Flip A Coin

Coin Flip Online History

The tradition of flipping a coin, or, ‘heads or tails,’ goes back to ancient years, when the decision about a given problem was made by chance or by turning to divination.

The Origin of Flipping a Coin

Spats and judgments occurred in the network sites of early Rome thousands of years ago in various markets. Everyone from merchants to soldiers and citizens themselves grappled for fair methods to settle their disputes over pricing and responsibilities, respectively. Among the people was a Roman practice known as navia aut caput—literally meaning ship or head.

This practice got its nickname from the Roman currency, which had a ship on one side and the head of a major leader, for instance, the emperor, on the reverse side. Whenever there was a dilemma in making a decision, people used to launch the coin in the air and their preferred side referred to as ‘tails’ - ‘heads’. Accepted and reasonable procedure putting the decision to the share of Fortuna, the deity of chance, is fair and reasonable.

This may actually be why people had the tradition of flipping a coin because it was easy to do but the behavior may have begun earlier than that with the Greeks. As for the cigarettes, they stubbed one out and smoked the other, or they drew on one side of an object, such as a shard of pottery or a seashell, to represent a choice. It was the Romans who were seen to have formalized this custom and used coins to spread this practice across the Roman Empire.

For centuries, this primitive action—tossing a coin—has become universal and globalized. During the Middle Ages, it had become widely used in Europe when people wanted to make a fair decision. Knights could flip for who got to hold the tournament in the jousting, while villagers could flip for who owned what piece of land.

Since coins were becoming more homogeneous and global, flipping them became fashionable as well. By the 18th and the 19th centuries, ‘heads or tails’ became widely used in English-speaking countries. It got to other areas of the world where it was adopted as the sign of a neutral decision-maker.

In the present time, the tossing of a coin is often utilized in sports events, legal judgments, as well as decisions in the field. Likewise, the fact that the act itself is both very old and very basic, while at the same time being non-prejudiced and completely reasonable, has effectively placed it within the reach of people for a great many centuries. While in ancient Rome it was navia aut caput, today it has become a tradition connected with our ancestors, which tells us that where luck and chance have always played a role in our decisions.