Elon Musk’s gesture has drawn comparisons to Roman salutes by right-wing fans. But, what exactly is one?
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The salute became popularized in the 18th and 19th centuries in artworks and theatre performances, showing Romans saluting as a way of greeting each other. Elon Musk has been slammed online after his gesture at Trump’s inauguration was compared to a “Nazi salute.” However, some of his biggest fans rushed to his defense calling it a Roman salute and trying to downplay the connection to World War II Germany.
![[August 1927: Austrian born German fascist dictator, Adolf Hitler, saluting the massed ranks of his party during the party congress at Nuremberg]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/21/12/GettyImages-3167533.jpg)
“The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired,” he added. During the 2024 campaign, Musk joined forces with President Donald Trump, helping him win by donating more than $250 million to the efforts to get Trump elected. Musk, who bought Twitter in 2022 for $44 billion and renamed it X, faced widespread backlash for seemingly mimicking a Nazi salute multiple times during his appearance in Capital One Arena in downtown Washington.
The salute, also known as the Roman salute, involves putting your arm forward with fingers together and your palm downwards. It’s alleged to have been used in ancient Rome, but there’s no Roman text that describes the salute. In the 1930s and 1940s, it became associated with the Nazi party in Germany.
The salute was used as a symbol in the Neoclassical art movement to display Roman virtues such as honor, patriotism and civic duty. In the 20th century, it was put to use by fascists in Italy and the Nazi party in Germany. Both also used a number of other Roman and Neoclassical symbols.
