Saluto romano
The Saluto romano ('Roman salute') is a greeting that is witnessed with an outstretched arm.
origin
According to a widespread legend, the Saluto romano is said to have originated in the Roman Empire as a general military greeting . The Trajan's Column in Rome, on which soldiers are depicted, whose gestures can be interpreted in this way, is considered to be evidence . However, there is not a single Roman work of art, in any part of ancient literature, a clear representation of the greeting that was used in the 20th century under fascism or, as a Hitler salute , under National Socialism . In fact, the widespread Roman gesture of greeting was the raised arm with an outstretched index finger ( digitus salutaris ).
It is more likely that the exact gesture wasn't invented until the 18th and 19th centuries. You could be on the painting The Oath of the Horatii by Jacques-Louis David go back (1784), but where no salutatory, but an oath gesture represents.
Often interpreted as a Roman greeting gesture on the Trajan Column in Rome
The equestrian statue of Mark Aurel greets with the index finger
Saluto romano in the picture The Oath of the Horatians by Jacques-Louis David (1784)
execution
There are several versions of the gesture : on the one hand the arm held straight forward with the palm facing down, on the other hand the shape pointing straight up and the arm stretched straight down.
use
The Saluto romano was used frequently, especially in the first half of the 20th century, whereby the meaning of the gesture was interpreted in very different ideological terms.
Olympic games
Use from 1924
The Roman salute the "Olympic Greeting" goes back, of at introduction of the modern Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee as part of the Olympic symbols introduced and opening Summer Olympics in 1924 was shown in Paris for the first time. The gesture was performed by extending the right hand up and slightly forward. The “Olympic greeting” appears on the official posters of the 1924 and 1936 Summer Games and was also featured in works of art from that time.
Olympic Games 1936
The similarity of the Olympic salute to the Hitler salute makes it difficult to distinguish, especially in connection with the Olympic Games in 1936 , whether the raised right hand should honor the Olympic movement or National Socialism . At the opening ceremony in 1936, for example, the French Olympic team raised their right arm as they entered the stadium in an Olympic salute, which the audience misunderstood as a Hitler salute and cheered as an alleged homage .
Today's meaning
Due to the similarity with the Hitler salute, the Olympic salute no longer has any practical meaning. Most recently, the Olympic salute was seen when the nations marched in for the opening of the 1972 Summer Olympics among individual nations. With the 1972 Summer Games, the strict invasion protocol gradually disappeared, which began with the abolition of marching music. With today's invasion of the athletes for the opening of the Olympic Games, which no longer takes place in military lockstep and is more like a show, the Olympic salute is obsolete. It is only shown at the beginning of the exercise when doing gymnastics.
United States
From the Saluto romano emerged, among other things, the Bellamy salute , which was officially prescribed in the USA from 1892 to 1942 when the oath of allegiance to the flag of the United States was spoken.
Italy
Benito Mussolini adopted the Saluto romano in a slightly modified form for his party Partito Nazionale Fascista and later for his own personality cult . Especially from 1922 onwards, during Mussolini’s time as Italian dictator, the salute took on an official state character.
In Italy, symbols of fascism are banned by the 1948 constitution . This prohibition was substantiated by the Legge Scelba of June 20, 1952, since then the Saluto romano has been explicitly forbidden. The Legge Mancino of June 25, 1993 criminalizes not only incitement to racial, ethnic, nationalist or religious discrimination and violence, but also fascist propaganda and the display of symbols of fascist and national socialist organizations.
Liechtenstein
When singing the national anthem of Liechtenstein up on the young Rhine , it is customary to stretch your right arm straight up at the sound of the lines "Long live the Prince of the Land" and "High our Fatherland". But since this can be similar to the Hitler salute, stretching out one's arm is no longer practiced by many today.
Germany
In Germany, Adolf Hitler also adopted the “Saluto romano”, following Mussolini's example. The Hitler salute had been the customary form of greeting in National Socialist circles in the German Reich since around 1925 ; in National Socialist parlance it was also referred to as the "German greeting". While it was initially about greeting the NSDAP members, after the seizure of power in 1933 it became the obligatory greeting for all “ national comrades ”. The gesture was performed by stretching the right hand forward and slightly upward.
The Hitler salute is still used today by right-wing extremist groups and is punishable in Germany in accordance with Section 86a (2) sentence 1 of the Criminal Code and in Austria.
gallery
Statue The Olympic Salute , created in 1928 by Gra Rueb for the 1928 Summer Olympic Games in Amsterdam
Fascist salute during Mussolini's visit to the Italian Navy in Genoa (1932)
Hitler salute at a flag consecration of the SA in Döberitz (1932)
Luz Long with a raised right hand at an award ceremony during the 1936 Summer Olympics
American students with the "Bellamy salute" (1941)
literature
- V. Saladino: Dal saluto alla salvezza. Valori simbolici della mano destra nell'arte greca e romana . In: II Gesto, Nel Rito e nel Cerimoniale dal Mondo Antico ad Oggi , Volume 9, Ponte alle grazie, Florence 1995, pp. 31-52.
- Martin M. Winkler: The Roman Salute. Cinema, History, Ideology. Ohio Sate University Press, Columbus 2009.
Individual evidence
- ^ Martin M. Winkler: The Roman Salute. Cinema, History, Ideology. Columbus 2009, p. 2.
- ^ Karl-Wilhelm Weeber : Everyday life in ancient Rome. A lexicon , sv greeting . Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf / Zurich 1998, p. 47.
- ↑ Markus K. Grimm: The problematic reinvention of the Italian right. The Alleanza Nazionale and its way to the center. Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2016, p. 293.
- ^ The Month - Magazine for Liechtenstein , August 2008, p. 22 (PDF; 2.5 MB). In a 1995 survey of 260 Liechtenstein residents, 181 stated that they knew this custom. 135 respondents adhered to it, 106 not. 39 of them rejected him because he was reminiscent of the Hitler salute, cf. Frommelt: National Anthem , p. 63 u. 51 f.
