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The Roman salute (Italian: ''saluto romano'') is a gesture in which the arm is held out forward straight, with palm down, and fingers touching. In some versions, the arm is raised upward at an angle; in others, it is held out parallel to the ground. In contemporary times, the former is widely considered a symbol of fascism that is commonly perceived to be based on a custom in ancient Rome.〔Winkler (2009), p. 2〕 However, no Roman text gives this description and the Roman works of art that display salutational gestures bear little resemblance to the modern Roman salute.〔 Jacques-Louis David's painting ''The Oath of the Horatii'' (1784) provided the starting point for the gesture that became later known as the Roman salute. The gesture and its identification with Roman culture were further developed in other neoclassic artworks. This was further elaborated upon in popular culture during the late 19th and early 20th centuries in plays and films that portrayed the salute as an ancient Roman custom. These included a 1914 Italian film called ''Cabiria'' based upon a screenplay by the nationalist poet Gabriele d'Annunzio. In 1919, d'Annunzio adopted the cinematographically depicted salute as a neo-imperial ritual when he led the occupation of Fiume. Through d'Annunzio's influence, the gesture soon became part of the rising Italian Fascist movement's symbolic repertoire. In 1923 the salute was gradually adopted by the Italian Fascist regime. It was then adopted and made compulsory within the Nazi party in 1926, and gained nationwide prominence in the German state when the Nazis took power in 1933. It was also adopted by other fascist movements. Since World War II, the Nazi variant has been a criminal offence in Germany and Austria. Legal restrictions on its use in Italy are more nuanced, and use there has generated controversy.〔Since the historicity of the salute has never been properly questioned, performing it is prosecutable only when "meant to exalt exponents, principles, events and methods" of the extinct National Fascist Party.〕 The gesture and its variations continue to be used in neo-fascist contexts. ==Early Roman sources and images== The modern gesture consists of stiffly extending the right arm frontally and raising it roughly 135 degrees from the body's vertical axis, with the palm of the hand facing down and the fingers stretched out and touching each other.〔 According to common perceptions, this salute was based on an ancient Roman custom.〔 However, this description is unknown in Roman literature and is never mentioned by ancient historians of Rome.〔 Not a single Roman work of art, be it sculpture, coinage, or painting, displays a salute of this kind.〔 The gesture of the raised right arm or hand in Roman and other ancient cultures that ''does'' exist in surviving literature and art generally had a significantly different function and is never identical with the modern straight-arm salute.〔 The right hand (Lat. ''dextera'', ''dextra''; Gr. δεξιά - ''dexia'') was commonly used in antiquity as a symbol of pledging trust, friendship or loyalty.〔K.E. Georges, ''Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch'', Leipzig, Hahn'sche Verlags-buchhandlung Lateinisch-deutscher theil. 1879–80. 2 v.--Deutsch-lateinischer theil 1882 2 v (reprint Berlin 2007) , s.v. "dexter"; cf. ''Lewis-Short'' s.v. "dextera"; cf. ''LSJ'' s.v. "δεξιά".〕 For example, Cicero reported that Octavian pledged an oath to Julius Caesar while outstretching his right arm: Sculptures commemorating military victories such as those on the Arch of Titus, the Arch of Constantine, or on the Column of Trajan are the best known examples of raised arms in art from this period.〔Winkler (2009), pp. 17〕 However these monuments do not display a single clear image of the Roman salute.〔 For example, three such scenes have been analyzed on Trajan's Column.〔Winkler (2008), p. 18〕〔 On plate 99 (LXII, Scenes LXXXIV-LXXXV), six onlookers have their hand raised to Trajan, half extended straight, half bent at the elbow. On the ones with straight arms, only one palm is open but held vertically. The fingers of the three with bent arms are pointed downward.〔 On Plate 167 (CII, Scene CXLI), three Dacians extend their right arms toward the emperor, their open hands held vertically and their fingers spread. None of the Romans are returning their gesture.〔 On plates 122–123 (LXXIV-LXXVI, Scenes CI-CII), the emperor on horseback is greeted by a unit of legionaries. None of the 15 legionaries is raising his entire arm. An officer facing Trajan has his arm close to his body, the lower arm raised, his index finger pointing up, and the other fingers closed. Behind him, two right hands are raised with fingers spread wide. Trajan himself holds his upper right hand close to his body, extending only the lower arm.〔 The images closest in appearance to a raised arm salute are scenes in Roman sculpture and coins which show an ''adlocutio'', ''acclamatio'', ''adventus'', or ''profectio''.〔Winkler (2009), p. 20〕 These are occasions when a high-ranking official, such as a general or the Emperor, addresses individuals or a group, often soldiers. Unlike modern custom, in which both the leader and the people he addresses raise their arms, most of these scenes show only the senior official raising his hand.〔Winkler (2009), pp. 20–21〕 Occasionally it is a sign of greeting or benevolence, but usually it is used as an indication of power.〔 An opposite depiction is the ''salutatio'' of a ''diogmites'', a military police officer, who raises his right arm to greet his commander during his ''adventus'' on a relief from 2nd-century Ephesus.〔Probably as an ''acclamatio''; note palm is perpendicular to the ground and thumb is sticking up cf. Graham Sumner, ''Roman military clothing: 100 BC – AD 200'', Oxford 2002, (p. 47 ), pl. G3 (''Diogmitoi'' (correct plural: ''diogmitai'' )).〕 An example of a salutational gesture of imperial power can be seen in the statue of Augustus of Prima Porta which follows certain guidelines set out by oratory scholars of his day.〔 In ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'' the anonymous author states that the orator "will control himself in the entire frame of his body and in the manly angle of his flanks, with the extension of the arm in the impassioned moments of speech, and by drawing in the arm in relaxed moods". Quintilian states in his ''Institutio Oratoria'': 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Roman salute」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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