Doug;

Sergey is correct again! The "Thumb down" was an indication to put the sword into the man who was down - to kill him. Thumb up from the crowd meant the crowd was pleased and wanted the person to live. The wishes of the crowd meant little though - the important thing was to please the Emperor. One thumb down from the Emperor would settle the fate of a man regardless of how the crowd felt.

Now anyone familiar with Christians should know this! :)

Tom


>Sergey,
>
>Are you sure?? I distinctly remember thinking, "Oh, that's backwards from all I ever learned." IOW, my first thought would be to agree with you and Steve but as I mentioned I had heard otherwise.
>
>I wonder if there's anyone around here who's an expert on Roman Thumbology. <bg>
>
>
>
>>>Steve,
>>>
>>>I seem to recall that "thumbs up" was death and "thumbs down" was life, in the Roman culture. <g>
>>>
>>>Are we just all bass ackward??? <g>
>>>
>>>
>>Nope. You're remembering backward. :)