Remix.run Logo
jrflowers an hour ago

> Maybe my wording was a little bit unfortunate, but I never stated this was actually used in ancient Rome.

If I didn’t want people to think that I was suggesting that something began in ancient Rome I would rewrite the first sentence of the article: “It began in ancient Rome.”

And probably this bit, two sentences later: “Its origins go back much further, as it was based on the Roman salute”

As a perfectly reasonable, not-horrifically-pedantic interpretation of those statements would be that you are flat out stating that the salute was used in ancient Rome and then the Nazis later used it.

Pro tip: if you want people to know that the salute didn’t start in ancient Rome, you could change “It started in ancient Rome” to “It didn’t start in ancient Rome”

WarCommons an hour ago | parent [-]

Thank you for your tip! I'll take it to heart and improve my writing.

But I do stand by my wording. As calling it the Roman Salute is genuine. Just Google it. But, more important I never stated that it was used in ancient Rome. The link to Mussolini starts there is the argument. So it did start in ancient Rome, but only if you look at it analytically deeper, like the article does!

jrflowers an hour ago | parent [-]

I’m confused here. By your own writing the first depiction of that salute was from 1784 and you don’t provide any corroboration to the notion that it actually has any connection to any salute used by Romans. Jacques-Louis David could’ve painted the brothers dabbing or doing various stages of the Macarena (and if he did, he’d be closer in time to the popular use of those gestures than he was to ancient Rome)

How on earth could you possibly know that it was “based on” some maybe-kinda-similar-or-not Roman salute, but it also definitely wasn’t used in Rome? It originated there but wasn’t used there? That isn’t a coherent position.

It seems like you’ve established, with documentation, that an Italian guy saw and liked a painting made by a French guy that lived a thousand years closer in history to Gangnam Style than the fall of Rome. If you did some sort of rich analysis that extrapolates that into the history of the Roman empire it didn’t make its way into your article.