Contrary to what many people believe, Roman emperors did not
necessarily signal that a losing gladiator in the arena was
to die by giving the thumbs down signal. "Pollice verso," the
Latin phrase from which the thumbs down idea came, actually
just means "thumb turned." Some scholars even think that
thumbs down meant that the victor should put down his sword
and spare the vanquished.

Regardless, no losing gladiator could expect good things if
the emperor extended his middle finger.

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Sandalwood's Cosmic Creations: Working with the magic of love....

SW, d'ya really think they used the New Jersey State Bird in ancient Rome?

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Gunslinger
'Slipping the surly bonds of earth, to dance the skies on laughter-silvered wings'

LOL Gunslinger.. I don't remember living in that era so I was not quite sure..

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Sandalwood's Cosmic Creations: Working with the magic of love....

Your definently right about the fact that thumbs up means kill him. Thank goodness it doesn't mean the same in today's society!

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IndianPainter
JD Dougher
-Reach up and fly with an eagle-

...and the reason "thumbs up" was considered "a good sign" is because the bloodthirsty crowd at the arena wanted to see the loser killed!They would cheer when the emperor gave thumbs up,and boo when he gave thumbs down-thankfully we've evolved just a little since then...although the popularity of shoot-em-up movies makes me wonder sometimes...

Yuck!!!

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Sandalwood's Cosmic Creations: Working with the magic of love....