>>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>
>
>I'm not expert but I'm pretty sure that thumbs-up meant "live" and thumbs-down - "die".

I'm 100% sure in it too.