THE ANCIENT WORLDCHAPTER 2

The Ancient Greeks and Romans

Phaistos DiskMinoan

Mid–late Bronze Age

Phoenician

North Semetic alphabet

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2-18Greek Papyrus Codex Rustic Capitals, 3rd Cent. AD

2-11Votive stela with four figures, 5th century B.C

three‑sided square with a central dot for the E and a V‑shaped horizontal in the A

• At about the same time the transition of book-writing from papyrus rolls to parchment codices took place, new kinds of writing developed. Thus uncial originated as a calligraphic representation of the Roman cursive capital. It survives in over 500 manuscripts from the 4th century on, and lasted as a widespread text hand until the 8th century. Remarkably, the new script seems to have been favoured for christian prose texts, classical literature remaining the play ground for capitalis for a longer period. Uncial is a majuscle or 'capital' script: most of its letters are written between two horizontal lines, like our modern capitals; except for H and L (with upward strokes or ascenders) and F, G and P (with downward strokes or descenders). Typical uncial-forms are A, D, E and M.

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Greek wooden tablet with uncials, A.D. 326.

Uncial is a majuscule script (written entirely in capital letters) commonly used from the 4th to 8th centuries AD by Latin and Greek scribes. Uncial letters were used to write Greek, Latin, and Gothic.

• The Latin alphabet comes to Rome by way of ancient Etruscans (Italian) and Roman conquest of Greece in the 1st C BCE.

• Roman writing became a sequence of linear geometric form based on the square, circle and triangle.

• The Roman capital letter was introduced to the world in three different, but related forms; Capitalis Monumentalis (monumental capitals) Capitalis Quadrata (square capitals) and Capitalis Rustica (rustic capitals).

• Biblical texts and works by christian authors, were rarely written in capital letters, capitalis; from the outset these were almost always written in uncial or half-uncial.

• Capitalis rustica, sometimes referred to as canonical capitalis, was the most important script for rolls and codices from the 1st till the 6th century. It was considered appropriate for classical 'pagan' texts to be visualised in this calligraphic script, at least until the 4th century, when other types of bookscript made their appearance.

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Trajan’s Column, Rome, 114 CEhonoring the accomplishments of the emperor, TrajanUsing capitalis monumentalis

“The written word remains”

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Base of Trajan’s Column, Capitalis Monumentalis

2-18 Detail, inscription on a tomb along the Appian Way, Rome.

2-18 Pompein wall writing Rustic Capitals, political propaganda

• A codex (from the Latin caudex for "trunk of a tree" or block of wood, book; plural codices) is a book constructed of a number of sheets of paper, vellum, papyrus, or similar materials, with hand-written content.

• The Romans developed the form from wooden writing tablets. The codex's gradual replacement of the scroll—the dominant book form in the ancient world—has been called[by whom?] the most important advance in book making before the invention of printing.

• Verso—A left-hand page of a book or the reverse side of a leaf, as opposed to the recto or right-hand page or top side of a leaf. The back of a coin or medal is also called the verso side. (think recto (R) = right (R).