Handshake
Assyrian Relief of the Peace Agreement between the Assyrian King Shalmaneser III, while receiving the King of Babylon, Marduk Zakir Shumi (9th century BC).
This ritual gesture has existed since ancient times, but its use as an everyday greeting is a more recent phenomenon.
The handshake has existed in some form or another for thousands of years, but its origins are somewhat murky. One popular theory is that the gesture began as a way of conveying peaceful intentions.
By extending their empty right hands, strangers could show that they were not holding weapons and bore no ill will toward one another.
Some even suggest that the up-and-down motion of the handshake was supposed to dislodge any knives or daggers that might be hidden up a sleeve.
Yet another explanation is that the handshake was a symbol of good faith when making an oath or promise. When they clasped hands, people showed that their word was a sacred bond.
“An agreement can be expressed quickly and clearly in words,” historian Walter Burkert once explained, “but is only made effective by a ritual gesture: open, weaponless hands stretched out toward one another, grasping each other in a mutual handshake.”
One of the earliest depictions of a handshake is found in a 9th century BC relief, which shows Assyrian King Shalmaneser III pressing flesh with a Babylonian ruler to seal an alliance.
Epic poet Homer described handshakes several times in his “Iliad” and “Odyssey,” most often in relation to pledges and displays of trust.
The gesture was also a recurring motif in 4th-5th century BC. Greek funerary art and gravestones would often depict the deceased person shaking hands with a member of their family, signifying either a final farewell or the eternal bond between the living and the dead.
In ancient Rome, meanwhile, the handshake was often used as a symbol of friendship and loyalty. Pairs of clasped hands even appeared on Roman coins.
📍British Museum
