Full text of "An introduction to Greek and Latin palaeography"

This book belongs to
THE CAMPBELL COLLECTION

purchased with the aid of
The MacDonald-Stewart Foundation

and
The Canada Council

AN INTRODUCTION TO

GREEK AND LATIN
PALAEOGRAPHY

SIR EDWARD MAUNDE THOMPSON

G.C.H.. I.S.O.

HON. D.C.L., OXFORD AND DURHAM ; HON. LL.D., ST. ANDREWS
HON. LITT.D., MANCHESTER; HON. FELLOW OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

OXFORD ; FELLOW OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY ; CORRESPONDING

MEM HER OF THE INSTITI'TE OF FRANCE, AND OF THE ROYAL

PRUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES; SOMETIME DIRECTOR AND

PRINCIPAL LIBRARIAN OF THE BRITISH ML'SEfM

OXFORD

AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1912

HENRY FROWDE, M.A.

PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OP OXFORD

LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK, TORONTO
MELBOURNE AND BOMBAY

IX MEMORIAM

EDWARDI AVGVSTI BOND

WILLELMI WATTENBACH

LEOPOLDI VTCTORIS DELISLE

MAGISTRORVM AMICORYM

PIO ANDIO
DEDICAT DISCIPVLVS

PREFACE

WHEN, twenty years ago, at the invitation of Messrs. Kegan
Paul, Trench, Truebner & Company, I contributed to their
International Scientific Series a Handbook of Greek and Lnlm
Paheoijnipliu, I hardly dared to hope that such a work would
appeal to more than a limited number of students. Yet, even
at that time, the study of Palaeography had begun to take
a wider range ; and the ever-growing output of photographic
reproductions and especially the interest aroused by the
recovery of valuable relics of Greek Literature which so
frequently were coming to light among the newly-found papyri
from Egypt combined to give it a greater stimulus. For this
reason, and rather because it happened to be the only book of
its kind in the English language than for any particular merit
of its own, the Handbook attained a larger circulation than had
been anticipated, and served more effectually the purpose, for
which it was written, of a general guide to the subject.

A certain inconvenience, however, embarrassed the useful-
ness which might be claimed for the book, almost from the
first. The small form of the volume and the moderate price of
the Series prohibited illustration on more than a limited scale ;
and although the facsimiles, as issued, may have proved
sufficient as an accompaniment of the text, their value as
palaeographical specimens, representing as they did only very
small sections of the pages of the MSS. from which they were
selected, could not count for much. Moreover, the letter-press
being stereotyped, the introduction of new matter in any satis-
factory degree was attended with difficulties. Therefore, when,
in 1906, a third edition of the Handbook was called for, it was
suggested to the publishers that the time had arrived for a
fuller treatment of the subject both in text and in illustration.
They were, however, of opinion that the Handbook, as it stood,
still had its value ; at the same time they very handsomely

vi PREFACE

gave me authority to make use of it as a basis for a larger
work. I here desire to record my grateful thanks for this
concession.

This, then, is the origin of the present Introduction. It is
an enlarged edition of the Handbook, following the same lines,
but being in many parts rewritten as well as revised, and, it is
hoped, giving a fairly complete account of the history and
progress of Greek and Latin Palaeography, especially in its
literary aspect, from the earliest periods represented by sur-
viving MSS. down to the close of the fifteenth century ; and
embodying details of the more recent discoveries and the
results of modern research. A further advantage is the im-
proved scale of the facsimiles, which the larger format of the
Introduction has rendered possible. For this and for other
facilities I am indebted to the liberality of the Delegates of the
Clarendon Press, to whom their ready acceptance of responsi-
bility for the publication of this work has placed me under
peculiar obligations.

The section of this Introduction which in the future may
need modification, as the result of further discoveries, is that
which deals with the Literary and Cursive hands of the Greek
papyri. In the case of the Literary hands, it will be seen that
we are still far from being in a position to speak, in all
instances, with approximate certainty as to the periods of the
MSS. already before us. Fresh discoveries may require us to
qualify our present views. As regards the Cursive hands, our
position is stronger ; but there are still very wide chronological
gaps to be filled before the palaeographer can have an unbroken
series of dated documents at his disposal. As an aid to the
better understanding of this difficult section, and to assist in
the deciphering of passages in which the facsimiles, from the
condition of the originals, may have proved obscure, the Table
of Literary Alphabets, showing the forms of letters employed
in the several MSS. will, it is hoped, be found useful ; and, not
less so, the Table of Cursive Alphabets, in the compilation
of which upwards of two hundred dated papyri have been
analyzed.

The Facsimiles throughout have been selected with care. It

PREFACE

will be observed that a large proportion of them has been
reproduced from the plates of the Palaeographical Society.
This has been done purposely. The series of Facsimiles pub-
lished by the Society, both in the old issues and in the one still
in progress, have been chosen with a view to palaeographical
instruction, and therefore offer the best field in which to gather
illustrations for such an Introduction as the present one ; and,
in addition, they are probably more accessible than any other
series of reproductions to English students, for whom this worl
is more especially designed. My best thanks are due to the
Society for permission to make use of their plates.

Others also I have to thank for similar favours ; and I gladly
acknowledge my obligations to Monsieur Henri Omont, the
Keeper of the MSS. in the Bibliotheque Nationale ; to Professor
W. M. Lindsay, of St. Andrews ; to Professor Franz Steffens,
of Freiburg (Switzerland) ; and to Professor V. Gardthausen, of

Leipzig.

On the indulgence of many of my former colleaguea
British Museum I fear I have trespassed too freely ; but their
patience has been inexhaustible. To my successor in the office
of Director and Principal Librarian, Sir Frederic G. Kenyon,
I am specially indebted for much valuable advice and assistance
and for his trouble in kindly reading the proofs of the portion
of this book relating to Greek Palaeography. To Sir George I
Warner, late Keeper of the Department of Manuscripts.
Mr. J. P. Gilson, the present Keeper, and to Mr. H. Idris Bell
and Mr. G. T. Longley, of that Department ; to Mr. G. K.
Fortescue, Keeper of the Printed Books ; to Dr. L. D. Barnett,
Keeper of the Oriental Printed Books and Manuscripts ; to
Mr. H. A. Grueber, Keeper of the Coins and Medals : and
to Mr. A. Hamilton Smith, Keeper of the Greek and Roman
Antiquities, I return my best thanks for all their kindly aid.

In conclusion, I gratefully acknowledge the care bestowed
by the Delegates of the Clarendon Press on the production of
this volume. ^ T

MAYFIELD, SUSSEX,
July 1, 1912.

TABLE OF CHAPTERS

CHAPTER I PAGE

History of the Greek and Latin Alphabets ...... 1

CHAPTER II

Materials used to receive writing : Leaves Bark Linen Clay and
Pottery Wall-spaces Precious Metals Lead Bronze Wood
Waxed and other Tablets Greek Waxed Tablets Latin Waxed
Tablets 8

CHAPTER 111
Materials used to receive writing (continued) : Papyrus Skins Parchment

and Vellum Paper . . . . . . . . . .21

CHAPTER IV
Writing implements : The Stilus, Pen, etc. Inks Various implements . 39

CHAPTER V
Forms of Books : The Roll The Codex The Text Punctuation Accents,

etc. Palimpsests . . . . . . . . . .44

CHAPTER VI
Stichometry and Colometry Tachygraphy Cryptography ... 67

CHAPTER VII
Abbreviations and Contractions Numerals ...... 75

CHAPTER VIII
Greek Palaeography : Papyri Antiquity of Greek writing Divisions of

Greek Palaeography. ......... 93

CHAPTER IX
Greek Palaeography (continued) : The Literary hand or Book-hand in

Papyri Literary Alphabets ...... .104

CHAPTER X

Greek Palaeography (continued) : Cursive Script in Papyri Cursive

Alphabets Comparison of Literary and Cursive Alphabets . .148

TABLE OF CHAPTERS is

CHAPTER XI PAGE

Greek Palaeography (mtfnul) : The Uncial Book-hand in Vellum Codices 198

CHAPTER XII

Greek Palaeography (/'//" '): The Minuscule Book-haiul in the Middle
\ .res Greek writing in Western Europe .

CHAPTER XIII
Latin Palaeography : The Majuscule Book-hand Square Capitals Rustic

Capitals Uncials .

CHAPTER XIV

Latin Palaeography (contimt*I) : The Mixed Uncial and Minuscule Book-
hand The Half-uncial Book-hand .

CHAPTER XV

Latin Palaeography (continual): The Roman Cursive Script Cursive
Alphabets

CHAPTER XVI

Latin Palaeography (continued): National Minuscule Book-hands Visi-
gothic Lombardic Merovingian Frauco-Lombardic Pre-Carolin-
<,'ian The C'arolingian Reform .

CHAPTER XVII

Latin Palaeography (continued}: The Irish Half-uncial and Minuscule
Book-hand The Early English Book-hand

CHAPTER XVIII

Latin Palaeography (continue,!) : The Minuscule Book-hand in the Middle
A C es The English Vernacular Book-hand in the Middle Ages .

CHAPTER XIX

Latin Palaeography (continued): Official and Legal Cursive Scripts
(National hands) The Papal Chancery The impeiial Chancery-
English Charter hand English Chancery hand English Court hand . 491

TABLES OF ALPHABETS

The Greek and Latin Alphabets

Greek Literary Alphabets . . I 44 " 7

Greek Cursive Alphabets

Latin Cursive Alphabets ... 335-7

LIST OF FACSIMILES

(Greek Literary Papyri)
No. PAGE

1. TIMOTHEUS, Persrte : 4th cent. B.C. [Berlin Museums] . . 106

2. PLATO, Phaedo ; 3rd cent. B. c. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 488] . .110

3. DIALECTICAL TBEATISE ; before 160 B.C. [Paris, Musee du Louvre,

Pap. grec. 2]

4. HYPEBIDES, Athenogenes ; 2nd cent. B.C. [Paris, Musee du Louvre] .

5. METRODOKUS ; 1st cent. B. c. [Naples, Museo Nazionale] .

6. BACCHYLIDES ; 1st cent. B.C. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 733]

7. PETITION; about 10 B.C. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 354]

8. HOMER, Odyssey iii ; about A. D. 1. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 271]

9. HYPEBIDES, Euxenippus ; 1st cent. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 115]

10. HOMEB, Iliad x\iii (Harris Homer) ; 1st cent. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 107] 126
11 AKISTOTLE, Constitution of Athens ; about A.D. 90. [Brit. Mus.,

Pap. 131] .... . . -128

12. HOMES, Iliad xiii; 1st or 2nd cent, [Brit. Mus., Pap. 732]

13. COMMENTARY ON THE THEAETETUS or PLATO; 2nd cent. [Berlin

Museums, Pap. 9782] . . .132

14. JULIUS AFRICAXUS ; 3rd cent. [Egypt Explor. Fund, Ox. Pap. 412] .

15. HOMEE, Iliad v; 3rd cent. [Bodleian Library, Gr. class. A. 8 (P)J . 136

16. DEED or SALE; A.D. 88. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 141] .

17. HOMEE, Iliad -aw (Bankes Homer); 2nd cent. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 114] 140
18 HOMEE, Iliad ii (Haivara Homer); 2nd cent. [Bodleian Library,

Gr. class. A. 1 (P)] . 142

(Greek Cursive Papyri)

19. OFFICIAL LETTER; 242 B. c. [Bodleian Library, Gr. class. C. 21 (P)] 150

20. PETITION; 223 B.C. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 106] .

21. TAX RECEIPT; 210-209 B.C. [Brit. Mus., Demot. Pap. 10463]

22. PETITION; 163 B.C. [Brit, Mus., Pap. 24]

23. PETITION; 162 B.C. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 21] . . . 156

24. SALE OF LAND; 123 B.C. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 879 (i)J .

25. SALE OF LAND; 101 B.C. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 882] .

26. MARRIAGE SETTLEMENT; 15-5 B.C. [Berlin Museums, Pap. 66 K] . 160

27. LEASE; A.D. 17. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 795]. . . .162

28. SALE OF LAND; A.D. 69-79. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 140]

29. BAILIFF'S ACCOUNTS; A.D. 78-9. | Brit. Mus., Pap. 131].

30. ARISTOTLE ; about A.D. 90. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 131] .

31. SALE OF AN Ass; A.D. 142. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 303] . 168

32. DIPLOMA; A.D. 194. [Brit. Mus.. Pap. 1178] .

33. TAXATION RETURN; A.D. 221. [Brit. Mus, Pap. 353] .

34. SALE; A.D. 226-7. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 1158] .

35. MILITARY ACCOUNTS; A.D. 295. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 748] .

36. LETTER ; about A.D. 350. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 234] .

37. RECEIPT; A.D. 441. [Berlin Museums, Pap. 7452] . 177

LIST OF FACSIMILE xi

,, PA<;F

38. AGREEMENT FOR LEASE ; A.D. 556. [Berlin Museums, Pap. 2558] . 178

39. CONTRACT FOR LEASK : A.D. 595. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 113].

40. LEAM-: : A. D. 633. [Brit. Mus., Tap. 1012] .

41. Prune ACCOUNTS ; A.D. 700-705. [Brit. Mus.. Pap. 1 I is
-12. Prr.Lic NOTICE ; 8th cent. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 32]

(Greek Unciah)

43. HOMER. IliaJ ; 3rd cent. (1). [Milan, Ambrosian Library, F. 205. inf. 2ol

44. BIBLE (CW. 862. [Library of Up. Uspensky] .

50. GOSPELS; A.D. 949. [Rome, Vatican Library, MS. Graec. 354]

51. EVANGELIARIUM ; A. D. 995. [Brit. Mus., Harley MS. 5598] . 216

(Greek
52 THEOLOGICAL WORKS ; 8th cent. [Rome, Vatican Library, Colouna

MS. 39] ........... 219

53. EUCLID; A.D. 888. [Bodleian Library. D'Orville MS. x. 1] .

54. PLATO, Dialogues; A.D. 896. [Bodleian Library, Clarke MS. 39] . 224

55. GOSPELS; early 10th cent. [Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 11300] . . 226

56. LUCIAX ; about A.D. 915. [Brit. Mus., Harley MS. 5694]

57. THUCYDIDES ; 10th cent. [Florence. Laurent ian Library, Pint. Ixix. 2] 229

58. PLUTARCH; 10th cent. [Florence, Laurentian Library. MS. 206] . 230

59. PSALTER ; about A. D. 950. [Bodleian Library, Qk. Misc. 6] . - 231
GO. ST. MAXIMUS; A.D. 970. [Mount Atho*. Laura, MS. B. 37] .

61. ST. CHKYSOSTOM; A.D. 976. [Bodleian Library, Laud MS. Gk. 75]. 236

62. GOSPELS; A.D. 1023. '[Milan. Ambrosian Library, B. 56. sup.]

63. M. ESELLCS ; A. D. 1040. [Heidelberg, University Library, Cod.

Palat. cclxxxi] ... . 239

64. DEMOSTHENES; early llth cent. [Florence, Laurentian Library, Pint.

lix. 9] ........... 240

65. CANONS; A.D. 1042. [Bodleian Library, Barocoi MS. 196] . 212

66. HOMER, Iliad ('/.'< i>:nl>?i/ Homer); A.D. 1059. [Brit. Mus., Burney

MS. 86] ........ - 244

67. EPISTLES, etc.; A.D. 1111. [Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 28816] 247

68. GOSPELS; A.D. 1128-9. [Rome, Vatican Library, Cod. Urbino-Vat.

Gr. 2] ........... 248

69. MARTYEOLOGY; A.D. 1184. [Brit. Mus., Burney MS. 44] . 249

70. COMMENTARY ON PORPHYRY; A.D. 1223. [Paris, Bibl. Nat., MS.

grec. 2089] ..... .251

71. COMMENTARY ox THE OCTOECHUS : A.D. 1252. [Brit. Mus., Add.

MS. 27359] ..... . 252

72. HESIOD: A.D. 1280. [Florence, Laurentian Library, Plut. : xxxii. 16] 256

73. GOSPELS; A.D. 1282. [Monastery of Sei res, Macedonia. MS. r. 10"j 258

74. GOSPELS; A.D. 1314-15. [Brit. Mus.. Add. MS. 37002] . 260

75. HERODOTUS; A.D. 1318. [Florence. Laurentian Library. Plut. Ixx. 6] 261

xii LIST OF FACSIMILES

NO. PAGE

76. ST. ATHAXASIUS; A.D. 1321. [Brit. Mus., Harley MS. 5579] . . 262

77. LIVES OF THE FATHERS; A.D. 1362. [Brit. Mus.. Barney MS. 50] . 263

78. POLYBIUS; A.D. 1416. [Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 11728] . . .264

79. THE PBOPHETS; A.D. 1437. [Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 21259] . . 266

80. MENAEUM; A.D. 1460. [Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 16398] . . .267

81. HOMEH, Odyssey; A. D. 1479. [Brit. Mus., Harley MS. 5658] . . 268

(Latin Capitals)

82. VIEGIL ; 4th or 5th cent. [St. Gall, Cod. 1394] . . . .275

83. POKM ox THE BATTLE OF ACTIUM ; before A.D. 79. [Naples, Museo

Xazionale] 276

84. VIKGIL; 5th cent. ? [P>ome, Vatican Library, Cod. Palat. 1631] . 278

85. VIEGIL; 4th cent. ? [Rome, Vatican Library, Cod. Vat. 3225] . 280

86. VIEGIL ; before A. D. 494. [Florence, Laurentian Library, Pint.

xxxix. 1] ........... 282

(Latin Uncials)

87. CICEEO, De Rejmblica; 4th cent. [Piome, Vatican Library, Cod. Vat.

5757] 286

88. GOSPELS; 4th cent. [Vercelli, Chapter Library] .... 287

89. LIVY ; 5th cent. [Vienna, Imperial Library, Cod. Lat. 15] . . 290

90. GOSPELS; 5th or 6th cent. [St. Gall, Cod. 1394] . . . .292

91. NEW TESTAMEXT ; about A.D. 546. [Fulda Library] . . . 293

92. ST. AUGUSTINE ; A. D. 669. [Library of Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan] . 294

93. BIBLE (Codex Amiatinus); about A.D. 700. [Florence, Laurentiau

Library, Cod. Amiat. 1] ... .... 295

94. GOSPELS ; A. D. 739-60. [Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 5463] . . .296

(Latin Mi. ml fiicials and Minuscules, and Half-uncials)

95. EPITOME OF LIVY ; 3rd cent. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 1532] . . . 300

96. CHEOXOLOGICAL NOTES; 6th cent. [Bodleian Library, MS. Auct. T.

2. 26] . .302

97. PANDECTS ; 6th or 7th cent. [Florence, Laurentian Library] . . 303

98. ST. HILARY; before A. D. 509-10. [Uome, Archives of St. Peter's] . 306

99. ST. AUGUSTIXE ; 6th cent. [Paris, Hibl. Nat, MS. lat. 13367] . 307

100. BIBLICAL COMMENTARY ; before A. D. 569. [Monte Cassino, Cod. 150] 308

(Kmnan Cursive)

101. FORMS OF LETTERS ; before A. D. 79 . ... . . 312

102. POMPEIAX WAXKD TABLET; A.D. 59. [Naples, ^lusco Naziouale,

no. cxliii] ........... 314

103. DACIAX WAXED TABLET; A.D. 167. [Budapest Museum] . . . 316
104,105. FORMS or LETTERS ; 2nd cent. 317,318

106. SPEECHES; A.D. 41-54. [Berlin Museums, Pap. 8507] . . . 321

107. SALE OF A SLAVE; A.D. 166. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 229] . . .322

108. LETTER; A.D. 167. [Brit. Mus., Pap. 730] .... 323

109. PETITION; A.D. 247. [Bodleian Library, Lat. class. D. 12 (P)] . 325

110. LETTER; 4th cent. [Strassburg, Pap. lat. Argent, i] . . . 326

111. IMPERIAL PiESCRiPT ; 5th cent. [Leyden Museum] . . . 328

112. ItAVKXNA DEKD OF SALE : A.D. 572. [Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 5412] . 329

113. FORMS OF LETTERS ; A.D. 572 . 330

114. ST. MAXIMUS; 7th cent. [Milan, Ambrosial! Library, C. 98, P. inf.]. 338

LIST <>F K ACS 1 MILKS xiii

(Lati ,!//>

No PAGK

115. ST.AUGUBHHB; 8th eeot. [The Escurial. MS. K ii. 18 i . -

116. OBATiuXALKGuTm.0.; ' tt l- e " t [ Blll , A - ] ' "

. Bu , r nv,o-,

117. MARTYROLOGY; A.D. 919. [Brit. Mus Add. MS 25600]
118 BEATUS; A.D. 1109. [Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 11695]
119' SACRAMENTARIUM ; about A. D. 800. [St. Gall, Cod. 348]
120. ALCUIN : A. D. 812. [Monte Cassiuo Cod. 111 . . . 3ol

121 STATIUS ; end of 10th cent. [Eton Coll*-., M>. 1.1. 6. 5

122. LECTIONAKY ; A.D. 1058-87. [Monte Cassino, Cod. xcix

123. COMMENTARY ON MONASTIC KVLKS : A. D. 1264-82. [Monte ( uuno, ^

124 LECTIONARY: late 7th cent. [Paris, I'.il.l. Nat.Jon.ls l,,t. 9427] 356

125. ST. GREGORY; 8th cent. [Brit. Mn,, A,W MS. 31031] . .

126. HOMILIES: 7th ,,r 8th cent, [Brit MM., Harley MS. o041] .

127. LEX SALICA; A.D. 794. [St. Gall. Cod. 731] .
128 HOMILIES; 8th cent. [Brussels, Hoyal Library, MS. 9850-
129. ST. CYPRIAN; 8th cent. [Manchester. John IMands Library, -Mb.

i K~\ 3l>4

130 EuoYPpius : early 8th cent. [Library <,f Mons. Jules Desnoyers]

131. ST. JEROME; A.D. 744. [Eph.al. MS. .58] . . .366

132, 133. SULPICIUS SEVEKUS : 9th cent, [Quedhnburgj

(Latin Half-uncials ami Minuscules: Th? Irixh K,->ok-ll)

134 GOSPELS; late 7th cent. [Dublin, Trinity College, MS. A. 415]

13o' GOSPELS (Book of A'ell*) : end of 7th cent. [Dublin, Trinity College J 875

136. GOSPELS or MACREGOL ; about A.D. 800. [Bodleian Library, Auct.

D 2 19]

137 NEW TESTAMENT (Book of Anna,,!,) ; A.D. 807. [Dublin. Trinity < '..liege]

138. PRISCIAN; A.D. 838. [Leyden, Univemty Library. Cod. Lat 6 . 381

139. GOSPELS or M.ELBRIGTE : A.D. 1138. [Bnt.Mus.. HaileyMS. 1802] 382

(Latin Half-uncials and Minuscules: The Earl;/ Xn-jlith Hook-

140. LINDISFARNE GOSPELS (Durham Book) ; about A. D. 700. [Brit. Mus.,

Cotton MS Nero D. iv] .

141. CANTERBURY GOSPELS; late 8th cent. [Brit. Mus., Royal MS. 1 Ev.J

142. BEDA; 8th cent. [Cambridge, University Library, MS. Kk. v. 1

143. BEDA ; A.D. 811-14. [Brit. Mus., Cotton MS YespasB vi] . 39<
144 PASCHAL COMPUTATIONS ; 9th cent. [Bodleian Library, Digby Mb. 6.

145. ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE: about A.D. 891. [Cambridge, Corpus

( la isti College, MS. 173].

146. ANGLO-SAXON POEMS (t\.;t ,<*/,-) : before A. D. 1 125. [Rochester,

Chapter Library]

202. THE OHMULUM; early 13th cent, [Bodleian Library, .Tuiuus MS. 1J.

203. HOMILIES ; early 13th cent. [Brit. Mus.. Stow MS. 240]

204. THE ANCREN RIWLE ; early 13th cent. [Brit. Mus., Cotton MS.,

Titus D. xviii] ....

905. THE AYENBITE OF INWYT : A. D. 1340. [Brit. Mus., Arundel MS. 57]
206. WYCLIFFITE BIBLE: late 14th cent. [Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 15580] . 480
VQl PIERS PLOWMAN ; about A. D. 1380. L Brlt - ^ us -' ^' otton iIS -> Vespas.

B. xvi] .....
>08 WYCLIFFITE BIBLE ; about A. D. 1382. [Bodleian Library, Bodl. MS.

959] ........ .483

209. AVYCLIFFITE BIBLE; before A.D. 1397. [Brit. Mus., Egerton MS.

617,618]. . . ' -

210. CHAUCER; about A.D. 1400. [Brit. Mus.. Harley MS. 7334] .

211. TREVISA; beginning of loth cent. [Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 24194] . 487
212 OCCLEVE: early 15th cent. [Brit, Mus., Harley MS. 4866]

213. OSBERN BOKKNHAM : A.D. 1447. [Brit. Mus.. Arundel MS. 327] . 489

(Latin Minuscules: Official and Legal Cwrriw .

214. BF.NEDICTIO CEREI ; 7th cent. [The Escurial. Cam. de las reliquiasj 493

215. DEED OF BENEVENTO; A.D. 810. [Moute Cassino, xxxiv]

216. BULL or JOHN VIII ; A. D. 876. [Paris. Bibl. Nat.]

217. BULL OF PASCHAL II ; A.D. 1102. " [Milan, State Archives] . . 496

218. JUDGEMENT OF THIERRY III ; A. D. 679-80. [Paris, Archives Xation-

ales, K. 2, no. 13] .. . .499

219. DIPLOMA OF CHAKLEMAGNE ; A.D. 797. [Paris, Archives Xatiouales,

K. 7, no. 15] ... 500

220. DIPLOMA OF Louis THE GERMAN ; A. D. 856. [St. Gall, Chapter

Archives, F. F. i. H. 106] .

221. MERCIAN CHARTER ; A.D. 812. [Canterbury, Chapter Archives, C. 1] 506

222. CHARTER OF ETHELBEHHT OF KENT; A.D. 858. [Brit. Mus., Cotton

MS.. Aug. ii. 66] .... 508

223. GRANT BY WEEFHITH, BISHOP OF WORCESTER; A.D. 904. [Brit.

Mus., Add. Ch. 19791] . .510

224. GRANT BY WILLIAM II ; A. D. 1087 (?). [Brit. Mus., Cotton MS., Aug.

ii. 53] ...... 513

225. GRANT BY HENRY I; A.D. 1120-30. [Brit. Mus.. Add. Ch. 33629] . 514

226. GRANT BY STEPHEN; A.D. 1139. [Brit. Mus., Cotton MS., Xero C.

iii. 172] ......

xvi LIST OF FACSIMILES

PAGE

227. GRANT BY HENRY II; A.D. 1156. [Westminster, Chapter Archives,

228. GRANNY RICHARD I ; A.D. 1189. ' [Brit. Mus., Egerton Ch. 372] . 518

229. CHARTER OF THE HOSPITALLERS ; A. D. 1205. [Brit. Mus., Harley ^

230. CHAR'TER^JOHN ; ' A. D.' 1204. [Wilton, Corporation Records] 524

231. GRANT BY HENKY III ; A. D. 1227. [Eton College]

232. NOTIFICATION OF HENRY III; A.D. 1234. [Bnt. Mus., Add. Ch.

28402] . . ' -, ' ' f ,, '

233. LETTERS PATENT OF HENRY III ; A.D. 1270. [Bnt. Mus., Add. Ch. _^

234 LICENCED EDWARD I ; A. D. 1 303. " [Brit. Mus., Harley Ch. 43 D. 9] 534
lit ta JOHNDE ST. JOHN ; A. D. M. [Brit. Mus, Add. Ch. 23834 j 536

236. INSPEXIMUS OF EDWARD III : A.D. 1331. [Brit. Mus., Harley Ch.

83 C 13]

237. LETTERS OF THE BLACK PRINCE; A.D. 1360. [Brit. Mus., Add. Ch. ^

238. DEE^OF SEMPRINGHAM PRIORY; A.D. 1379. [Brit. Mus., Add. Ch. _^

239 GRANNY RICHARD II ; A.D. 1395. [Brit Mus.', Harley Ch. 43 E 33]

240. PLEDGE OF PLATE ; A.D. 1415. [Brit Mus., ^Harley Ch. _43 I. 26] -

241. PARDON BY HEN-RY VI; A.D. 1446^ Bnt Mus, ^dd Ch. 226.

242. LEASE; A.D. 1457. [Brit. Mus., Harley Ch 44 B. 47] .

243. TREATY BOND; A.D. 1496. [Brit Mus Add. C h. 989]

1 -n^ Pl-liM-f Afnc A tin ( h 247"o . ooo

244. CONVEYANCE; A. D. Io94. [Bnt. Hni., Ad g58

- :

AX INTRODUCTION TO
GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY

CHAPTER I

THE GREEK AND LATIN ALPHABETS

ALTHOUGH the task which lies before us of investigating the growth
ami changes of Greek and Latin palaeography does not require us to deal
with any form of writing till long after the alphabets of Greece and Rome
had assumed their final shapes, yet a brief sketch of the developement of
those alphabets, as far as it is known, forms a natural introduction to the
subject.

The alphabet which we use at the present day is directly derived
from the Roman alphabet; the Roman, from a local form of the Givrk :
the Greek, from the Phoenician. Whence the Phoenician alphabet was
derived we are not even yet in a position to declare. The ingenious
theory set forth, in 1859, by the French Egyptologist de Rouge of its
descent from the ancient cursive form of Egyptian hieratic writing,
which had much to recommend it, and which for a time received
acceptance, must now be put aside, in accordance with recent research.
Until the alphabetic systems of Crete and C3~prus and other quarters
of the Mediterranean shall have been solved, we must be content to
remain in ignorance of the actual materials out of which the Phoenicians
constructed their letters.

To trace the connexion of the Greek alphabet with the Phoenician,
or, as it may be more properly styled, the Semitic, alphabet is not difficult.
A comparison of the early forms of the letters sufficiently demonstrates
their common origin ; and. still further, the names of the letters and their
order in the two alphabets are the same. The names of the Semitic
letters are Semitic words, each describing the letter from its resemblance
to some particular object, as alej/k an ox, beth a house, and so on. When
the Greeks took over the Semitic letters, they also took over their
Semitic names.

This Semitic alphabet appears to have been employed in the cities
and colonies of the Phoenicians and among the Jews and Moabites and

2 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

other neighbouring tribes : and its most ancient form as known to us is
preserved in a series of inscriptions which date back to the tenth cen-
tury B.C. The most important of them is that engraved upon the slab
known as the Moabite stone, which records the wars of Mesha, king of
Moab, about 890 B. c., against Israel and Edom, and which was discovered
in 1868 near the site of Dibon, the ancient capital of Moab. From these
inscriptions of the oldest type we can construct the primitive Phoenician
alphabet of twenty-two letters, in a form, however, which must have
passed through many stages of modification.

The Greek Alphabet

The Greeks learned the art of writing from the Phoenicians at least
as early as the ninth century B.C.; and it is not improbable that they
had acquired it even one or two centuries earlier. Trading stations and
colonies of the Phoenicians, pressed at home by the advancing conquests
of the Hebrews, were established in remote times in the islands and
mainlands of Greece and Asia Minor ; and their alphabet of two-and-
twenty letters was adopted by the Greeks among whom they settled or
with whom they had commei-cial dealings. It is not, however, to be
supposed that the Greeks received the alphabet from the Phoenicians at
one single place from whence it was passed on throughout Hellas ; but
rather at several points of contact from whence it was locally diffused
among neighbouring cities and their colonies. Hence we are prepared
to find that, while the Greek alphabet is essentially one and the same in
all parts of Hellas, as springing from one stock, it exhibits certain local
peculiarities, partly no doubt inherent from its very first adoption at
different centres, partly derived from local influences or from linguistic
or other causes. While, then, the primitive alphabet of Hellas has
been described by the general title of Cadmean, it must not be assumed
that that title applies to an alphabet of one uniform pattern for all
Greece.

Among the two-and-twenty signs adopted from the Phoenician, four,
viz. aleph,he,yod,&nduyin (-^, ^,^,, o),were made to represent the vowel-
sounds a,e, i,o.both long and short, the signs for e and o being also employed
for the diphthongs ei and ou. The last sound continued to be expressed
by the omikron alone to a comparatively late period in the history of
the alphabet. The fifth vowel-sound was provided for by a new letter,
upsilon, which may have been a modification or ' differentiation ' of the
Phoenician wau' (Y). This new letter must have been added almost imme-
diately after the introduction of the Semitic signs, for there is no local
Greek alphabet which is without it. Next was felt the necessity for
distinguishing long and short e, and in Ionia, the aspirate gradually falling
into disuse, the sign H, eta, was adopted to represent long e, probably

i THE GREEK AND LATIN ALPHABETS 3

before the end of the seventh century B.C. Aliout tin- saint- time the
long o began to be distinguished by various signs, that used by the
lonians, tlie omega, n, being perhaps a differentiation of the omikron.
The age of the double letters , X. and t. as they appear in the Ionian
alphabet, must, as is evident from their position, be older than or at least
coaeval with ar>ue the same word as }, in, represents the letter mtmekh ( ^ ). / s '" n , which is
probably derived from :ai/!n. represents twin (fv). 8i/i
stands for 80 ; the kopjM for 90, the numerical value of the Phoenician
fsfii.

1 It has also bei-ii identified with a T-shaped sign whirh was used fur a special sound
on coins of Mi -. iiiln-ia, and at Halk-arnasMis in the fifth century n.< .

4 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

With regard to the local alphabets of Greece, different states and
different islands either adopted or developed distinctive signs. Certain
letters underwent gradual changes, as eta from closed B to open H, and
tketa from the crossed to the dotted circle O, which forms were common
to all the varieties of the alphabet. The most ancient forms of the
alphabet are found in Melos, Them, and Crete, which moreover did not
admit the double letters. While some states retained the digamma or
the Icoppa, others lost them ; while some developed particular differentia-
tions to express certain sounds, others were content to express two sounds
by one letter. The forms J 1 for beta and & for epailon are peculiar to
Corinth and her colonies ; the Argive alphabet is distinguished by its
rectangular lambda, \- ; and that letter appears in the Boeotian, Chalci-
dian, and Athenian alphabets in a primitive form U 1

But while there are these local differences among the various alphabets
of ancient Greece, a broad division has been laid down by Kirchhoff. 2 who
arranges them in two groups, the eastern and the western. The eastern
group embraces the alphabet which has already been referred to as the
Ionian, common to the cities on the western coast of Asia Minor and the
neighbouring islands, and the alphabets of Megara, Argos, and Corinth
and her colonies ; and, in a modified degree, those of Attica, Naxos, Thasos,
and some other islands. The western group includes the alphabets of
Thessaly, Euboea, Phocis, Locris, and Boeotia, and of all the Peloponnese
(excepting the states specified under the other group), and also those of
the Achaean and Chalcidian colonies of Italy and Sicily.

In the eastern group the letter Z has the sound of x ; and the letters
X, t the sounds of kit, and /*. (In Attica, Naxos, etc., the letters - and
t'were wanting, and the sounds x and ps were expressed by XZ, Z, or rarely
by a special sign * . In a word, the special test-letters are :

Eastern: X =/.//. * = ,/.

Western: X=r. * = /i7<.

How this distinction came about is not known, although several explana-
tions have been hazarded. It is unnecessary in this place to do more

than state the fact.

As the Semitic languages were written from right to left, so in the
earliest Greek inscriptions we find the same order followed. Next came
the method of writing called b&utstropJteduu, in which the written lines
run alternately from right to left and from left to right, or vice versa,

i as a form of phi is found on coins of Phocis of COO B. c. ; and a slight modification
of the Corinthian beta was used in the coinage of Byzantium, 350 s.c.-Hrit. Mus. Cat. of
* Coins : Phocis, 14-19 ; Thrace, etc., 93-4.
3 Studien sur Geschichle des griechischen Alphabets, 4th ed., 1887.

i THE GREEK AND LATIN ALPHABETS 5

as the plough forms the furrows. Lastly, writing from left to right
became universal. In the most ancient tomb-inscriptions of Melos and
Thera we have the earliest form of writing. Boustrophedon was
commonly used in the sixth century B. c. However, the famous Greek
inscription at Abu Simbel the earliest to which a date can be given-
cut on one of the legs of the colossal statues which guard the entrance
of the great temple, and recording the exploration of the Nile up to the
second cataract by certain Greek. Ionian, and Carian mercenaries in the
service of Psammetichus, runs from left to right. The king here
mentioned may be the first (654-617 B.C.) or. more probably, the second
(594-589 B.C.) of that name. The date of the writing may therefore be
roughly placed about 600 B.C. The fact that, besides this inscription, the
work of two of the soldiers, the names of several of their comrades are
also cut on the rock, proves how well established was the art of writing
among the Greeks even at that early period.

The Latin Alphabet

Like the local alphabets of Greece, the Italic alphabets varied from
one another by the adoption or rejection of different signs, according
to the requirements of language. Thus the Latin and Faliscan, the
Etruscan, the Umbrian, and the Oscan alphabets are sufficiently dis-
tinguished in this way : but at the same time the common origin of all
can be traced to a primitive or so-called Pelasgian alphabet of the
Chalcidian type. The period of the introduction of writing into. Italy
from the great trading and colonizing city of Chalcis must be carried
back to the time when the Greeks wrote from right to left. Two
Latin inscriptions l have been found thus written ; and in the other Italic
scripts this ancient system was also followed. The inscription on the
rectangular pillar found in 1899 near the Forum, of a date not later than
the fifth century B. C.. is arranged lmittr<>i>l,en - We may assume, then,
that the Greek alphabet was made known to the native tribes of Italy
as early as the eighth or ninth century B.C., and not improbably through
the ancient Chalcidian colony of Cumae, which tradition named as the
earliest Greek settlement in the land. The eventual prevalence of the
Latin alphabet naturally followed the political supremacy of Rome,

The Latin alphabet possesses twenty of the letters of the Greek
western alphabet, and, in addition, three adopted signs. Taking the
Formello and Galassi abecedaria 3 as representing the primitive alphabet

1 The earliest, on a fibula from Praeneste assigned to the sixth century B. c. (C. I. L.
xiv. 4123) ; the other, the Duenos inscription on a vase of the fourth century B. c. found
near the Quirinal in 1880 C. L I., i. 371). Both are given in Sandys, Compan. Lat. S
731,733.

2 Sandys, op. cit. 732. 3 See E. S. Rnlierts, i .'/.-. //hi. and t-li (*), and disregarded the earlier sign
for j-.i. In Quintilian's time letter X was the ' ultima nostrarum ' and
closed the alphabet. The letter zeta representing the soft s sound was
so used at first by the Latins ; but, this sound in course of time changing
to an r sound, the letter z ceased to be used. But at a later period it
was restored to the alphabet for the purpose of transliteration of Greek
words. As however its original place had been meanwhile filled by the
new letter C, it was sent down to the end of the alphabet. With regard
to the creation of G, till the middle of the third century B.C. its want
was not felt, as C was employed to represent both the hard c and
g sounds, 1 a survival of this use being seen in the abbreviations
C. and Cn. for Gains and Gnaeus ; but gradually the new letter was
developed from C and was placed in the alphabet in the position
vacated by zeta. The '// had become the Latin F, and the
upidlon had been transliterated as the Latin V ; but in the time of
Cicero ujhilon, as a foreign letter, was required for literary purposes,
and thus became again incorporated in the Latin alphabet this time
without change of form, Y. Its position shows that it was admitted
before Z.

1 The sound represented by C in Latin no doubt, also gradually, but at a very early
period, became indistinguishal.lt! from that represented by K. Hence the letter K tell
into general disuse in writing, and only survived as an archaic form in certain words,
such as knleitdae.

THE GREEK AND LATIN

GREEK.

LATIN.

Cadnii

Local forms. Hasten;.

Western. Local forrn^.

gian.

Latin.

alpha . .

A A

A A A A

>eta

*^ Melos. etc. g

B B B

C Pares, Siphnos,

Thaaos, etc.

I ~\_ J Corinth.

Chalcis.

jamma
delta . .

A
A

< Cx^etc. ^ r A

A D

rr~ r ~ 1'hocis
1 \ C Arcadia. Elis.

A>D

epsilon . .

[J Corinth, etc. K U

& E

Ell

digatnma

[>]

F^ F

teta

a new

VI letter
L formed

fromC.

eta . . . .

EH(h,e)

BH(h)

theta .

<8> O

iota

< Crete. Them. I
^ ' Melos, Corinth, etc.

$ 1

kappa . .

lambda

U Attica, H Argos. /" A

A A 1 Chalcis, B t:.i.
' /X Ule.

V L

V"\

N" M

N* N\

nu . .

H N

/^ N

xi ..

ffl

{-j-j Later Argos. it

;See bclovv.)

[\, Attica. Naxos,

Sipimoa, Thasos, etc ]

ornikron

ii Paros, Siphnos, etc. O

O f~ Melos.

pi .. .

P n

r 1 n

P P

san (ss)

THalicarnassus.
Teoi, Mesetubria.

koppa .

[9]

rho

? R R

p f?R

p R

R R

sigma .

M ATso^Connlh'ttl: ?5 ?^ M PhocU. etc. $

* S

tau . . .

T T

npsilon.

V Y

xi .. .

(See above. J

X +

phi.. .

chi . . .

X +

4^t

psi . . .

[ifr except in

foreign } /

Ionia.)

letters. '

CHAPTER II

MATERIALS USED TO RECEIVE WRITING

OF the various materials which have been used within the memory of
man to receive writing, there are three, viz. papyrus, vellum, and paper,
which, from their greater abundance and convenience, have, each one in
its turn, displaced all others. But of the other materials several,
including some which at first sight seem of a most unpromising character,
have been largely used. For such a purpose as writing, men naturally
make use of the material which can be most readily procured, and is, at
the same time, the most suitable. If the ordinary material fail, they
must extemporize a substitute. If something more durable is wanted,
metal or stone may take the place of vellum or paper. But with
inscriptions on these harder materials we have, in the present work, but
little to do. Such inscriptions generally fall under the head of epigraphy.
Here we have chiefly to consider the softer materials on which hand-
writing, as distinguished from monumental engraving, has been wont to
be inscribed. Still, as will be seen in what follows, there are certain
exceptions; and to some extent we shall have to inquire into the
employment of metals, clay, potsherds, and wood, as well as of leaves,
bark, linen, wax, papyrus, vellum, and paper, as materials for writing. 1
We will first dispose of those substances which were of more limited use.

Leaves

It is natural to suppose that, in a primitive state of society, leaves of
plants and trees, strong enough for the purpose, would be adopted as
a ready-made material provided by nature, for such an operation as
writing. In various parts of India and the East the leaves of palm-
trees have been in use for centuries and continue to be employed for this
purpose ; and they form an excellent and enduring substance. Manu-
scripts written on palm-leaves have been found in Nepal which date back
many hundreds of years. In Europe leaves of plants are not generally
of the tough character of those which grow in the tropics ; but it is not
impossible that they were used in ancient Greece and Italy, and that the

1 Ulpian, Digest, xxxii. 52, ioy, or voting for
ostracism with olive-leaves, at Syracuse, and of the similar practice at
Athens under the name of fK^vAAo^o^ia. 1 Pliny, Nat. Hi*t. xiii. 11,
writes : ' Antea non fuisse chartarum usuin : in palmarum foliis primo
scriptitatum, deinde quarundam arhorum libris.'

Bark

Better adapted for writing purposes than leaves was the bark of
trees, liber, which we have just seen named by Pliny, and the general
use of which caused its name to be attached to the book (i.e. the roll)
which was made from it. The inner bark of the lime-tree, hilt/rae, of this inner skin or bark which
formed the writing material. In the enumeration of different kinds of
books by Martianus Capella, ii. 136, those consisting of lime-bark are
quoted, though as rare : ' Rari vero in philyrae cortice subnotati.'
Ulpian also, Diijest. xxxii. 52, mentions ' volumina ... in philyra aut in
tilia.' But not only was the bark of the lime-tree used, but tablets also
appear to have been made from its wood the 'tiliae pugillares' of
Symmachus, iv. 34 ; also referred to by Dio Cassius, Ixxii. 8. in the
passage : 8w5eica ypajuparcia, old ye (K (f>L\vpas TTOidrai. It seems that
rolls made from lime-bark were co-existent at Rome with those made
from papyrus, after the introduction of the latter material ; but the
home-made bark must soon have disappeared before the imported
Egyptian papyrus, which had so many advantages both in quantity and
v\\ov ekalas, as the material
on which to inscribe a charm. Cat. Gk. Papyri in Brit. 3fus. \. Pap. cxxi. 213; and a
bay-leaf is enjoined for the same purpose in Papyrus 2207 in the Bibliothecjue Nationals.

2 See a reference to a copy of A rat us on malva-bark. quoted from Isidore, Orig. vi. 12, liy
Ellis, Comm. on Catullus, 2nd ed., 1889, p. lix. The employment of birch-bark as a writing
material in India is, of course, well known. It dates back to a very early time, specimens
of the fourth century being extant. In Kashmir it was largely used down to the time of
Akbar's conquest in the seventeenth century, and there are still a considerable number
of MSS. of the material in that country. Several are in the British Museum, one of them
being of the year 1268.

10 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

Linen

Linen cloth, which is found in use among the ancient Egyptians to
receive writing, appears also as the material for certain rituals in Roman
history. Livy, x. 38, refers to a book of this character, ' liber vetus
linteus,' among the Sammies ; and again, iv. 7. he mentions the ' lintei
libra ' in the temple of the goddess Moneta ; and Flavius Vopiscus in his
Life of the Emperor Aurelian refers to 'libri lintei ' in the Ulpian Library
in Rome. 1 Pliny, Nat. Hist. xiii. 11, names ' volumina lintea ' as in use
at an early period for private documents, public acts being recorded on
lead. Martianus Capella, iii. 136, also refers to ' carbasina volumina ' ;
and in the Codex Tlieodos. vi. 27. 1, ' mappae linteae ' occur. The largest
extant example of Etruscan writing, now preserved in the Museum at
Agram, is inscribed on linen. 2

Clay and Pottery

Clay was a most common writing material among the Babylonians
and Assyrians. The excavations made of late years on the ancient sites
of their great cities have brought to light a whole literature impressed
on sun-dried or fire-burnt bricks and tablets. Clay tablets have also
been found in the excavations at Knossos in Crete, ascribed to the
period about 1500 B.C. Potsherds came ready to the hand in Egypt,
where earthenware vessels were the most common kind of household
utensils. They have been found in large numbers, many inscribed in
Greek with such ephemeral documents as tax and pay receipts, generally
of the period of the Roman occupation. 3 To such inscribed potsherds
has been given the title of ostraka, a term which will recall the practice
of Athenian ostracism in which the votes were recorded on such frag-
ments. 4 That such material was used in Greece only on such passing
occasions or from necessity is illustrated by the passage in Diogenes
Laertius, vii. 174, which narrates that the Stoic Cleanthes was forced by
poverty to write on potsherds and the shoulder-blades of oxen. Tiles
also, upon which alphabets or verses were scratched with the stilus

1 The Ulpian Library was the Public Record Office of Rome. J. W. Clark, Tlie Care of
Books, 1901, p. 20.

* It was found cut into strips and used for binding an Egyptian mumuiy. Ed. Krall.
in the Denkschriften of the Vienna Academy, vol. xli (1892).

3 See autotypes of some specimens in Pal. Soc. ii. 1, 2.

* Votes for ostracism at Athens were probably recorded on fragments of broken vases
which had been used in religious services, and which were given out specially for the
occasion. Three such voting ostraka are known : one is described by Benndorf, Grit-cli. mid
sicilische Vase-nbiltler, tab. xxix. 10 ; another, for the ostracism of Xanthippos, the father of
Pericles (see Aristotle, Cons'. Athens, 61), is noticed by Studniczka, Antencr und arclifii-
Walerei in Jahrbuch des kais. dextsclien arch. Instituts, ii (187), 101. See also the Brit. j)/s.

'> Greek and Roman Life, 7.

H MATERIALS USED TO RECEIVE WRiTIjS'l! 11

before baking, served occasionally among both Greeks and Romans for
educational purposes. 1

Wall-spaces

It is perhaps straining a term to include the walls of buildings under
the head of writing materials; but the ;/rnljiti or wall-scribbling*,
discovered in such large numbers at Pompeii, 2 hold so important a
place in the history of early Latin palaeography, that it must not be
forgotten that in ancient times, as now, a vacant wall was held to be
a very convenient place to present public notices and appeals or to scribble
idle words.

Precious Metals

The precious metals were naturally but seldom used as writing
materials. For such a purpose, however, as working a charm, an
occasion when the person specially interested might be supposed not to
be too niggard in his outlay in order to attain his ends, we find thin
plates or leaves of gold or silver recommended, 3 a practice which is
paralleled by the crossing of the palm of the hand with a gold or silver
coin as enjoined by the gipsy fortune-teller.

Lead

Lead was used at an ancient date. Pliny, Xt. Hiat.\ni. 11, refers
to ' plumbea volumina' as early writing material. Pausanias, ix. 31, 4.
states that at Helicon he saw a leaden plate (jxo'Ai/38oy) on which the
"E/jya of Hesiod were inscribed. At Dodona tablets of lead have been
discovered which contain questions put to the oracle, and in some
instances the answers. 4 An instance of the employment of lead in
correspondence occurs in Parthenius, Erotica, cap. 9 ; the story being
that, when the island of Naxos was invaded by the Milesians in 501 i;.c..
the priestess Polycrite, being in a temple outside the capital city, sent
word to her brothers, by means of a letter written upon lead and
concealed in a loaf, how they might make a night attack. Lenormant.
Rhein. Museum, xxii. 276, has described the numerous small leaden
pieces on which are written names of persons, being apparently sorter
iin/irii/riae, or lots for selection of judges, of ancient date. Dime, or
solemn dedications of offending persons to the infernal deities by, or on
behalf of, those whom they had injured or offended, were inscribed

1 Facsimiles in C. /. L. iii. 962. The ostrakon no. 18711 in the British Museum i>
inscribed with 11. 107-18, 128-39 of the P/wenissae of Euripides : see Classical Review, xviii. 2.
The Berlin ostrakon 4758 contains 11. 616-24 of the Hipjmlytus of Euripiili-.

2 C.I. L. iv.

3 Cat. Gk. Papyri in Brit. Hits. i. 102, 12:.' : also papyri in the Bibl. Nationals. -o s .
2705. 2228.

4 Carapancs, Dodone et ses finine* (1878% p. 68, pi. xxxiv-xl ; C. I. L. i. 818, 819.

12 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

on this metal. These maledictory inscriptions, called also defi.eioites or
/card8eo7/.oi and xaTaSeVetf, appear to have been extensively employed.
An instance is recorded by Tacitus, AnnaL ii. 69, in his account of the
last illness and death of Germanicus, in whose house were found, hidden
in the floor and walls, remains of human bodies and ' carmina et
devotiones et nomen Germanici plumbeis tabulis insculptum '. Many
have been found at Athens and other places in Greece and Asia Minor,
and some in Italy ; others again in a burial-ground near Roman Carthage. 1
Several were discovered at Cnidus which have been assigned to the period
between the third and first centuries B.C.; 2 and recently a collection
was found near Paphos in Cyprus, buried in what appears to have been
a malefactors' common grave. 3 These Cnidian and Cyprian examples
are now in the British Museum. Charms and incantations were also
inscribed on thin leaves of lead. 4 Montfaucon, Palueoyr. Gracca, 16, 181,
mentions and gives an engraving of a leaden book, apparently connected
with magic. A leaden roll has been found in Rhodes, inscribed with the
greater part of Psalm Ixxx in Greek, of the third or fourth century ; which
may have been used as a charm. 5 There are two inscribed leaden tablets
found at Bath; the one containing a curse in Latin on some person who had
carried off a girl named Vilbia. written in reversed characters ; the other
being a Latin letter of the fourth century." Of later date is a tablet found
in a grave in Dalmatia, containing a charm against evil spirits, in Latin,
inscribed in cursive letters of the sixth century." Several specimens
which have been recovered from mediaeval graves prove that the
custom of burying leaden inscribed plates with the dead was not
uncommon in the middle ages. 8 The employment of this metal for such
purposes may have been recommended by its supposed durability. But
lead is in fact highly sensitive to chemical action, and is liable to rapid
disintegration under certain conditions. For the ancient dime it was
probably used because it was common and cheap.

Bronze

Bronze was used both by Greeks and Romans as a material on which
to engrave votive inscriptions, laws, treaties, and other solemn docu-

1 Bulletin tie Corresp. Hellenirjue, 1888, p. 294.

2 Newton, Ditscur. at Halicamassut (1863), ii. 719-45 ; and Collitz and Bechtel, Griech.
Eialekt-Inscliriflcn, iii. 238.

3 Soc. Biblical ArcliM-'iinijy. Proceedings, xiii (1891). pt. iv.

4 Leemans, Papyri Graed Mas. Liigdun. 1885 : Wessely, Griech. Zauber Papyri, 1888 ; Cat. Gk.
Papyri in Brit. Mits. i. 74, etc. Tin plates were also used, Cat. Gk. Pap. i. 91, etc.

5 Sitsiingfb<.ricltte of the Roy. Prussian Academy, 1898, p. 582.

6 Hermes, xv ; Jottrn. Brit. Arch. Assoc. xlii. 410; E. \V. B. Nicholson, Vinisius to
Mi/*-", 1904. For further notices of inscriptions on lead see Gardthausen, Sriech. l'i. 2nd
ed., 1911. pp. 26-8.

7 C. I. L. iii. 961. * Wattenhach, Schriftw. 48-51.

MATERIALS TSED TO RECEIVE WRITING 13

ments. These, however, do not come under present consideration, being
strictly epigraphical monuments. The only class winch we need notice
is that of the Roman military diplomas, those portable tabulae honedae
minsionui, as they have been called, which were given to veteran soldiers
and conferred upon them rights of citizenship and marriage. Upwards
of one hundred such documents, or portions of them, issued under the
emperors, have been recovered. 1 They are interesting both palaeo-
T ,i], Ideally, as giving a series of specimens of the Roman rustic capital
Fetters, 2 and also for the form which they took, exactly following that
observed in the legal documents preserved in waxed tablets (see below).
They were, in fact, codices in metal. The diploma consisted of two
squared plates of the metal, hinged with rings. The authentic deed was
engraved on the inner side of the two plates, and was repeated on the
outside of the first plate. Through two holes a threefold wire was passed
and bound round the plates, being sealed on the outside of the second
plate with the seals of the seven witnesses, whose names were also
engraved thereon. The seals were protected by a strip of metal, attached,
which was sometimes convex to afford better cover. In case of the outer
copy being called in question, reference was made to the deed inside by
breaking the seals, without the necessity of going to the official copy kept
in the temple of Augustus at Rome.

The repetition of the deed in one and the same diploma is paralleled
in some of the Assyrian tablets, which, after being inscribed, received an
outer casing of clay on which the covered writing was repeated.

Wood

Wooden tablets were used in very remote times. In many cases they
were probably coated, if not with wax, with some kind of composition,
the writing being scratched upon them with a dry point; in some
instances we know that ink was inscribed upon the bare wood. The
ancient Egyptians also used tablets covered with a gla/.ed composition
capable of receiving ink. 3 Wooden tablets inscribed with the names of
the dead are found with mummies. They were also used for memoranda
and accounts, and in the Egyptian schools ; specimens of tablets inscribe.!
with receipts, alphabets, and verses having survived to the present day. 4
One of the earliest specimens of Greek writing is a document inscribed

"' C. /. L. iii. 843 s,qq.publi>hes fifty-eight of them. For facsimiles bee, e.g., J. Arneth,
ZiV'lr'rZmisi-lx MiUlar-ltiflome. Vienna. 1843 ; Ifaa 1'ul. Soc. KM.

- See facsimile specimens of the characters employed in the diplomas in i
Eiempla Script. Epirjr. 2*5-300.

3 Wilkinson, Anc. Kyjpf. ii. 1*3.

* Reuvens, Letlns, iii. Ill ; Transoc. l^j. Sue. Lit.. 2nd series, x, pt. 1 ; Leemans, 31

. ii, tab. 230 ; Bfein. Xwim. xv IStJO, , 157. Several specimens of Egyptian inscribed
tablets are in the British Museum.

CHAP.

14 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY

in ink on a small wooden tablet now in the British Museum (5849 C )
it refers to a money transaction of the thirty-first year of Ptolemy Phila-
delphus (254 or 253 B. C.). 1 In the British Museum there is also'a small
wooden board (Add. MS. 33293), painted white and inscribed in ink with
thirteen lines from the Iliad (iii. 273-85), the words being marked off
and the syllables indicated by accents, no doubt for teaching young
Greek scholars. It was found in Egypt, and is probably of the third
century. Of the same period are a board (Add. MS. 37516) and a book
of eight wooden leaves (Add. MS. 37533), inscribed with school exercises
in Greek. 2 At Vienna is a board with lines from the Hekah of Calli-
machus and the Phoenitsue of Euripides, of the fourth century. 3 There is
also a miscellaneous set of broken tablets (Add. MS. 33369) inscribed on
a ground of drab paint, with records relating to the recovery of debts, etc.
at Panopolis, the modern Ekhmim, in the Thebaid ; probably of the
seventh century. In early Greek history it is stated that the laws of
Solon were written on revolving wooden tablets, c< t W s and ri p p fa and
there is an actual record of the employment of wooden boards or tablets
in the inventory of the expenses of rebuilding the Erechtheum at Athens,
407 B. c. The price of two boards, on which rough accounts were first
entered, is set down at two drachmas, or 9$rf. each : ff ow'8s Ivo i s & 9
rov AJyor avaypcifyo^r* And again a second entry of four boards at the
same price occurs. In some of the waxed tablets lately recovered at
Pompeii the pages which have been left in the plain wood are inscribed
in ink. 3 Wooden tablets were used in schools during the middle ages. In
England the custom of using wooden tallies, inscribed as well as notched,
in the public accounts lasted down to a recent date.

Waxed and other Tablets

But we may assume that as a general rule tablets were coated with
wax ~ from the very earliest times in Greece and Rome. Such waxed
tablets were single, double, triple, or of several pieces or leaves. In
Greek a tablet was called Tumf immfr, Se'Aroy, SeAn'or, 8Xn'8tor, wvierfoj;,
nv&ov, xv&biw, ypawarelor s ; in Latin, cent, tu'nda, talella. The wooden

1 See Peme Hgyptoiogique, ii. Append., 51 ; Pal. Sac. ii. 14-2.

- Described by Kenyon in Journ. Hellenic Studies, xxix (1909), 28.

I 'fir. Krzli. Haincr, vi (1897 ; Wattenbach, .sv/,,-,7Vw. 91.
' RangaW Antig. HelKn. 56; Egger, Note s,ir 6 prfe to pa ,,i er , etc., in Him. d'Hist.

tlG ( 1 >> .

6 Pal - Soc - > ] "''' c Wattenbach, Bchrlflw. 93 sqq.

7 w6s, ctra, or p&Or,, ^a\6a. Po'.lux, Onomast. x. 57. in his chapter />2 0,ft\l uv mmes
; composit.on 6 Se e,^ ry waxiSi ^p6 s , t, ^\6^. f, ^6a. 'H.oSoror & yap ,,^ >,

Kparwof 8c tv rr, Uvnvr, i\9y, >,. MiAfla appears to have been wax mixed with tar Of
Aristoph. Fiarjm. 206 -rr,v ^KSav IK TOIV ypa^fiaTitaiv fjaffiov.

8 See Pollux, Onomasticon, x. 57.

\VAXK1) TABLETS 15

surface was sunk to a slight depth, leaving a raised frame at the
edges, after the fashion of a child's school-slate of the present day,
and a thin coating of wax. usually black, was laid over it. Tablets
were used for literary composition, 1 school exercises, accounts, or rough
memoranda. They were sometimes fitted with slings for suspension.*
Two or more put together, and held together by rings or thongs acting
as hinges, formed a ,'h:c or coili'j: Thus Seneca, J)e Bra: Vlt. 13
'Plurium tuhularum contextus caudex apud smtkiuos vocabatur ; unde
publicae tabulae codices dicuntur '.

When the codex consisted of two leaves it was culled bidvpot, binTv^a,
diptycha, lieets\ of three, Tpinrvxa, t,-; f >teittii/>ft/rliUi-es or fiuim-i' />/"<, -o\v-aTvxa, jil;/-
tl f>/,-l't, m ultiplices.' In Homer we have an instance of the use of a tablet
in the death-message of King Proetus, 'graving in a folded tablet many
deadly things.' 4 And Herodotus tells us (vii. 239) how Demaratus
conveyed to the Lacedaemonians secret intelligence of Xerxes' intended
invasion of Greece, by means of a message written on the wooden surface
of a tablet (SeAriW bivTV\ov) from which the wax had been previously
scraped but was afterwards renewed to cover the writing. On Greek
vases of the fifth and fourth centuries B.C., tablets, generally triptychs,
are represented, both open in the hands of the goddess Athena or others,
and closed and bound round with strings, hanging from the wall by slings
or handles. r

Tablets in the codex form would be employed not only as mere note-
books, but especially in all cases where the writing was to be protected from
injury either for the moment or for a long period. Hence they were
used for legal documents, conveyances and wills, and for correspondence.
When used for wills, each page was technically called cent, as in Gaius,
ii. 104 'Haec. ita ut in his taUilis cerisque scripta sunt. ita do lego'/ 1
They were closed against inspection by a triple thread, Atror, linum, and
by the seals of the witnesses, as will presently be more fully explained.

1 Catullus. 1. 2 ' multiim lu-imus in meis tabellis'. Quintilian, In*'!!. ;rn'ur. x. 3. 31,
recommends tlie use of waxed tablets: 'Scribi optime ceris, in quibus facillima et
ratio.'

- Horace, Sut. i. 0. 74 ' Laevo suspensi loculos talmlamque lacerto '.

Martial, xiv. 4. 6.

4 Iliad vi. 169 7pa^.is iv mVa/ri irrvxry 6vi*o'. s xxi 1855 , 284, xxii 1S55 . 480 ; Mem. de I'Acad.
xviii (2nd series), 536 ; BM. J&cok des C/iartes, xi. 393. A ' Memoire touehant 1'usage d'ecrire
sur des tablettes de cire', by the Abb<5 Lebeuf, is printed in Mem. de I'Acad. xx (1753), 267.
A tablet of accounts, of about the year 1300, from Citeaux Abbey, is in the British
Museum, Add. MS. 33215; printed by H. Omont in Bu.ll. So:. Nat. des Antiq. de France,
1889, p. 283. Four tablets, of the fourteenth century, found at BeauvaU, are in the
Bibliotheque Nationale. Acad. des Inscriptions, Comptes rendus, 1887, p 141.

2 See Milani, Sei TtKotette cerate, in Pithbl. del R. Istituto

,n issim if, they contained the deed under seal and the duplicate copy open
to inspection. But most of them consist of three leaves : they are
triptychs, the third leaf being of great service in giving cover to the
seals. The Pompeian and Dacian tablets differ from one another in some
particulars ; but the general arrangement was as follows. The triptych
was made from one block of wood, cloven into the three required pieces
or leaves, which were held together by strings or wires passing through
two holes near the edge and serving for hinges. In the Pompeian
tablets, one side of each leaf (that is, pages .2, 3, and 5) was sunk within
a frame, the hollowed space being coated with wax, while the outside of
the triptych (that is, pages 1 and 6) was left plain. On page 4 a vertical
groove was cut down the centre to receive the witnesses' seals, and the
surface of the page was generally left plain ; but in some instances it
was waxed on the right, in some on both the right and the left, of the
groove. On pages 2 and 3 was inscribed the authentic deed, and the
first two leaves were then bound round with a string of three twisted
threads, which passed along the groove and was held in place by two
notches cut in the edges of the leaves at top and bottom. The
witnesses' seals were then sunk in the groove, thus further securing
the string, and their names were written on the right, either in ink
or with the stilus. An abstract or copy of the deed was inscribed
on page 5, and was thus left open to inspection. The Dacian
tablets differed in this respect, that page 4 was also waxed, and that
the copy of the deed was commenced on that page in the space on
the left of the groove, the space on the right being filled, as usual,
with the witnesses' names. Further, the string was passed, as an
additional security, through two holes, at top and bottom of the
groove, in accordance with a senatus consultum of A.D. 61, instead of
being merely wound round the leaves as in the case of the Pompeian
tablets. 1

1 The practice of closing the authentic deed and leaving tho copy only open to
inspection is paralleled by the Babylonian and Assyrian usage of enclosing the tablet
on which a contract or other deed was inscribed within a casing or shell of clay, on which
an abstract or copy of the document was also written for public ins-pection. A similar
usage obtained among the Greeks in Egypt, and by inference, as it may be presumed, in
Hellas itself. Deeds of the early Ptolemaic period have survived, written on papyrus in
duplicate, the upper deed (the original) being rolled up. folded in two, and sealed, the
lower copy being left open. 0. Eubensohn, Elephantine Papyri (in Aegypt. Urkunden aus den
kgl. Museen in Berlin}, 1907. In the British Museum papyri Nos. 879, 8S1-8, 1204, 1206-9,
second and first centuries B.C., the dockets written in the margins have been similarly
rolled up and sealed.

C 2

20 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY

The following diagram shows the arrangement of a Dacian triptych

Tieed begins

tieed: ends

Copy of deed ends

CopyoFdeed

begins

Names
of Wil-
nejjci

It will be noticed that, although the string which closed the deed
(as indicated by dotted lines) passed through the holes of only two of
the leaves, yet the third leaf (pages 5 and 6) is also perforated with
corresponding holes. This seems to show that the holes were first
pierced in the solid block, before it was cloven into three, in order that
they might afterwards adjust themselves accurately.' In one instance
the fastening threads and seals still remain. 2

In the Pompeian series were found about a dozen diptychs. These
were waxed only on the inner pages, 2 and 3, and no groove was cut for
the seals, which were therefore impressed on the flat surface. It is
interesting to find that tablets of this series have dockets on the edges,
proving that they were dropped vertically into the box in which they
were kept.

1 See C. I. L. iii. 922.

- Ibid. 938.

CHAPTER III

MATERIALS USED TO RECEIVE WRITING (continued)

WE now have to examine the history of the more common writing-
materials of the ancient world and of the middle ages, viz. papyrus,
vellum, and paper.

Papyrus

The papyrus plant, Cyperut Papyrus, which supplied the substance
for the great writing material of the ancient world, was widely cultivated
in the Delta of Egypt. From this part of the country it has now
vanished, but it still grows in Nubia and Abyssinia. Theophrastus,
Hia[iijrus, was probably derived from one of its ancient
Egyptian names. Herodotus, our most ancient authority for any details
of the purposes for which the plant was employed, always calls it flvp\os
(also written /3i/3/\os). Theophrastus describes the plant as one which
grows in the shallows to the height of six feet, with a triangular and
tapering stem crowned with a tufted head ; the root striking out at right
angles to the stem and being of the thickness of a man's wrist. The
tufted heads were used for garlands in the temples of the gods ; of the
wood of the root were made various utensils ; and of the stem, the pith
of which was also used as food, a variety of articles, including writing
material, were manufactured : caulking yarn, ships' rigging, light skiffs,
shoes, etc. The cable with which Ulysses bound the doors of the hall
when he slew the suitors was 077X01; /3u/3Airoi' (Odyas. xxi. 390).

As a writing material papyrus was employed in Egypt from the
earliest times. Papyrus rolls are represented on the sculptured walls of
Egyptian temples ; and rolls themselves exist of immense antiquity.
A papyrus containing accounts of King Assa, about 3500 B.C., is extant ; x
another famous roll is the Papyrus Prisse, at Paris, which contains the
copy of a work composed in the reign of a king of the fifth dynasty and
is itself of about the year 12500 B.C. or earlier. The dry atmosphere of
Egypt has been specially favourable to the preservation of these fragile
documents. Buried with the dead, they have lain in the tombs or
swathed in the folds of the mummy-cloths for centuries, untouched by
decay, and in many instances remain as fresh as on the day when they
were written.

1 Petrie, Hist. Egypt, i. 81.

22 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

Among the Greeks the papyrus material manufactured for writing
purposes was called \dpT-rjs (Latin charta) as well as by the names of the
plant itself. Herodotus, v. 58, refers to the early use of papyrus rolls
among the Ionian Greeks, to which they attached the name of &iQ4pcu,
' skins,' the writing material to which they had before been accustomed.
Their neighbours, the Assyrians, were also acquainted with it. 1 They
called it ' the reed of Egypt '. There is a recorded instance of papyrus
being sent from Egypt to Phoenicia in the eleventh century B.C.- An
inscription relating to the expenses of the rebuilding of the Erechtheum
at Athens in the year 407 B. c. shows that papyrus was used for the fair
copy of the rough accounts, which were first inscribed on tablets. Two
rolls, xaprai bvo, cost at the rate of a drachma and two obols each, or
a little over a shilling of our money. 3 There can hardly be a doubt,
then, that this writing material was also used in Athens for literary
purposes as early as the fifth century B. c.

The period of its first importation into Italy is not known. The
story of its introduction by Ptolemy, at the suggestion of Aristarchus, is
of suspicious authenticity. 4 But there can be little hesitation in assuming
that it was employed as the vehicle for Latin literature almost from the
first. We know that papyrus was plentiful in Rome under the Empire,
and that it had at that period become so indispensable that a temporary
failure of the supply in the reign of Tiberius threatened a general
interruption of the business of daily life. 5 Pliny also, Nat. Hint. xiii. 11,
refers to its high social value in the words : ' papyri natura dicetur, cum
chartae usu maxima humanitas vitae constet, certe memoria,' and again
he describes it as a thing ' qua constat immortalitas hominum '.

It is probable that papyrus w r as imported into Italy already
manufactured ; for it is doubtful whether the plant grew in that
country. Strabo, indeed, says that it was found in Lake Trasimene
and other lakes of Etruria ; but the accuracy of this statement has been
disputed. Still, it is a fact that there was a manufacture of this writing
material carried on in Rome, the charta Fanniana being an instance ; but
it has been asserted that this industry was confined to the remaking of
imported material. The more brittle condition of the Latin papyri, as
compared with the Greek papyri, found at Herculaneum, has been
ascribed to the detrimental effect of this remanufacture.

1 In the Assyrian wall-sculptures in the British Museum there are two scenes (nos. 3
and 84) in which two couples of scribes are represented taking notes. In each case one of
the scribes is using a folding tablet (the hinges of one being distinctly represented), and
the other a scroll. The scroll may be either papyrus or leather.

2 Zeitsch. fur iigypt. Sprache, xxxviii (1900), 1.

3 See above, p. 14. * See below, p. 29.

6 Pliny, Nat. Hist. xiii. 13 ' Sterilitatem sentit hoc quoque, factumque iam Tiberio
principe inopia chartae, ut e senatu darentur arbitri dispensandis ; alias in tumultu
vita erat '.

Ill

PAPYKCS 23

At a later period the Syrian variety of the plant was grown in Sicily,
where it was probably introduced during the Arab occupation. It was
seen there by the Arab traveller, Ibn-Haukal, A. D. 972-3, in the neigh-
bourhood of Palermo, where it throve in great luxuriance in the shallows
of the Papireto, a stream to which it gave its name. Paper was made
from this source for the use of the Emir ; but in the thirteenth century
the plant began to fail, and it was finally extinguished by the draining
of the stream in 1591. It is still, however, to be seen growing in the
neighbourhood of Syracuse, but was probably transplanted thither at
a later time, for no mention of it in that place occurs earlier than 1674.
Some attempts have U-eii made in recent years to manufacture a writing
material on the pattern ofthe ancient chart a from this Sicilian plant. 1

The manufacture of the writing material, as practised in Egypt, is
described by Pliny. -V./f. H'<*t. xiii. 12. His description applies specially
to the system of his own day ; but no doubt it was essentially the same
as had been followed for centuries. His text is far from clear, and
there are consequently many divergences of opinion on different points.
The stem of the plant, after removal of the rind, was cut longitudinally
into thin strips (philyrae, sciosurae) with a sharp cutting instrument
described as a needle (acus). The old idea that the strips were peeled off
the inner core of the stem is now abandoned, as it has been shown that
the plant, like other reeds, contains a cellular pith within the rind, which
was all used in the manufacture. The central strips were naturally the best,
being the broadest. The strips thus cut were laid vertically upon a board,
side "by side, to the required width, thus forming a layer, scheda, across
which another layer of shorter strips was laid at right angles.- The upper
surface thus formed became the recto, the under surface the verso, of the
finished sheet ; and the recto received a polish. Pliny applies to the process
the phraseology of net or basket making. The two layers formed a ' net ',
playula, or ' wicker ', crates, which was thus ' woven ', texitur. In this
process Nile water was used for moistening the whole. The special men-
tion of this particular water has caused some to believe that there were
adhesive properties in it which acted as a paste or glue on the material ;
others, more reasonably, have thought that water, whether from the
Nile or any other source, solved the glutinous matter in the strips and
thus caused them to adhere. It seems, however, more probable that paste

1 See G. Cosentino, La Carta di Papiro, in Archirio Storico Siciliano, N. S. xiv. 134-64.

Birt, Antikes Buchwesen, 229 (followed by Traube and others), applies the word sche>bt
or scida to a strip. But Pliny distinctly uses the word philyrae for the strips, although lie
elsewhere describes the inner bark of the lime tree by this name ; and sclieda for a layer,
i.e. a sheet of strips. Another name for the strips was inae. Birt with others) also
describes the plagula or sheet of papyrus by the Greek word ffeXis, which, however, is
rather a page or column of writing. In his more recent work, Die Biickrolk in der Kunst
(1907), he suggests Assume as an emendation of philijrae.

24 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

was actually used. 1 The sheets were finally hammered and dried in the
sun. 2 Rough or uneven places were rubbed down with ivory or a smooth
shell. 3 Moisture lurking between the layers was to be detected by strokes,
of the mallet. Spots, stains, and spongy strips (tueniae), in which the ink
would run, were defects which also had to be encountered. 4

The sheets were connected together with paste to form a roll, and in
this process received the name of KoAA?jjuara ; but not more than twenty
was the prescribed number. There are, however, rolls of more than
twenty sheets, so that, if Pliny's reading vicinae is correct, the number
was not constant in all times. Moreover, an author need not be limited
in the length of his book, and could increase the roll by adding more
sheets ; but, of course, he would avoid making it inconveniently bulky.
A length of papyrus, however, as sold by the stationers, called a acapun,
consisted apparently of twenty KoA\?j/xara, plagulae or schedae:' The
workman who fastened the sheets together was the KoAA;rj;s or ylutinator.
The outside of the roll was naturally that part which was more exposed
to risk of damage and to general wear and tear. The best sheets were
therefore reserved for this position, those which lay nearer the centre
or end of the rolled-up roll not being necessarily so good. Besides, the
end of a roll was not wanted in case of a short text, and might be cut
away. A protecting strip of papyrus was often pasted along the margin
at the beginning or end of a roll, in order to give additional strength
to the material and prevent it tearing. 6

The first sheet of a papyrus roll was called the Trpa>roVoAAoi>, a term
which still survives in diplomacy ; the last sheet was called the fo-xaro-
Ko'AAtov. Among the Romans the protocol-sheet was inscribed with the
name of the Comes largitionum, who had the control of the manufacture,
and with the date and name of the place where it was made. Such
certificates, styled ' protocols ', were in vogue both in the Roman
and Byzantine periods in Egypt. They were in ordinary practice cut
away ; but this curtailment was forbidden in legal documents by the

1 Birt, 231, points out, in regard to Pliny's words, 'turbidus liquor vim glutinia
praebet,' that 'glutinis' is not a genitive but a dative, Pliny never using the word
' gl iiten ', but ' glutinum '.

2 It appears that after being inscribed the papyrus received a second hammering, if a
passage in Ulpian, ' libri perscripti, nondum malleati ' (Dig. xxxii. 52. 5), may bear that
meaning. Birt, Buchrolle. But this practica would apply only to rolls intended for the
market, which would need a finishing touch.

3 Martial, xiv. 209 :

Levis ab aequorea cortex Mareotica concha
Fiat ; inoffensa currit harundo via.

4 Pliny, Epist. viii. 15 'quae (chartae) si scabrae bibulaeve sint ', &c.

5 Wattenbach, Buchw. 99; Kenyon, Palaeogr. of Gk. Papyri, 18.

Wilcken, in Hermes, xxiii. 466. See the Harris Homer, Brit. Mus. Papyrus cvii. A
Greek document of A. i>. 209 is similarly protected with a strip of vellum. Royal Prussian
Academy, Sitsungsber. 1910, p. 710.

Ill

PAPYRUS 25

laws of Justinian. 1 After their conquest of Egypt in the seventh
century, the Arabs continued the manufacture of papyrus and also
affixed protocols to their rolls. No Roman protocol has hitherto
come to light. The few extant specimens of the Byzantine period are
written in a curious, apparently imitative, script formed of rows of
close-set perpendicular strokes. This script may possibly be an attempt
of scribes to copy older, Roman, protocols, the meaning of which had
been forgotten. The normal protocol of the Arab period consists of
bilingual inscriptions in Greek and Arabic, accompanied with sections
or blocks of the above-mentioned imitative script ranged to right and
left, as if ornaments to fill spaces in the lines. 2

With regard to the height of papyrus rolls, those which date from
the earliest period of Egyptian history are short, of about 6 inches ;
later they increase to 9, 11, and even above 15 inches. The height of
the early Greek papyri of Homer and Hyperides in the British Museum
runs generally from ( J to 12 inches; the papyrus of Bacchylides
measures under 10 inches.

From Pliny we learn that there were various qualities of writing
material made from papyrus and that they differed from one another in
size. It has however been found that extant specimens do not tally
with the figures that he gives ; but an ingenious explanation has been
proposed, 3 that he refers to the breadth not to the height of the in-
dividual sheets, xoAAii/xara, which make up the roll. The best kind.
formed from the broadest strips of the plant, was originally the chart
l''n. rat leu, a name which was afterwards altered to AI'IJU^IK out of
flattery to the Emperor Augustus. The charta Livia, or second quality,
was named after his wife. The h!<-rn/ini thus descended to the third
rank. The Augusta and Livia were 13 digits, or about 9^ inches, wide ;
the hieratica 11 digits or 8 inches. The charta aanphitheatrica, of
9 digits or 6 inches, took its title from the principal place of its
manufacture, the amphitheatre of Alexandria. The chartu Fmuii'i
was apparently a variety which was remade at Rome, in the workshops
of a certain Fannius, from the amp&iftmfrica, the width being increased
by about an inch through pressure. The Saitira was a common variety,
named after the city of Sais, being of about 8 digits or 5| inches.

1 'Tab^Hiones non scribant instrument;! in aliis chartis quam in his quae protocolla
hubenr, ut tamen protocollum tale sit, quod habeat nomengloriosissimieomitislargitionuni
et tempus quo charta facta est,' Xotell. xliv. l'.

2 Professor von Karabacek lias attempted to prove that the enigmatic writing contains
t race* of Latin : Siteungsberichte of the Vienna Academy, 1908. His views are disputed by
C. H. Becker. ZeUsch. fit,- Assyriologie, xx. 97, xxii. lti ; and by H. I. Bell, Archie fur
Papyrusforschtmg, v. 143. Several specimens of Byzantine and Arab protocols are in the
British Museum. See Cat. Gk. Pap. in Brit. Hus. iv ; Ktvj Pal. Soc. 177.

3 Birt, Ant. Buchw. 251 sqq.

26 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

Finally, there were the Tacniotica which was said to have taken its
name from the place where it was made, a tongue of land (rairia) near
Alexandria and the common packing-paper, charta emporetica, neither
of which was more than 5 inches wide. Mention is made by Isidore,
Eiipnol. vi. 10, of a quality of papyrus called Corneliana, which was
first made under C. Cornelius Gallus when prefect of Egypt. But the
name may have disappeared from the vocabulary when Gallus fell into
disgrace. 1 Another kind was manufactured in the reign of Claudius,
and on that account was named Claudia. It was a made-up material,
combining the Auyuata and Livia, to provide a stout substance. Finally,
there was a large-sized quality, of a cubit or nearly 18 inches in width,
called macTOcollon. Cicero made use of it (E^p. ad Attic, xiii. 25 ;
xvi. 3). An examination of existing specimens seems to show that the
Ko\\i)ij.a.Ta range chiefly between 8 and 12 inches in width, the larger
number being of 10 inches. Of smaller sizes, a certain proportion are
between 5 and 6 inches. 2

Varro, repeated by Pliny, xiii. 11, makes the extraordinary statement
that papyrus writing material was first made in Alexander's time. He
may have been misled from having found no reference to its use in
pre- Alexandrine authors; or he may have meant to say that its first
free manufacture was only of that date, as it was previously a govern-
ment monopoly.

Papyrus continued to be the ordinary writing material in Egypt to
a comparatively late period ; 3 it was eventually superseded by the
excellent paper of the Arabs. In Latin literature it was gradually
displaced in the early centuries of our era by the growing employment
of vellum, which, by the fourth century had practically superseded it.
But it still lingered in Europe under various conditions. Long after
vellum had become the principal writing material, especially for literary
purposes, papyrus continued in use, particularly for ordinary documents,
such as letters. St. Jerome, Ep. vii, mentions vellum as a material for
letters, ' if papyrus fails ' ; and St. Augustine, Ep. xv, apologizes for
using vellum instead of papyrus. A fragmentary epistle in Greek,
sent apparently by the Emperor, Michael II or Theophilus, to Louis le
D^bonnaire between 8:24 and 839, is preserved at Paris. 4 A few
fragments of Greek literary papyri written in Europe in the early
middle ages, containing Biblical matter and portions of Graeco-Latin
glossaries, have also survived.

1 Birt, Ant. Buchw. 250.

W. Schuhart, Dus Buck bei den Grieclten und IKmern.

3 The middle of the tenth century is the period when it has been calculated the manu-
facture of papyrus in Egypt ceased. Karabacek, Das arabisclie Papier, in Jlittheilimij'n uus
tier Sammlung der Papyrus Erzherzoy Rainer, ii-iii 1^87 , 98.

4 H. Omont in llev. Ardieolugique, xix (1892], 384.

ill

SKINS 27

For purely Latin literature papyrus was also occasionally used in the
West during the middle ages. Examples, made up in codex form, some-
times with a few vellum leaves incorporated to give stability, are found
in different libraries of Europe. They are : The Homilies of St. Avitus,
of the sixth century, at Paris ; Sermons and Epistles of St. Augustine, of
the sixth or seventh century, at Paris and Geneva ; works of Hilary, of the
sixth century, at Vienna; fragments of the Digests, of the sixth century,
at Pommersfeld ; the Antiquities of Josephus, of the seventh century, at
Milan ; an Isidore, of the seventh century, at St. Gall. At Munich,
also, is the register of the Church of Ravenna, written on this material
in the tenth century. Many papyrus documents in Latin, dating from
the fifth to the tenth century, have survived from the archives of
Ravenna; and there are extant fragments of two imperial rescripts
written in Egypt, apparently in the fifth century, in the Roman
chancery hand "which is otherwise unknown. In the papal chancery,
following the usage of the imperial court of Byzantium, papyrus appears
to have been employed down to the middle of the eleventh century.
Twenty-three papal bulls on this material have survived, ranging from
A. D. 849 to 1022. 1 In France papyrus was in common use in the sixth
century. 2 Under the Merovingian kings it was \ised for official docu-
ments; several papyrus deeds of their period, dated from 625 to 673,
1 icing still preserved in the French archives.

Skins

The skins of animals are of such a durable nature that it is no matter
for surprise to find that they have been appropriated as writing material
l>y the ancient nations of the world. They were in use among the
Egyptians as early as the time of Cheops, in the fourth dynasty,
ilocmnents written on skins at that period being referred to or copied in
papyri of later date. 3 Actual specimens of skin rolls from Egypt still
xist which date back to some 1500 years B.C. But the country which
not only manufactured but also exported in abundance the writing
material made from the papyrus plant hardly needed to make use of
other material, and skin-rolls written in Egypt must, at all times,
have been rare. In Western Asia the practice of writing on skins was
doubtless both ancient and widespread. The Jews made use of them
for their sacred books, and, probably also for their other literature : to
the present day they employ them for their synagogue-rolls. It may be
presumed that their neighbours the Phoenicians also availed themselves
of the same kind of writing material. The Persians inscribed their

1 II. Ornont, Eulles Pantif. sur papyrus, in i'lM. fccole 0e'p0epui, he also seems to refer to
vellum. The advantages of the vellum book over the papyrus roll are
obvious : it was in the more convenient form of the codex ; it could be
rewritten ; and the leaves could receive writing on both sides. Martial
enumerates, among his Apojthoreta, vellum MSS. of Homer (xiv. 184),
Virgil (186), Cicero (188), Livy (190), and Ovid (192).* Vellum tablets
began to take the place of the tabulae ceratae, as appears in Martial,
xiv. 7 ' Esse puta ceras, licet haec membrana vocetur : Delebis, quotiens

1 Birt, Ant. Buchw. 41.

2 Boissonade, Anecd. i. 420.

Mommsen, 'inscr. Xeapol. 6828 ; Annali dP Inst. 1S58;, xxx. 192; Marquardt, Prm
leben tkr Komer, 796.

Pliny, Xat. Hist. vii. 21, mentions a curiosity : ' In nuce inclusam Ihadem I:
carmen in membrana scriptura tradit Cicero.'

30 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

scripta novare voles.' The same writer also recommends the convenience
of vellum to the traveller who desires to carry with him the poet's works
in a compact form. 1 Quintilian, x. 3. 31, recommends the use of vellum
for drafts of their compositions by persons of weak sight : the ink on
vellum was more easily read than the scratches of the stilus on wax. 2
Horace refers to it in Sat. ii. 3 ' Sic raro scribis ut toto non quater
anno Membranam poscas ' ; and in other places.

From the dearth of classical specimens and from the scanty number
of early mediaeval MSS. of secular authors which have come down to us,
it seems that vellum was not a common writing material under the first
Roman emperors. There are no records to show its relative value in
comparison with papyrus ; but there may be some reason for the view
that vellum was in Martial's time of comparatively little worth, and was
chiefly used as a poor material for rough drafts and common work. 3
Perhaps, too, imperfection of manufacture may have retarded its more
general introduction. A few stray leaves of vellum codices of the first
centuries of our era have been found in Egypt. A leaf of a MS. of
Demosthenes, De falsa, legatione, written in a rough hand of the second
century, is in the British Museum, Add. MS. 34473 (New Pal. Soc. 2). 4
On the other hand a leaf from a MS. of Euripides' Cretans, now in
Berlin, 5 is written on thin veliurn in a very neat delicate script, and was
assigned to the first century ; but on further consideration it has now been
placed in the second century. Other fragments are of the third century.
Papyrus had been so long the recognized material for literary use that
the slow progress of vellum as its rival may be partly ascribed to
natural conservatism and the jealousy of the book trade. It was par-
ticularly the influence of the Christian Church that eventually carried
vellum into the front rank of writing materials and in the end displaced
papyrus. As papyrus had been the principal material for receiving the
thoughts of the pagan world, vellum was to be the great medium for
conveying to mankind the literature of the new religion.

Independently of the adoption of vellum as a literary vehicle, which
will be considered when we have to describe the change in the form of
the ancient book from the roll to the codex, its mere durability recom-
mended it to an extent that fragile papyrus could in no way pretend

Qui tecura cupis esse meos ubicumque libellos

Et comites longae quaeris habere viae,
Hos erne quos artiit brevibus membrana tabellis :

Scrinia da magnis, me manus una capit. Epigr. i. 3.

2 So also Martial, xiv. 5 'Languida ne tristes obscurent lumina cerae, Nigra tibi
niveutn littera pingat ebur '.

3 See Birt, Ant. Buchwesen. He has rather overstated his case ; and his views have
not passed without challenge.

4 Kenyon, Palaeogr. of Gk. Papyri, 113.

6 Berliner Klassikertexte, v. 2, p. 73,Taf. iv; Schubart, Papyri GraecaeBirolinenses(l$ll\30a.

m PARCHMENT AND VELLUM

to When Constantine required copies of the Scriptures for his new
churches, he ordered fifty MSS. on vellum, -tvr^ovra M bi^pais
to be prepared.' And St. Jerome, Ep. cxli, refers to the replacement
damaged volumes in the library of Pamphilus at Caesarea by MSS. on
vellum ' Quam [bibliothecam] ex parte corruptam Acacius dehmc ,
Euzoius eiusdem ecclesiae sacerdotes, in membranis instaurare conati sunt
The laro-e number of mediaeval MSS. that have been transmitted
enables usto form some opinion on the character and appearance o
vellum at different periods and in different countries. It may be stated
oenerallv that in the most ancient MSS. a thin, delicate material may
usually be looked for, firm and crisp, with a smooth and glossy surface
This is generally the character at least of the vellum of the fifth and
sixth centuries. Later than this period, as a rule, it does not appear to
have been so carefully prepared: probably, as the demand^ increased,
a Beater amount of inferior material came into the market.-
manufacture would naturally vary in different countries. In Ireland
and England the early MSS. are generally on stouter vellum than their
contemporaries abroad. In Italy a highly polished surface seems at most
periods to have been in favour ; hence in the MSS. of that country and
neighbouring districts, as the South of France, and again in Greece, the
hard material resisted absorption, and it is often found that both ink and
paint have flaked off. In contrast to this are the instances of soft vellum.
Ud in En-land and France and in Northern Europe generally, from
the thirteenth to the fifteenth century, for MSS. of the better class
Uterine vellum, taken from the unborn young, or the skins of new-1
animals were used for special purposes. A good example ot
delicate material is found in Add. MS. 23933 in the British Museum,
a volume of no abnormal bulk, but containing in as many as 579 leaves
a corpus of church service books, written in France in the thirteenth and
fourteenth centuries. In the fifteenth century the Italian vellum o
Renaissance is often of extreme whiteness and purity.

Vellum was also of great service in the ornamentation of books.
smooth surfaces showed off colours in all their brilliancy. Martial's
vellum MS. of Virgil (xiv. 186) is adorned with the portrait of the aut
'Ipsius voltus prima tabella gerit.' Isidore, Orlg. vi. 11. 4, describing
this material, uses the words: 'Membrana autem aut Candida aut lutea
aut purpurea sunt. Candida naturaliter existunt. Luteum membranum
bicolor est, quod a confectore una tingitur parte, id est, crocatur De
quo Persius (iii. 10), "lam liber et positis bicolor membrana capil

n ' "enth and tenth centres, of Uum -hich

or badly prepared, and therefore left blank by the scribes, are noUced in Cat.
in the Brit. Museum, pt. ii. 51 ; and in Delisle, Melanges, 101.

32 GREEK AND LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY CHAP.

This quotation from Persius refers to the vellum wrapper which the
Romans were in the habit of attaching to the papyrus roll : the (paivok^,
paenula, literally a travelling cloak. A vellum wrapper was more
suitable than one of papyrus to resist constant handling. It was coloured
of some brilliant hue, generally scarlet or purple, as in Lucian ' : zopQvpa,
bC (KTOffGtv i; 8i0e'pa. Ovid finds a bright colour unsuited to his melan-
choly book, Trist. i. 1. 5 ' Nee te purpureo velent vaccinia fuco '. Martial's
lilellux (viii. 72) is ' nondum murice cultus ' ; and again he has the pas-
sages, iii. 2 ' et te purpura delicata velet ' ; and x. 93 ' carmina, purpurea
sed inodo culta toga ', the toga being another expression for the wrapper.
In Tibullus iii. 1. 9, the colour is orange : ' Lutea sed niveum involvat
membrana libellum.' The strip of vellum, o-i'XAv/Sos (or s), titulus,
index, which was attached to the papyrus roll and was inscribed with
the title of the work therein contained, was also coloured, as appears
from the passages in Martial, iii. 2 'Et cocco rubeat superbus index',
and in Ovid, Tritt. i. 1. 7 'nee titulus minio nee cedro charta notetur '.

We do not know how soon was introduced the extravagant practice
of producing sumptuous volumes written in gold or silver upon purple-
stained vellum. It was a MS. of this description which Julius Capito-
linus, early in the fourth century, puts into the possession of the
younger Maximin : ' Cum grammatico daretur, quaedam parens sua
libros Homericos omnes purpureos dedit, aureis litteris scriptos.' Against
luxury of this nature St. Jerome directed the often-quoted words in his
preface to the Book of Job : ' Habeant qui volunt veteres libros vel in
membranis purpureis auro argentoque descriptor vel uncialibus, ut vulgo
aiunt, litteris, onera magis exarata quam codices ' ; and again in his Ep.
xviii, to Eustochium : ' Inficiuntur membranae colore purpureo, aurum
liquescit in litteras. gemmis codices vestiuntur, et nudus ante fores earum
[i.e. wealthy ladies] Christus emoritur.'

The art of staining or dyeing vellum with purple or similar colour
was practised chiefly in Constantinople, and also in Rome ; but MSS. of
this material, either entirely or in part, seem to have been produced in
most of the civilized countries of Europe at least from the sixth century,
if we may judge from surviving examples which, though not numerous,
still exist in fair numbers. Of these the best known are : Portion of the
Book of Genesis, in Greek, in the Imperial Library at Vienna, written in
silver letters and illustrated with a series of coloured drawings of the
greatest interest for the history of the art of the period ; of the sixth
century. 2 A MS. of the Gospels, in Greek, in silver, the bulk of which
was found, in 1896, at Sarumsahly in Cappadocia and is now in

1 Ilfpi ruiv iirl /iiffSoi avvovTaiv, 41.

2 See a facsimile of one of the pages in Pal. Soc. i. 178 ; and of one of the paintings in
Labarte, Hist, des arts industr. du Moyen Age (1864), album ii, pi. 77. Ed. by von Hartel and
Wickhoff, 1895.

in PARCHMENT AND VELLUM 33

St. Petersburg (Cod. N), and leaves of which have been long preserved
in the British Museum, at Vienna, Rome, and in large numbers at Patmos ;
also of the sixth century. 1 The Codex Rossanensis, discovered at Rossano
in South Italy, which contains the Gospels in Greek, of the sixth century,
also written in silver and having a series of drawings illustrative of the
Life of Christ.' 2 A portion of the Gospels in Greek, from Sinope, in gold,
with drawings, of the sixth or seventh century, now in Paris. 3 The Gospels
of Berat in Albania, containing St. Matthew and St. Mark, written in
silver in the sixth century. 4 The Greek Psalter of Zurich, of the seventh
century, in silver letters."' The famous Codex Argenteus of Upsala,
containing the Gothic Gospels of Ulfilas 1 translation, of the sixth century. .
The Codex Veronensis of the old Latin Gospels(^), written in silver uncials,
of the fourth or fifth century. 7 The Latin Evangeliarium of Vienna,
originally from Naples, of the sixth century, in silver letters ; a single
leaf of the MS. being in Trinity College, Dublin. 8 The Latin Psalter of
St. Germain (who died A.D. 576) at Paris, also in silver letters. The
Metz Evangeliarium at Paris, of the same style and period. The Latin
Gospels of the Hamilton collection, now in the library of Mr. J. Pierpont
Morgan, which has been assigned to the eighth century." 1 Of later date
are the MSS. which were produced in the Carolingian period, when a fresh
impetus was given to this kind of ornamental luxury. Such are : The
Latin Gospels at Paris, said to have been written for Charlemagne by
Godescalc, in letters of gold. 11 A similar MS. at Vienna. 12 And lastly
may be mentioned the Latin Psalter in the Douce collection in the Bodleian
Library, written in golden Carolingian minuscules and ornamented with
miniatures. 13 Other specimens of purple MSS. are cited in different
palaeographical works and catalogues. 14 In imitation of the practice of
the emperors of the Eastern Empire, imperial and other important
charters of Germany and Italy were occasionally issued, as duplicates,
in gold writing on purple vellum, in the tenth to twelfth centuries. 1 '

1 Ed. H. S. Cronin, 1899.

2 Edited, with outline tracings of the drawings, by von Gebhardt and Harnack,
Eeangeliorum Codex Graeats purpureiis fiossanensis, 1880; and in photographic facsimile liy
A. Haseloff, 1898 ; also in colours by A. Muiioz, 1907.

3 Ed. H. Omont, 1901. 4 Ed. Batiffol, 1886.

5 Ed. Tischendorf, Hon. Sacr. Inert. Aovo Coll. iv. 6 See Pal. Soc. i. 118.

7 See the Turin Monumenta p&laeographica sacia, pi. ii.

8 Ed. Tisch


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