Crash Your Chariot in Rome? You're Still Tied to the Horses #shorts

Roman chariot racers wrapped the reins around their waist so they could steer with their whole body. That made a crash, which Romans called a 'shipwreck', deadly: the horses kept running and dragged the driver along, so every racer carried a curved knife to cut himself loose. If you survived, the recommended cure was a drink of dried boar dung, and the emperor Nero drank it too. Fans were obsessed: when Felix, a star of the Reds, died, one of his fans threw himself onto the funeral pyre. And the best drivers retired richer than most senators.