Was the thumbs-up considered good or bad in roman times?

Question

i'm asking this because i just read an article about how the thumbs-up meant death for a gladiator in ancient rome, but in the russel crowe movie "gladiator", thumbs-up meant the gladiator lived and thumbs-down meant death.

which is it?

also, here is the article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080522/sc_livescience/fromkennedytoclintonwhyeveryoneisthumbsup

Answer 1

Usually, Hollywood movies are not very accurate, as far as history goes. There are made for entertainment, not college credits!

If you look close enough, "Gladiator" is a very inaccurate movie, historically...but it's an extremely entertaining movie, which was the purpose.

Nowadays, thumb-up is good and thumb-down is bad.

But during the roman times, thumb-up (with the flipping of the arm) would mean the crowd had enough of those gladiators and wanted to see the next ones. Saying, really "get those guys out of here, we have enough of them!". They did not even care who lived or die, they just wanted them out.

During World War II, pilots used the thumb-up gesture, meaning "we're out of here = we're ready to go, all systems checked". Then it just became an OK gesture.

In roman times, the thumb-down never really existed, but the "death" sign makes for great movie moments, with the live of one poor guy hanging in the balance and asking for mercy!

In roman times, the crowd could make a fist, which would mean "keep at it, this is fun to watch", which really would mean that someone had to die at the end, if they kept at it long enough.

Those gladiators were fighting to the death. Does anybody think that once they could kill their opponent...they would just stop and ask for permission!

Answer 2

thumbs up was bad and thumbs down was good........for the gladiator that is.

Answer 3

this is one of the things that drive historians (professional and amateur) crazy when the movies get it wrong. The thumbs down signal really did mean that the gladiator was spared. the "thumbs up" was actually more of a slicing motion made to the neck area as in "off with his head". another favorite is zippers in the westerns.

Answer 4

thumbs up means you won and god laid

thumbs down means your @$$ is gettin eaten by lions

Answer 5

Thumbs-up -that the Emperor's odrer will be executed

thumbs down - order is canceled