The Emperor’s solution was to declare for each gladiator, one with each hand. Finding themselves evenly matched, the decision over the fate of the two men fell to the crowd, with half of them calling for Myrinus, while the rest supported Triumphus. The thumb-gesture was almost certainly one-handed, as indicated by a combat between two gladiators, Myrinus & Triumphus, documented by Martial ( On the Spectacles XX). The thumb-gesture used to pass sentence on defeated gladiators has been reconstructed in many different forms, from thumbs up and down (the favourite of modern popular culture), to thumbs held horizontally, within the hand, pointed, squeezed between other fingers, and pressing on top of a fist. So although it is clear that the fate of gladiators in the arena was indicated by a thumb-gesture, it is far from certain what it actually looked like. Quintilian notes that it was also used by some orators to emphasise their point ( Institutio oratoria 11.3.119), although frustratingly, he fails to describe what it actually looked like. This gesture appears to have been adopted by wider society due to its use in the gladiatorial arena, probably as an offensive gesture. 95):Įven a gladiator who has been defeated in the savage arena continues to hope, although the crowd threatens him with hostile thumb The Anthologia Latina adds further evidence that the gesture used to pass judgement involved the thumb, and that this became known as the “hostile thumb”, infesto pollice (415, 28R. Whomsoever the crowd with a turn of the thumb bids them slay To-day they hold shows of their own, and win applause by slaying These men once were horn-blowers, who went the round of every provincial show,Īnd whose puffed-out cheeks were known in every village
Juvenal uses it when discussing the disreputable characters in Rome, including those who host (informal) gladiatorial shows ( Juvenal, Satire 3.34-37): The phrase used by Gérôme, “ pollice verso”, is documented in the Roman world in the context of the gladiatorial games. Unfortunately, none of the Roman writers who refer to the gesture describe what it actually looked like – presumably reflecting an expectation that their readers would already be familiar with it. We can say with reasonable certainty that the gesture used in judgement of Roman gladiators had something to do with the thumb. Although the accuracy of the painting was challenged within months of it being publicly displayed, this single work went a long way to popularising the idea of thumbs-up = life, thumbs-down = death in the gladiatorial arena, but there is little evidence from antiquity to back this up. The painting shows a defeated retiarius (a gladiator fighting with a net and trident) asking for his life from the emperor, while the other spectators – including some Vestal Virgins – make their opinion known by widely giving the thumbs-down gesture. The modern perception of the gladiatorial thumb-gesture appears to date from the nineteenth century, more specifically from a painting by the French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme, his 1872 work Pollice Verso, or “The Turned Thumb”. That their decision was communicated to the gladiators and crowd by a consistent and universally-recognised hand gesture is clear, but what did it actually look like? Turning the thumb It would then be decided by the nominated official – the Emperor if he happened to be present, otherwise someone else high-ranking – what fate would befall the defeated gladiator. Gladiators could indicate that they surrendered by making a gesture to the referee or official appointed to oversee the combat. Gladiators in the Roman arenas fought until one was considered to be defeated – usually because they had been disarmed and thrown to the ground, or were too wounded/exhausted to continue fighting. It makes great cinema – but were these gestures really used in Roman gladiatorial arenas?
#Gladiator thumbs down movie
The tension in the movie Gladiator is palpable, as the watching crowds – and other gladiators – wait to see whether the emperor Commodus will grant mercy to Maximus by giving him the thumbs-up, or sentence him to death with a thumbs-down.Īt the urging of the crowd, whom Maximus and his fellow gladiators have won over, Commodus gives an unwilling thumbs-up, allowing the gladiators to live and fight another day.
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