The History Behind Everyday Gestures: From Ancient Battlefields to Modern Boardrooms

The Ancient Greek Handshake: A Symbol of Peace and Equality

Picture this: you’re about to meet someone for the first time, and instinctively, you extend your right hand. But have you ever wondered why we do this? The handshake has roots stretching back to at least the 5th century BCE in ancient Greece, where it was a symbol of peace that showed neither person was carrying a weapon. The Greeks called this gesture “dexiosis,” which roughly translates to “taking the right hand.”

In Homer’s epic classics like The Odyssey and The Iliad, handshakes are frequently mentioned as demonstrations of trust, with characters clasping hands as a pledge of good faith. Archaeological evidence supports this ancient practice too. A funeral relic from the 5th century in Berlin’s Pergamon Museum depicts two soldiers shaking hands, while a stone slab shows goddesses Hera and Athena in the same gesture.

Roman Grip: From Handshake to Arm Clasp

The Romans took this Greek tradition and made it their own, but with a twist. Roman handshakes were different from the Greek version, as they often involved clasping the forearms as a sign of trust and friendship, and as the Roman Empire expanded, this custom spread to many regions under its control. This wasn’t just about being polite—it was a practical security measure.

In Rome, the handshake was more of a forearm grab, with the intent to make sure the person you’re greeting wasn’t carrying a knife in his sleeve. Talk about trust issues! The Roman approach was all about mutual inspection, ensuring that both parties were genuinely peaceful in their intentions.

Medieval Knights and the Shaking Motion

The act of physically shaking the hand, not just extending it, supposedly comes from medieval Europe, where knights would take someone’s hand and shake it to make any loosely hidden weapons fall to the ground. This up-and-down motion we’re all familiar with today served a very practical purpose. During the Middle Ages, handshaking was associated with chivalry and courtesy, with knights offering their hand to demonstrate they weren’t carrying weapons and to show respect to their peers.

Imagine meeting someone and literally shaking the danger out of their sleeves. Medieval times were definitely not known for their trust issues being subtle! This period solidified the handshake as both a greeting and a security check rolled into one convenient gesture.

Quakers and the Modern Handshake Revolution

The handshake as an everyday greeting is a more recent phenomenon, popularized by 17th-century Quakers who viewed a simple handclasp as a more egalitarian alternative to bowing or tipping a hat, and by the 1800s, etiquette manuals often included guidelines for proper handshaking technique. In the 17th century, Quakers considered the handshake more egalitarian than other forms of greeting, and some 17th-century marriage portraits even depict couples shaking hands as a symbol of their legally binding engagement.

The Quakers were onto something revolutionary here. They rejected the hierarchical nature of bowing and hat-tipping, choosing instead a gesture that implied equality between all people. By the Victorian era, etiquette guides counseled that the handshake should be firm but not overly strong, with one 1877 guide noting that “A gentleman who rudely presses the hand offered him in salutation…ought never to have an opportunity to repeat his offense”.

The Thumbs-Up Myth: What Romans Really Meant

Here’s where things get interesting—and completely backwards from what most people think. According to Anthony Corbeill, a classical studies professor who has extensively researched the practice, thumbs up signaled killing a gladiator, while “a closed fist with a wraparound thumb” meant sparing him. That’s right—thumbs up meant death in ancient Rome!

In ancient Rome, the thumbs-up signal was known as “infestus pollex” or “hostile thumb,” and was essentially equivalent to today’s middle finger—it was a threat and an insult. The idea that thumbs up signaled life and thumbs down signaled death was largely popularized by Jean-Léon Gérôme’s 1872 painting “Pollice Verso,” which heavily influenced films like Gladiator (2000).

World War II and the Modern Thumbs-Up

Popularization of the positive thumbs-up gesture in the United States is generally attributed to World War II pilots, who used it to communicate with ground crews before take-off, possibly originating with the China-based Flying Tigers. The appreciative Chinese would say “ting hao de” meaning “very good” and gesture with a thumbs up, which in Chinese means “you’re number one,” and high officials in the Chinese government see it as a sign of respect.

During World War II, pilots on US aircraft carriers adopted the thumbs-up gesture to alert deck crew that they were ready to go, and American GIs are reputed to have picked up on the gesture and spread it throughout Europe as they marched toward Berlin. Who knew that our modern understanding of this simple gesture has such recent military origins?

The Wave: From Weapon-Free Hands to Friendly Greeting

The wave might seem like the most natural greeting in the world, but it too has martial origins. Like the handshake, the wave likely evolved from the medieval practice of raising one’s hand to show it was weapon-free. In the Middle Ages, knights would raise their visors with a wave-like motion to reveal their identity and show respect.

Think about it—when you wave at someone, you’re essentially showing them your empty palm, just like our ancestors did centuries ago. The gesture has evolved from a survival mechanism into one of the most universal forms of acknowledgment across cultures. It’s amazing how something so simple carries the weight of medieval military protocol!

Winston Churchill and the Victory Sign

Belgian politician Victor de Laveleye is widely credited with initiating the “V for Victory” sign during World War II, becoming director of the Belgian division of the BBC after fleeing to London in 1940. The V-sign with palm outward as a victory sign was introduced in January 1941 as part of a campaign by the Allied powers and made widely known by Winston Churchill.

The V-sign was popularized during World War II as a call for unconditional victory over fascism, but morphed into a celebratory gesture immediately after the wars ended in 1945, when victory also meant peace. Churchill’s famous two-fingered salute became one of the most recognizable symbols of the Allied war effort.

The 1960s Peace Movement: Reclaiming the V-Sign

By the late 1960s, members of the Vietnam generation—specifically the anti-war and countercultural movement—recycled and adopted the V-sign as a call to end the war in Southeast Asia, with American hippies taking the “V for Victory” symbol and converting it into a more general “peace” sign. Protesters against the Vietnam War and counterculture activists in the 1960s adopted the gesture as a sign of peace, and because hippies often flashed this sign while saying “Peace,” it became popularly known as “the peace sign”.

The evolution of the V-sign was likely part of a larger cultural trend of turning military and patriotic symbolism on its head in protest of the war, with counterculture activists pairing Army surplus clothing with very un-military styles like long hair on men. The peace movement had essentially hijacked Churchill’s victory symbol and given it an entirely new meaning.

Clapping: Ancient Appreciation Still Going Strong

When you applaud a great performance, you’re participating in a tradition that stretches back thousands of years. Roman audiences clapped and snapped fingers to show appreciation during performances, and the practice has remained remarkably consistent across cultures and centuries. Ancient civilizations in Egypt and Rome used clapping as a form of approval and praise.

What’s fascinating is how this gesture has maintained its meaning almost unchanged throughout history. Unlike other gestures that have evolved or been reinterpreted, clapping has remained a universal sign of appreciation. From Roman theaters to modern concert halls, the sound of applause continues to be the ultimate compliment an audience can give to a performer.

Namaste: The Ancient Indian Gesture of Respect

The pressed palms gesture, known as “namaste” or “anjali mudra,” represents one of the oldest documented greeting gestures in human history. The añjali mudrā gesture dates back over 3,000 years and is still used in Hindu, Buddhist, and other spiritual traditions to express humility, gratitude, or spiritual recognition. This gesture embodies a completely different philosophy from Western handshakes—rather than showing empty hands for security, it represents the soul acknowledging the soul in another person.

In Hindu tradition, the word “namaste” literally means “I bow to you,” and the gesture is believed to honor the divine spark within every individual. Unlike gestures that evolved from military or security concerns, the pressed palms represent pure spiritual recognition and respect.

The “I Love You” Sign: Modern ASL Goes Mainstream

One of the newest gestures in our collection has surprisingly recent origins. The “I Love You” sign is a combination of the ASL letters I (pinky), L (thumb/index), and Y (thumb/pinky), and gained popularity in pop culture through rock musicians and later public figures. This gesture represents a beautiful fusion of deaf culture with mainstream communication.

What makes this gesture particularly interesting is how it bridges the gap between sign language and popular culture. Rock musicians began using it in the 1960s and 1970s, and it gradually spread beyond the music world to become a widely recognized symbol of affection and positive feelings. It’s a perfect example of how modern gestures can emerge from specific communities and achieve universal recognition.

The Vulcan Salute: From Star Trek to Global Recognition

Leonard Nimoy borrowed the Vulcan salute from the Jewish priestly blessing gesture used in synagogue ceremonies, and it became a sci-fi cultural icon and symbol of goodwill. This gesture represents a fascinating example of how ancient religious practices can be transformed into modern popular culture symbols. Nimoy, who was Jewish, drew from his childhood memories of seeing this gesture during religious services.

The Vulcan salute perfectly encapsulates the phrase “Live long and prosper,” and has transcended its Star Trek origins to become a widely recognized greeting. It’s remarkable how a gesture from Jewish religious tradition, filtered through science fiction, has become a symbol of peace and friendship recognized worldwide.

The Science Behind Hand Gestures

Research at Israel’s Weizmann Institute discovered that human handshakes serve as a means of transferring social chemical signals between people, with a tendency to bring shaken hands near the nose to smell them, potentially serving an evolutionary need to learn about the person. This suggests that even our most “civilized” gestures might have deep biological roots.

The fact that we unconsciously smell our hands after shaking someone else’s hand indicates that gesture communication operates on levels we’re not even aware of. It’s like we’re still cavemen in business suits, using ancient sensory methods to evaluate the people we meet. Modern science is revealing that our everyday gestures carry far more information than we realize.

Cultural Variations and Modern Adaptations

In the United States, United Kingdom and Canada, a traditional handshake is firm, executed with the right hand, with good posture and eye contact, and is deemed good etiquette when both parties are standing. However, in some countries such as Turkey or Arabic-speaking Middle East regions, handshakes are not as firm as in the West, and a grip that is too firm is considered rude.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, several countries adopted policies encouraging alternative modes of greeting instead of handshakes, including elbow bumps, fist bumps, foot tapping, or non-contact actions like the namaste gesture. The pandemic forced us to reconsider gestures we’d taken for granted for centuries, leading to creative adaptations that maintained social connection while ensuring safety.

Conclusion: The Endless Evolution of Human Connection

From ancient Greek battlefields to modern boardrooms, our everyday gestures carry the weight of thousands of years of human history. What started as practical security measures—showing empty hands to prove peaceful intentions—has evolved into complex systems of social communication that vary dramatically across cultures and time periods.

The journey from Roman gladiator arenas to modern business meetings shows how gestures can completely reverse their meanings while maintaining their power to communicate. Next time you shake someone’s hand, flash a peace sign, or give a thumbs up, remember that you’re participating in an ancient human tradition that connects you to countless generations before you.

Isn’t it amazing how something as simple as moving your hand can carry so much history and meaning? What other everyday actions might have equally fascinating backstories waiting to be discovered?