Blame a French artist for Elon Musk's 45° arm

You gotta feel bad for the ancient Romans. One French artist, Jacques-Louis David, paints an artwork titled 'Oath of the Horatii' centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire, and they get blamed for something that Elon Musk did at the Trump inauguration on Sunday. Trump's techiology (tech+ideology) stylist enthusiastically flipped out his right hand - twice - the way it was done 'best' in large gatherings in 1930s Nuremberg. Critics pounced, understandably.

The 45° raised arm is associated more with a 'Sieg heil' salute than with, say, petting the head of an invisible giant child. The Nazis got their 'style statement' from the Italian fascist movement that adopted it in 1923. But 20th c. Italians made the salute popular after it was depicted in the popular 1914 silent epic movie, Cabiria.

But it was David's 1784 painting that started the slanted high five. It depicts three brothers from the Horatius family stretching their hands towards their father holding three swords - signifying they are ready to fight. Unlike what the popular imagination holds, there is no record of ancient Romans greeting each other with the 'Musk salute'.


David just cooked it up - and it stuck as a 'Roman salute'. We're thankful that the Trump Show didn't depict any buntings bearing the Hindu spiritual symbol whose name means 'conducive to well-being': Swastik.