Chances are you don’t think about handshakes much at all. If you do, you probably just think back 18 or 20 months to when people were more inclined to offer their hands unwarranted to others whose health condition was unknown, maybe even to complete strangers. So you might be surprised about how much there is to think about when it comes to handshakes. For example, did you know that:

  • Some people believe that the handshake originated as a gesture to prove that you were unarmed; holding out your empty hand showed you weren’t holding a weapon.
    • If that sounds dumb, bear in mind that handshakes pre-date metal detectors.
  • The oldest handshake recorded visually goes back almost 3,000 years. It’s a coin showing an Assyrian king sealing an alliance with a handshake.
    • Like you, the king probably wasn’t sure if that Middle Eastern regime is or isn’t the same thing as Syria.
  • Homer described handshakes numerous times in The Iliad and The Odyssey.
  • A historic photograph after the surrender of Nazi Germany shows the leaders of the United States (Harry Truman), Great Britain (Winston Churchill) and the Soviet Union (Joseph Stalin) shaking hands.

You can learn more about handshakes by checking out these articles on History.com

Image from Pexels user fauxels.