History Repeating

This week saw the 20th anniversary [15/04/09] of the tragic Hillsbourough disaster, in which 96 football spectators needlessly died in a man-made sporting catastrophe that could most surely have been avoided. There is still - understandably - much shock and anger in relation to this event, as well as an enduring disbelief that it could have been allowed to happen at all in such a relatively modern age.

The anniversary media coverage reminded me strongly of an ancient Roman disaster which befell the Italian town of Fidenae in the year [27AD] and in which many sporting spectators also died:

"A sudden disaster now occurred that was as destructive as a major war. It began and ended in a moment. An ex-slave called Atilius started building an amphitheatre at Fidenae for a gladiatorial show. But he neither rested its foundations on solid ground nor fastened the wooden superstructure securely. He had undertaken the project not because of great wealth or municipal ambition but for sordid profits. Lovers of such displays, starved of amusements under Tiberius, flocked in - men and women of all ages. Their numbers, swollen by the town's proximity, intensified the tragedy. The packed structure collapsed, subsiding both inwards and outwards and precipitating or overwhelming a huge crowd of spectators and bystanders."

[Tacitus, Annals, IV.61]

The historian Tacitus records that many thousands were killed or seriously injured in the disaster. Indeed, the Emperor Tiberius himself - who at the time lived in almost total reclusion on his beloved island of Capri - had to make himself available to the people in reflection of the deep national shock resulting from such an event.

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Suetonius also tells us of the Fidenae disaster: Suetonius, Tiberius, 40

For details of the Hillsborough disaster see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillsborough_disaster