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The Iraq Museum in Baghdad contains a stone that displays a carved ninth-century BC relief of Assyrian King Shalmaneser III shaking hands with Babylonian King Marduk Zakir Shumi. Shalmaneser ruled Assyria (now Iraq and Turkey) for over thirty-five years. Two features of the relief are worth noting. It is the first picture discovered of two people shaking hands. And each man is carrying a shepherd’s staff, believed to be a mark of royal authority on peaceful occasions.

The handshake has been the symbol for partnership for almost three thousand years. Some historians believe it became a trusted gesture of alliances because the open hands revealed no weapons; the up and down motion was intended to shake out any weapons hidden ...