View source for Pollice verso

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{{short description|Thumb gesture used in the context of gladiatorial combat}}
{{For|the painting|Pollice Verso (Gérôme){{!}}''Pollice Verso'' (Gérôme)}}
[[File:Jean-Leon Gerome Pollice Verso.jpg|thumb|340px|[[Pollice Verso (Gérôme)|''Pollice Verso'']], an 1872 painting by [[Jean-Léon Gérôme]] (Phoenix Art Museum), was the subject of great debate regarding its historical accuracy]]
[[File:Musee-romanite-medaillon-cavillargues (cropped).jpg|thumb|The [[Cavillargues medallion]] ({{circa|AD 200}}) depicts the ''ēditor'' (games manager) showing a closed fist with wraparound thumb, meaning "spare him."]]
'''''{{Lang|la|Pollice verso}}''''' or '''''{{Lang|la|verso pollice}}''''' ({{IPA|la-x-classic|ˈpɔlʲːɪke ˈu̯ɛrs̠oː|lang|link=yes}}) is a [[Latin]] phrase, meaning "with a turned thumb", that is used in the context of [[Gladiator|gladiatorial combat]]. It refers to a hand [[gesture]] or [[thumb signal]] used by [[Ancient Rome|Ancient Roman]] crowds to pass judgment on a defeated gladiator following duels in [[colloseum]]s.

The precise gesture described by the phrase ''pollice verso'', and its meaning, are the subject of scholarly debate.

According to [[Anthony Corbeill]], a [[classical studies]] professor who has extensively researched the practice, thumbs up signalled killing a gladiator, while "a closed fist with a wraparound thumb" meant sparing him.<ref name="slate">{{cite web |last1=Koerner |first1=Brendan |title=What does a "thumbs up" mean in Iraq? |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2003/03/what-does-a-thumbs-up-mean-in-iraq.html |website=Slate Magazine |access-date=4 January 2020 |language=en |date=28 March 2003}}</ref><ref name=time>[https://time.com/4984728/thumbs-up-thumbs-down-history/ Where Does the 'Thumbs-Up' Gesture Really Come From?], ''Time''</ref>

Zoologist [[Desmond Morris]] describes human gestures of this type to be culturally determined and transmitted.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Desmond Morris On Symbolic Gestures |url=https://www.forbes.com/2005/10/19/morris-desmond-gestures-culture-comm05-cx_lr_1024morris.html |access-date=2024-05-03 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref>

== Meaning ==
The reason for the supremacy of the thumb over the other digits was debated even in ancient times.<ref name=":0" /> Roman provincial [[Macrobius]] observed that the name of the thumb ({{lang|la|pollex}}) was derived from the Latin word for power ({{lang|la|polleo}}).<ref name=":0" /> Another explanation is based on the thumb's unsuitability for the adornment of rings, thereby making it morally superior to the other fingers.<ref name=":0" /> [[Lactantius]] emphasized its utility and functionality, along with its strength and size.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Pollice Verso |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/encyclopaedia_romana/gladiators/polliceverso.html |access-date=2024-12-08 |website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref> According to [[Fabius Planciades Fulgentius|Fulgentius]], the outstretched thumb paralleled other organs which were considered [[Apotropaic magic|apatropaic]], and like them it was seen as capable of warding off evil.<ref name=":0" />

==Ancient Rome==
{{expand section|date=October 2012}}
The exact gesture described by the phrase ''{{Lang|la|pollice verso}}'' is unclear. From historical, archaeological, and literary records it is uncertain whether the thumb was turned up, turned down, held horizontally, or concealed inside the hand to indicate positive or negative opinions.<ref>[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/gladiators/polliceverso.html James Grout: ''The Gladiator and the Thumb'', part of the Encyclopædia Romana]</ref><ref>[http://bernd.wechner.info/Hitchhiking/Thumb Desmond Morris, Peter Collett, Peter Marsh, and Marie O'Shaughnessy, 1979 Webified by Bernd Wechner: ''Gestures: Their Origin and Meanings, The Thumb Up'']</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.news.ku.edu/1997/97N/SepNews/Sept29/thumbs.html|title=DID THE ROMANS TURN THUMBS DOWN ON GLADIATORS?|website=www.news.ku.edu}}</ref> [[Horace]] writes of a gesture using both thumbs to applaud a [[sporting event]], though his exact meaning is unclear.<ref name=":0" /> According to Encyclopaedia Romana, [[Anthony Corbeill|Corbeill]], who gave the most extensive discussion of the topic, translates [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny's]] ''pollices premere'' as "pressing of the thumbs".<ref name=":0" /> According to his conclusion a merciful gesture consisted of the pressing of the thumb on the [[index finger]] of a closed fist, and a negative gesture signifying death, called ''infesto pollice'' by [[Quintilian]], consists of an "erect thumb pointing upward".<ref name=":0" /> The definition of {{lang|la|pollex}} in the [[A Latin Dictionary|Latin dictionary of Lewis and Short]] follows Corbeill's conclusion.<ref name=":0" />

[[Juvenal]] uses ''verso pollice'' in the ''[[Satires (Juvenal)|Satires]]'':
{|
|<poem>{{Lang|la|Quondam hi cornicines et municipalis harenae
perpetui comites notaeque per oppida buccae
munera nunc edunt et, '''verso pollice''' vulgus
cum iubet, occidunt populariter}} ...<ref>[[Juvenal]], ''[[Satires (Juvenal)|Satirae]]'' [[:la:s:Saturae (Iuvenalis)/Liber I/Satura III|3.34-37]]</ref></poem>
|style="padding-left:2em;"|<poem>These men once were horn-blowers, who went the round of every provincial show,
and whose puffed-out cheeks were known in every village;
to-day they hold shows of their own, and win applause by slaying
whomsoever the crowd with '''a turn of the thumb''' bids them slay.<ref>[[s:Satire 3|Juvenal ''Satires'']], translated by George Gilbert Ramsay (1839–1921)</ref></poem>
|}

[[Prudentius]] mentions the thumb gesture (''converso pollice''), used by a [[Vestal virgin]] who delights in the carnage:
{|
|<blockquote>{{Lang|la|inde ad consessum caveae pudor almus et expers sanguinis it pietas hominum visura cruentos congressus mortesque et vulnera vendita pastu spectatura sacris oculis. sedet illa verendis vittarum insignis phaleris fruiturque lanistis. o tenerum mitemque animum! consurgit ad ictus et, quotiens victor ferrum iugulo inserit, illa delicias ait esse suas, pectusque iacentis
virgo modesta iubet '''converso pollice''' rumpi, ne lateat pars ulla animae vitalibus imis altius inpresso dum palpitat ense secutor.}}</blockquote>''
|style="padding-left:2em;"|<blockquote>Then on to the gathering in the amphitheatre passes this figure of life-giving purity and bloodless piety [the Vestal], to see bloody battles and deaths of human beings and look on with holy eyes at wounds men suffer for the price of their keep. There she sits conspicuous with the awe-inspiring trappings of her head-bands and enjoys what the trainers have produced. What a soft, gentle heart! She rises at the blows, and every time a victor stabs his victim’s throat she calls him her pet; the modest virgin with a '''turn of her thumb''' bids him pierce the breast of his fallen foe so that no remnant of life shall stay lurking deep in his vitals while under a deeper thrust of the sword the fighter lies in the agony of death.<ref>[[Prudentius]]. ''Reply to [[Quintus Aurelius Symmachus|Symmachus]], Book II'', in ''Prudentius Volume II'', translated by H. J. Thomson, Loeb Classical Library 398, pp. 93-95.</ref></blockquote>
|}

==In popular culture==
The notion of the ''{{Lang|la|pollice verso}}'' thumb signal was brought to modern popular attention by an 1872 painting by French [[history painting|history painter]] [[Jean-Léon Gérôme]] entitled ''[[Pollice Verso (Gérôme)|Pollice Verso]]'' (usually translated into English as ''Thumbs Down''). It is a large canvas that depicts the [[Vestal Virgin]]s signifying to a [[murmillo]] that they decree death on a fallen gladiator in the arena. The picture was purchased from Gérôme by U.S. department-store magnate [[Alexander Turney Stewart]], who exhibited it in New York City, and it is now in the [[Phoenix Art Museum]] in Arizona.

[[File:Pollice Verso--pamphlet--Paris--1879.jpg|thumb|upright|Title page with illustration from [https://books.google.com/books?id=mrA1qmZQk2sC ''"Pollice Verso": To the Lovers of Truth in Classic Art, This is Most Respectfully Addressed''], 1879]]
The painting almost immediately kicked off a controversy over the accuracy of Gerome's use of the thumbs-down gesture by spectators in the Colosseum. A 26-page pamphlet published in 1879, ''"Pollice Verso": To the Lovers of Truth in Classic Art, This is Most Respectfully Addressed'', reprinted evidence for and against the accuracy of the painting, including a letter dated 8 December 1878 from Gérôme himself.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=mrA1qmZQk2sC ''"Pollice Verso": To the Lovers of Truth in Classic Art, This is Most Respectfully Addressed''], pamphlet dated April 10, 1879, Paris.</ref> Gérôme's painting greatly popularized the idea that thumbs up signaled life, and thumbs down signaled death, for a defeated gladiator. The gesture is used in many movies about Ancient Rome, including the 2000 film ''[[Gladiator (2000 film)|Gladiator]]'', in which the Roman emperor [[Commodus]] uses a thumbs-up to spare the life of the film's hero, [[Maximus Decimus Meridius|Maximus]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/thumbs-up-or-thumbs-down-looking-at-geromes-pollice-verso/|title=Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down? Looking at Gérôme's "Pollice Verso"|last=Spier|first=Christine|date=2010-08-06|website=blogs.getty.edu/iris|access-date=2019-06-09}}</ref>

''{{Lang|la|Pollice Verso}}'' is also the title of a controversial 1904 drawing of [[Crucifixion of Jesus|the Crucifixion]] by Australian artist [[Norman Lindsay]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nga.gov.au/federation/Detail.cfm?WorkID=26258|title=National Gallery of Australia}}</ref> depicting Christ being rejected by nude [[pagan]]s.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Anthony Corbeill. "Thumbs in Ancient Rome: Pollex as Index" in ''Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome'' 42, 1997, pp.&nbsp;61–81.
* Anthony Corbeill. ''Nature Embodied: Gesture in Ancient Rome'', Princeton University Press, 2004. 978-0-691-07494-8
* [[Desmond Morris]]. ''Gestures: Their Origin and Distribution'', 1979.

==External links==
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=mrA1qmZQk2sC ''"Pollice Verso": To the Lovers of Truth in Classic Art, This is Most Respectfully Addressed''], 26-page pamphlet published in 1879 reprinting evidence for and against the accuracy of Gérôme's painting, including a letter dated 8 December 1878 from Gérôme himself.
* [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/journals/AJP/13/2/Pollice_Verso*.html "Pollice Verso"], article by Edwin Post in ''[[American Journal of Philology]]'', Vol.&nbsp;13, No.&nbsp;2 (1892), pp.&nbsp;213–225, online at [[LacusCurtius]]
* [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/gladiators/polliceverso.html "The Gladiator and the Thumb"]
* [http://egallery.phxart.org/view/objects/asitem/items$0040:15877 "Pollice Verso" at Phoenix Art Museum]

{{Gestures}}

[[Category:Culture of ancient Rome]]
[[Category:Gladiatorial combat]]
[[Category:Latin words and phrases]]
[[Category:Hand gestures]]