> Maybe my wording was a little bit unfortunate, but I never stated this was actually used in ancient Rome.

If I didn’t want people to think that I was suggesting that something began in ancient Rome I would rewrite the first sentence of the article: “It began in ancient Rome.”

And probably this bit, two sentences later: “Its origins go back much further, as it was based on the Roman salute”

As a perfectly reasonable, not-horrifically-pedantic interpretation of those statements would be that you are flat out stating that the salute was used in ancient Rome and then the Nazis later used it.

Pro tip: if you want people to know that the salute didn’t start in ancient Rome, you could change “It started in ancient Rome” to “It didn’t start in ancient Rome”