Historical Evolution of sports Historical Evolucion of sports researchpdf | Page 12

Gladiators
A popular form of entertainment was gladiatorial combats. Gladiators fought
either to the death or to "first blood" with a variety of weapons in different
scenarios. These fights achieved
their height of popularity under
the emperor Claudius, who
placed the outcome of the
combat firmly in the hands of the
Emperor with a hand gesture.
Contrary
to
popular
representations in film, several
experts believe the gesture for
death was not "thumbs down".
Although no one is certain about
what the gestures were, some
experts conclude that the emperor signaled "death" by holding a raised fist to
the winning combatant and the next ending his thumb upwards, while "mercy"
was indicated by a raised fist with no extended thumb.
HISTORICAL EVOLUTION OF SPORTS
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