Pollice verso

Pollice verso

Pollice verso or verso pollice is a Latin phrase, meaning "with a turned thumb", that is used in the context of gladiatorial combat. It refers to the hand gesture used by Ancient Roman crowds to pass judgment on a defeated gladiator.

The type of gesture described by the phrase "pollice verso" is unclear. From the historical and literary record it is uncertain whether the thumb was turned up, turned down, held horizontally, or concealed inside the hand to indicate positive or negative opinions. [ [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/gladiators/polliceverso.html "The Gladiator and the Thumb"] ]

Popularly, it is assumed that "thumbs down" was the signal that a defeated gladiator should be condemned to death; "thumbs up", that he should be spared.

Classical sources

The Roman text "Satire III" of Juvenal seems to indicatevague that, contrary to modern usage, the thumbs down signified that the losing gladiator was to be spared and that the thumbs up meant he was to be killed.Fact|date=January 2008

Although more recently peopleWho|date=March 2008 are beginning to think that the thumb was held up and in towards the chest to mean deliver the killing blow. Otherwise the thumb was held down and out (away from the body) to tell the gladiator to throw down his weapon and spare the other's life.

Popular history

The notion of the "pollice verso" thumb signal was brought to popular attention by an 1872 painting by French history painter Jean-Léon Gérôme titled "Pollice Verso" (usually translated into English as "Thumbs Down"). It is a large canvas that depicts the Vestal Virgins signifying death to a fallen gladiator in the arena.

The picture was purchased from Gérôme by U.S. department-store magnate Alexander Turney Stewart (1803–1876), who exhibited it in New York City, and it is now in the Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona.

The painting was a strong influence on the film "Gladiator". The producers showed director Ridley Scott a reproduction of the painting before he read the script; "That image spoke to me of the Roman Empire in all its glory and wickedness. I knew right then and there I was hooked", commented Scott. [ [http://www.phxart.org/collection/verso.asp Phoenix Art Museum - Jean-Léon Gérôme: Pollice Verso ] ]

"Pollice Verso" is also the title of a controversial drawing of 1904 by Australian artist Norman Lindsay. [ [http://www.nga.gov.au/federation/Detail.cfm?WorkID=26258 National Gallery of Australia] ]

ee also

*Hand gesture

References

Further reading

* Anthony Corbeill - "Thumbs in Ancient Rome: pollex as Index" in "Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome" 42 (1997) pp61-81.
* Anthony Corbeill - "Nature Embodied: Gesture in Ancient Rome" (Princeton University Press, 2004) 978-0-691-07494-8
* Desmond Morris - "Gestures"

External links

* [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/journals/AJP/13/2/Pollice_Verso*.html "Pollice Verso"] , article by Edwin Post in "The American Journal of Philology", Vol. 13, No. 2 (1892), pp. 213-225, online at LacusCurtius
* [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/gladiators/polliceverso.html "The Gladiator and the Thumb"]
* [http://www.phxart.org/collection/verso.asp "Pollice Verso" at Phoenix Art Museum]


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Pollice Verso — (ou Le pouce renversé), tableau de 1872 par Jean Léon Gérôme (Phoenix Art Gallery). Pollice verso ou verso pollice est une expression latine, signifiant « Le pouce renversé », utilisée lors de combat de gladiateurs. Elle fait référence …   Wikipédia en Français

  • pollice verso — /pohl li ke werdd soh/; Eng. /pol euh see verr soh/, Latin. with thumbs turned downward: the sign made by spectators calling for the death of a defeated gladiator in the ancient Roman circus. * * * pollice verso /polˈi sē vûrˈsō, polˈi ke verˈsō… …   Useful english dictionary

  • Pollice Verso (Gérôme) — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Pollice Verso. Pollice Verso Artiste Jean Léon Gérôme …   Wikipédia en Français

  • pollice verso — foreign term Etymology: Latin with thumb turned ; with a gesture or expression of condemnation …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • pollice verso — /pohl li ke werdd soh/; Eng. /pol euh see verr soh/, Latin. with thumbs turned downward: the sign made by spectators calling for the death of a defeated gladiator in the ancient Roman circus. * * * …   Universalium

  • pollice — pòl·li·ce s.m. AD 1. il più grosso dito della mano, che si oppone alle altre dita ed è costituito di due sole falangi; anche in funz. agg.: il dito pollice 2. impropr., alluce 3. TS metrol. antica unità di misura di lunghezza equivalente a 2,54… …   Dizionario italiano

  • pollice — s. m. dito grosso, primo dito FRASEOLOGIA non cedere di un pollice (fig.), resistere a tutti i costi □ avere il pollice verde (fig.), essere un abile giardiniere □ pollice verso, rifiuto, disapprovazione □ girarsi i pollici (fig.), oziare, non… …   Sinonimi e Contrari. Terza edizione

  • verso — ve/rso (1) agg. nella loc. pollice verso (fig.), condanna, bocciatura. ve/rso (2) s. m. rovescio, retro CONTR. retto, recto (lat.). ve/rso (3) s. m. 1. (di poesia) riga, unità rit …   Sinonimi e Contrari. Terza edizione

  • verso (1) — {{hw}}{{verso (1)}{{/hw}}agg. (raro, lett.) Voltato | Pollice –v, volto in basso, in segno di condanna. ETIMOLOGIA: dal lat. versus, part. pass. di vertere ‘volgere, girare’. verso (2) {{hw}}{{verso (2)}{{/hw}}s. m. Faccia posteriore di un foglio …   Enciclopedia di italiano

  • POLLEX, a POLLENDO — quod vi et potestate inter coeteros digitos polleat; Graecis proin ἀντίχειρ, quasi manus altera dictus; apud Antiquos multum venerationis habuit: Minervae una cum reliquis digitis consecratus. Significabant autem diversô eius gestu varios animi… …   Hofmann J. Lexicon universale

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