DESIGN 2750 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Lapis Niger, Boustrophedon, Vellum
11 Feb 2018
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Aramaic alphabetic letters used largely for fancy aristocratic stuff. This eventually turned into greek, which developed around 8 bce. If you were gonna participate in a democracy in greece, you had to be literate. Earliest examples of greek alphabet followed boustrophedon ( as the ox ploughs ). Means left to right, drop down a line, then right to left. Stoichedon lettering (greek) is very clear, linear, uni ed. Words don"t appear to be broken up, and there"s no punctuation. Meant to be read aloud, which explains the no-punctuation thing. Pen and brush on papyrus cursive developed and was more of a private way to write. Lapis niger (roman): writing on all four sides, no clear order for it. Most people probably couldn"t read it, but it didn"t matter. Romans put writing on practically every public surface. Trajan column is roman but looks very greek.
