History
The historical origin of coin flipping is the interpretation of a chance outcome as the expression of divine will.
Coin flipping as a game was known to the Romans as "navia aut caput" ('ship or head'), as some coins had a ship on one side and the head of the emperor on the other. In England, this game was referred to as cross and pile, and on the 19th century California frontier, as Indian or Wheat.
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“Man watches his history on the screen with apathy and an occasional passing flicker of horror or indignation.”
—Conor Cruise O’Brien (b. 1917)
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