Who started using the middle finger for its purpose?

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Experts who have studied the history of the raised middle finger have found written references to it as far back as ancient Greek and Roman times. The gesture's sexual meaning has always been roughly the same, and it has always been considered rude. The middle-finger jerk was so popular among the Romans that they even gave a special name to the middle digit, calling it the impudent finger: digitus impudicus, the obscene finger, or infamous finger. Martial (Epigrams vi.lxx): 'he points his finger, and the insulting one at that, towards Alcon' According to Suetonius, Pylades was banished from Italy for making the obscene middle-finger gesture at a critical member of the audience who was trying to hiss him from the stage. Apr 22 03, 11:30 PM

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