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Fingers held up in old artwork

In lots of Greek, Roman, and early Christian artwork people that are speaking or teaching seem to have either one finger or two fingers held high above their head as seen in this picture
greek-philosophy.jpg


(I am not including the famous paintings of Christ where his hand gestures are mean to be roman abbreviations)

What does this actually mean? Does it mean speaking/teaching? I always thought it meant they were enlightened from the heavens or something. This also applies to depictions of pagan deity the baphomet who holds its one arm up to the moon and the other down, but that i've read is supposed to represent spiritually balanced between good and evil. However, the depictions of the baphomet have the similar hand gesture with two fingers held up and a thumb either sticking out or sometimes closed.

Does anyone know what the gesture's official meaning is?
 
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