Quote Originally Posted by The Persian Cataphract
The hand-shake was primarily a sign of good will; For instance we read about the last Achaemenid King of Kings, Darius III Codomannus, and his encounter with a Macedonian soldier during his dying moments. The Macedonian soldier had found him mortally wounded, and offered water and aid. Darius shook his hand and requested that it should be passed to Alexander. This was not some cult-restrictive thing, even though in the case of the Mêhr cult, the hand-shake could have been a form of professionalism before covenants were made.

The gesture itself is very efficient in its simplicity; What does it tell about it? It basically says "I am extending my arm" (...Retranslate into "I am extending my offer"), "I gave you my hand first" (...Retranslate into "I initiate and close the deal"), and the moment the two hands join, we see a symbolized embodiment of a mutual contract, and the shake "seals it". The hand-shake also says "I am coming in peace" and nothing would illustrate it better than an unarmed hand ready to receive a physical reply.

Hope this helped.
Yeah, it helped quite a bit. I would infer from what you write that this is the modern handshake, however you don't explicitly state that. Would be interested to know if this is the case. Thanks for the help.