2 ms·
I believe they meant carved, as in into stone. "Roman block lettering avoids curves because it was often carved."
by wdmeldon 10y ago
I believe they meant carved, as in into stone. "Roman block lettering avoids curves because it was often carved."
- mrec 10y agoIt doesn't really avoid curves, though, even when carved into stone. Look at the inscription on Trajan's Column [1], f'rinstance; yes, it's got the classic U written as V, but the C, D, O, S etc are all as curvy as you could possibly want. The Romans wrote most ephemeral stuff on wax tablets which could be smoothed over for re-use; this is where the phrase "tabula rasa" comes from. Some examples survive and also show curves [2]. [1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/002_Conrad_Cichorius%2C_Die_Reliefs_der_Traianss%C3%A4ule%2C_Tafel_II.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/002_Conr... [2] http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/newly-discovered-ancient-roman-writing-tablets-provide-snapshots-roman-era-020857 http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/newl...