# When did applause first appear?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-applause-first-appear/485067>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 9, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-applause-first-appear/485067 "2009-02-09T15:17:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-applause-first-appear/485067/1 "2009-02-09T15:17:56Z")

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I’ve been wondering about applause, or hand clapping meaning approval, usually for a performance. Is it known when it first appeared? It seems instinctive and universal, so would say a Cro-Magnon man or woman (or Neanderthal for that matter) have applauded the group’s hunter/storyteller when he recounted his story of the great mammoth hunt?

Or were the Greeks, Romans, or Chinese (or other, more modern people) the first known people to applaud?

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**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-applause-first-appear/485067/2 "2009-02-09T15:30:44Z")

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I don’t know if the Greeks or Chinese applauded, but the Romans certainly did. Often in the plays of Plautus, a 3d century BC Roman playwright, a character would turn to the audience and say, _Spectatores, plaudite_, you can applaud now, guys.

[Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applause) has an entry on the history of applause.

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**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-applause-first-appear/485067/3 "2009-02-09T15:52:00Z")

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I had the feeling the Romans were involved. Thanks for the link! 🙂

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**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-applause-first-appear/485067/4 "2009-02-09T16:29:08Z")

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I seem to remember reading (back in high school Latin class) that it was initially (in Greek theatre) a way of indicating displeasure - i.e. clap your hands so the actors couldn’t be heard and would eventually leave the stage - the author was railing against the new custom of applauding to congratulate the actors. That said, I am unable to come up with a cite of any sort, so take it from whence it comes…

Grim

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**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-applause-first-appear/485067/5 "2009-02-09T17:10:20Z")

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It goes back to the cro-magnon period.  
The first time Grog tripped and spilled his entire plate of wolly mammoth spare ribs on the cave floor.