3 ms·
When I read > These are arranged in horizontal lines, but every other line is written upside-down, a style known as reverse boustrophedon. This means that anyo
by bambax 3y ago
When I read
> These are arranged in horizontal lines, but every other line is written upside-down, a style known as reverse boustrophedon. This means that anyone reading the texts would have had to turn them through 180 degrees at the end of each line.
I thought that "turning 180° at the end of each line" was not the most likely explanation, but rather that it was meant to be read by two people standing face to face, in a kind of dialogue or maybe echo/repetition. If that's correct it would be a stage script or used of some kind of ritual. (But it doesn't need to have different authors or scriptors; the same writer could carve each line one after the other.)
- DonaldFisk 3y agoQuite a few known ancient scripts, including sometimes Greek, were written and read boustrophedonically, i.e. the following line starts below the end of the previous line. This appears to be the case with Rongorongo and it's reasonable to assume the same is true for it. Of course, we can't be sure because, unlike Greek, we can't read it.
- ithkuil 3y agoYes ancient Greek was mirrored (boustrophedon). This is rotated (reverse boustrophedon)