ORIGIN OF THE HANDSHAKE
G'day folks,
Ever wondered where handshakes started?
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,” the 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 ninth century B.C. relief,
which shows the Assyrian King Shalmaneser III pressing the flesh with a
Babylonian ruler to seal an alliance. The 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 the fourth and
fifth century B.C. Greek funerary art. 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.
While the
handshake had several meanings in the ancient world, its use as an everyday
greeting is a more recent phenomenon. Some historians believe it was
popularized by the 17th century Quakers, who viewed a simple handclasp as a
more egalitarian alternative to bowing or tipping a hat. The greeting later
became commonplace, and by the 1800s, etiquette manuals often included
guidelines for the proper handshaking technique. As is often suggested today,
the Victorian shake was supposed to be firm but not overly strong. One 1877
guide counseled its readers that, “a gentleman who rudely presses the hand
offered him in salutation, or too violently shakes it, ought never to have an
opportunity to repeat his offense.”
Clancy's comment: There ya go.
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