Step aside, Eminem
One of the oldest gestures in the book, the Romans called it ‘digitus impudicus’, the ‘shameless finger’. Quite simply, the finger was cleverly designed to mimic the appearance of the male genitalia which was, of course, a very rude thing to flash at another person.
The insult goes back even further, to the legendary 4th century Greek philosopher Diogenes, dubbed the first cynic. Notorious for trolling his fellow philosophers, on one occasion while he was at the inn a group of admirers begged Diogenes to introduce them to a famous rhetorician who was passing through. Without missing a beat, the philosopher raised his middle finger to them and proclaimed, “There goes the demagogue of Athens.”