Yet the existence of hand gestures in the ancient world does not prove that the modern fig gesture originated there.
Popular online explanations sometimes claim that a particular hand sign was used by ancient Romans to insult enemies, celebrate victories, or protect people from evil spirits. Such stories can be compelling, but they should not be accepted as historical fact without trustworthy evidence.
The ancient world left behind written records, sculptures, paintings, and other material evidence. Historians use these sources to investigate how people communicated, but identifying the exact meaning of a specific hand position can be difficult, especially when the surviving evidence is incomplete.
A gesture may resemble a modern sign without carrying the same meaning. Even when two cultures use similar movements, the symbolism behind them may be entirely different.
The most responsible conclusion is that the gesture belongs to a long human tradition of communicating through the hands, while its precise historical development requires careful attention to particular cultures and periods.
