11. The ‘thumbs down’ sign might not have been the signal for the victor to kill his fallen opponent after all
At the Colosseum, if the Emperor was in attendance, then he and he alone would decide the fate of a defeated gladiator. However, despite it being a central part of the way gladiatorial fights have been depicted in art and film, there’s no evidence to suggest that the ‘thumbs down’ signal was given to condemn a man to death. In fact, some historians believe that a thumbs up might have been the signal for death. In any case, the crowd’s reaction usually swayed the mind of the Emperor or the head editor, but not always.
