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National Geographic has an article that details the story of Emperor Trajan, which includes this amazing interactive graphic that helps you read the column’s circular tale.Interesting information related to the Trajan column:
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Photo credit: Silver Tusk / Foter / CC BY (You can also see the same inscription on the image above, which may give you a clearer view.) If you are unsure where they fall, click the image to see a close up with the points highlighted:Ĭast of the base of the column. See if you can find all of the punctus shown on the second line.
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This sample of text shows you both the script being used as well as the punctus. 6).Ĭheck out this example from a plaster cast of the Trajan column. The practice of separating words with space developed alongside the increased use of punctuation and abbreviated forms - an analysis of the scribal practice in using these three things can often be of use in the dating and localizing of a manuscript” ( Ductus, “The Roman Writing System 1: Roman Literary Script and Square Capitals”, para. In Ductus, the following is noted: “In de luxe manuscripts a medial or raised punctus was sometimes used to separate words in order to facilitate the reading of the text . In simpler terms, the punctus is a dot which can take on a variety of functions and sit wherever it wants to.” In this case, it is denoting an end to a word or abbreviation. This was a common practice during this time as a way to separate words, functioning “ much like the modern comma, semicolon and period. On the Trajan column, the words (or their abbreviations) are separated by dots or points, called punctus, at the medial point of the line. The third thumbnail includes a quick (albeit incomplete) view sample letters from the major scripts (T. Humanist (from around 1400 onward), which helped develop modern European handwriting.Ĭlick on one of the first two thumbnails below to see a larger view of each researcher’s individual “family tree” of script development.Gothic (12th to 16th centuries), which included different styles that depended on the region or country it was associated with (Textura, Cursive Anglicana, Litera Hybrida, etc.).Protogothic (11th to 12th centuries), which was developed in England and moved into France, incorporating Anglo-Saxon Minuscule into the earlier Caroline script.Martin’s at Tours and was greatly used throughout Europe Caroline (developed around 800), which was developed at the Abbey of St.Pre-Caroline (7th to 8th centuries), which was comprised of “national” scripts, such as Visigothic, Lexeuil, Corbie, and Insular Minuscules.Roman writing systems, which has the following developmental pattern: Square Capital => Rustic Capital => Uncial => Mixed Uncial => Semi-/Half-Uncial.According to Ductus, the six major phases of script development can be (basically) summed up as the following: Ductus also mentions that script evolution would at times become so convoluted that people would attempt to return to a more legible script of the past. Because script was not static, there were consistent developments in handwriting over time, so the phases of script development did not have a clear beginning or ending period.
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