stadium disaster in history was the collapse of a wooden amphitheater in 27 AD that killed 20,000 people.
TIL that the worst stadium disaster in history was the collapse of a wooden amphitheater in 27 AD that killed 20,000 people.
Just came across a mention of this in the toldinstone video How Dangerous Was the Front Row of the Colosseum?.
As a percentage of world population that's comparable to like 477,000 people dying at a football game today. Or possibly 1 million people, depending on what population estimate you use.
All safety regulations are written in blood.
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I wonder if the numbers were exaggerated. I find it hard to believe they counted the bodies accurately.
Why do you find it difficult to believe that humans two thousand years ago could clount? Eratosthenes calculated the axial tilt of the damn planet three hundred years prior.
They could count, but they also tended to enormously overestimate how many people died. See for example this Wikipedia article. There’s also this article which looks like it would be interesting but I can’t get the full text of it:
“I do not think anyone in his senses would accept that!” Remarks on Numbers of Fallen Soldiers in Roman Historiography and commentarii
#neverforget
20k in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ + 27 is probably half the fucking population of the entire city
The population of Rome the city at the time is estimated at about one million people. So twenty thousand is like 2% - one out of every fifty people in the city died in that stadium.
Interestingly, Jesus probably heard about this disaster. Woulda been a current event for him.
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Atilius was "banished" by the senate. I'm guessing banished to partake in someone else's gladiatorial games.
By Jupiter's cock!