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PALAEOGRAPHY (Gr. aaXalbs, ancient, a...

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 557 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PALAEOGRAPHY (Gr. aaXalbs, See also:ancient, and ypal6ew, to write) , the See also:science of ancient See also:handwriting acquired from study of surviving examples. While See also:epigraphy is the science which deals with See also:inscriptions (q.v.) engraved on See also:stone or See also:metal or other enduring material as memorials for future ages, palaeography takes cognisance of writings of a See also:literary, economic, or legal nature written generally with See also:stile, See also:reed or See also:pen, on tablets, rolls or codices. The boundary, however, between the two sciences is not always to be exactly defined. The fact that an inscription occurs upon a hard material in a fixed position does not necessarily bring it under the See also:head of epigraphy. Such specimens of See also:writing as the graffiti or See also:wall-scribblings of See also:Pompeii and ancient See also:Rome belong as much to the one science as to the other; for they neither occupy the position of inscriptions set up with See also:special See also:design as epigraphical monuments, nor are they the movable written documents with which we connect the See also:idea of palaeography. But such exceptions only slightly affect the broad distinction just specified. The See also:scope of this See also:article is to trace the See also:history of See also:Greek and Latin palaeography from the earliest written documents in those See also:languages which have survived. In Greek palaeography we have a subject which is self-contained. The Greek See also:character, in its pure See also:form, was used for one See also:language only; but the universal study of that language throughout See also:Europe and the wide See also:diffusion of its literature have been the cause of the See also:accumulation of Greek See also:MSS. in every centre of learning. The See also:field of Latin palaeography is much wider, for the See also:Roman See also:alphabet has made its way into every See also:country of western Europe, and the study of its various developments and changes is essential for a proper understanding of the character which we write. Handwriting, like every other See also:art, has its different phases of growth, perfection and decay. A particular form of writing is gradually See also:developed, then takes a finished or calligraphic See also:style and becomes the See also:hand of its See also:period, then deteriorates, breaks up and disappears, or only drags on an artificial existence, being meanwhile superseded by another style which, either developed from the older hand or introduced independently, runs the same course, and in its turn is displaced by a younger See also:rival.

Thus in the history of Greek writing we see the literary uncial hand passing from See also:

early forms into the calligraphic See also:stage, and then driven out by the minuscule, which again goes through a See also:series of important changes. In Latin, the literary See also:capital and uncial hands give See also:place to the smaller character; and this, after See also:running its course and developing See also:national characteristics in the different countries of the See also:West, deteriorates and is superseded almost universally by the See also:Italian hand of the See also:Renaissance. Bearing in mind these natural changes, it is evident that a style of writing, once developed, is best at the period when it is in See also:general use, and that the See also:oldest examples of that period are the simplest, in which vigour and naturalness of handwriting are predominant. On the other hand, the See also:fine See also:execution of a MS. after the best period of the style has passed cannot conceal deterioration. The imitative nature of the calligraphy is detected both by the general impression on the See also:eye, and by uncertainty and inconsistencies in the forms of letters. It is from a failure to keep in mind the natural See also:laws of development and See also:change that early See also:dates, to which they have no See also:title, have been given to imitative MSS.; and, on the other hand, even very ancient examples have been See also:post-dated in an incredible manner. Down to the See also:time of the introduction of See also:printing, writing ran in two lines—the natural cursive, and the set bobk-hand which was evolved from it. Cursive writing was essential for the See also:ordinary business of See also:life. MSS. written in the set See also:book-hand filled the place now occupied by printed books, the writing being See also:regular, the lines generally kept even by ruling or other guides, and the texts provided with regular margins. The set book-hand disappeared before the printing See also:press; cursive writing necessarily remains. In the study of handwriting it is difficult to exaggerate the See also:great and enduring See also:influence which the character of the material employed for receiving the script has had upon the formation of the written letters. The See also:original use of See also:clay by the Babylonians and Assyrians as their writing material was the See also:primary cause of the See also:wedge-shaped symbols which were produced by the natural See also:process of puncturing so stiff and sluggish a substance.

The clinging waxen See also:

surface of the tablets of the Greeks and See also:Romans superinduced a broken and disconnected style of writing. The comparatively frail surface of See also:papyrus called for a See also:light See also:touch and slenderly built characters. With the introduction of the smooth and hard-surfaced vellum, firmer and heavier letters, with marked contrasts of fine and thick strokes, became possible, and thence became the See also:fashion. In the task which lies before us we shall have to See also:deal mainly with MSS. written on the two very different materials, papyrus and vellum, and we shall find to how great an extent the general character and the detailed development of Greek and Latin writing, particularly for literary purposes, has been affected by the two materials. The history of the ancient papyrus See also:roll and of its successor, the See also:medieval vellum codex, and the particulars of the See also:mechanical arrangement of texts and other details appertaining to the See also:evolution of the written book are described in the article See also:MANUSCRIPT. In the See also:present article our See also:attention is confined to the history of the script. The papyrus period of our subject, as regards literary See also:works, ranges generally from the end of the 4th See also:century B.C. to the 4th century of our era, when the papyrus roll as the vehicle for literature was superseded by the vellum codex. The vellum period extends from the 4th century to the 15th century, when the rise of the art of printing was the See also:doom of the written book. Yet it must not be imagined that there is a hard and fast See also:line separating the papyrus period from the vellum period. In the early centuries of our era there was a transitional period when the use of the two materials overlapped. The employment of vellum for literary purposes began tentatively quite at the beginning of that era; nor did the use of papyrus absolutely cease with the 4th century. But that century marks definitely the period when the change had become generally accepted.

In the See also:

case of non-literary documents, written in cursive hands, the papyrus period covers a still wider field. These documents range from the 3rd century B.C. down to the 7th century, and a certain number of examples even extend into the 8th century. The survival of cursive papyrus documents in large See also:numbers is due to the fact that they are chiefly written in See also:Egypt, where papyrus was the See also:common writing material and where See also:climatic conditions ensured their preservation. On the other hand, early cursive documents on vellum are scarce, for it must he See also:borne in mind that, even allowing for the loss of such documents attributable to the perishable nature of that material in the humid climates of Europe, papyrus and waxen tablets were also the usual writing materials of the Greeks and Romans. The importance of the survival of Greek cursive papyri to so See also:late a period is very great, for it enables us to trace the development of the Greek literary minuscule handwriting of the 9th century in a See also:direct line from the cursive script of the papyri centuries earlier.

End of Article: PALAEOGRAPHY (Gr. aaXalbs, ancient, and ypal6ew, to write)

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