This is a historical example of Cuneiform. This particular example is an account of silver for the governor written in clay. http://www.omniglot.com/images/langsamples/smp_sumerian.jpg
When creating this truism we ran into a couple sounds that didn't exist in Cuneiform so we had to replace them. the sound ts didn't exist so we replaced it with es and the sound xu didn't exist so we replaces it with ku.
Key Concepts and Terms Pictogram: A picture used as language Mesopotamia: Greek for the place between two rivers Bulla: A clay container for holding tokens like a piggybank Cylinder Seal: Used to represent a person like a name Ideogram: A written character symbolizing the idea of a think like sadness or the number 2 Cuneiform: A writing system developed by the Mesopotamians using a rebus system Complex Tokens: Tokens that are more specific with symbols on them and holes through the middle. Symbol: An image that represents something without resembling it Rebus: A writing system using pictures to represent syllables Phonogram: Images that stand for sounds Syllable: A unit of pronunciation having one vowel and possibly one or more consonants Syllabary: A writing system formed of syllables Denise Schmandt-Besserat: The person who figured out the origins of the Sumerian tokens Code of Hammurabi: The laws of the land written in Cuneiform on a big statue
Egyptian Hieroglyphs
Thoth's declaration to the Ennead, based on the weighing of the heart of the scribe Ani. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papyrus_of_Ani
The only problem we ran into with this one was with the font we found the letter "x" was backwards compared to the keyboard provided to us. www.dafont.com/ancient-egyptian-hieroglyphs.font
Key Concepts and Terms Historic: Includes writing Palette of Narmer: Earliest historic artwork 3100 BCE Hieroglyph: Greek for sacred carvings Glyph: Symbols, carvings Determinatives: Explains a symbol without being pronounced Hieratic: Cursive for Hieroglyphs Papyrus: Paper made by the Egyptians Rubricate: Using red ink to create emphasis Scribe: Writes things down, usually creates the Book of the Dead for the king Book of the Dead: Helps the king navigate the underworld Scroll: Papyrus rolled up around sticks Continuous narrative: A story with no separations Rosetta Stone: Helped made hieroglyphs be able to be translated, included the same scripts in three different languages Acrophony: Used the first sound of the image Paleographer: People who read old writing
Egyptian Hieratic
Plates vi & vii of the Edwin Smith Papyrus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Smith_Papyrus
There was no "L" symbol so we created our own from the lion symbol which is "L" in hieroglyphs.
Key Concepts and Terms Manuscript: Anything written by hand Hieratic: Cursive form of writing for hieroglyphs, a type of shorthand Demotic: One of the three languages that appears on the rosetta stone, a late form of Hieratic Phonic: A way of teaching reading based on the sound of letters Cursive: Shorthand writing where the letters are connected Stylus: an ancient writing implement, consisting of a small rod with a pointed end for scratching letters Edwin Smith Papyrus: A medical document that had information on various medical procedures like treating infection with honey.
Phoenician Abjad
Eshmunazar II sarcophagus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eshmunazar_II_sarcophagus
Key Concepts and Terms Abjad: An alphabet without vowels Phonics: A way of teaching reading based on the sound of letters Consonant: Sounds created differently than the sounds of vowels thus they were blocked Scripto continua: Written without breaks between words
For this one we chose to use the Boustrophedon form of writing rather than the Stoichedon form.
Key Concepts and Terms Ostracized: Exiled or forced out because they had done some kind of heinous activity Alphabet: A writing system that contains both vowels and constants Vowel: Sounds from the lungs through the vocal cords unblocked Kallias Decree: Demands the returns of loans and spells out the punishments for not repaying them Stoichedon: "Military files" straight writing in a grid form Monoline: The original san serif form of writing Mantikos Apollo: A votiv statue asking for favor from the god Apollo Boustrophedon: "As the ox turns" Writing back and forth without lifting the stylus, curving with the substrate
There was no "S" so we used something similar, there was no "U" or "V" so we used "Y" instead, there was no "D" so we used something similar, there was no "R" so we used something similar, and the "A" didn't trace properly so we created out own.
Key Concepts and Terms Symposium: A greek drinking party Codex: Means block of wood, a writing tablet bound at the sides with a walk writing surface inside Uncial: Scripts made entirely of hand written capital letters X-height: The distance between the baseline and the mean line, usually the height of a lowercase x Manuscript: Anything written by hand Parchment: paper made out of animal skin Codex Sinaiticus: Earliest surviving copy of the entire bible Codify: Put into a codex or made into law Majuscule: UPPERCASE
In Roman Square Capitals there is no "U" so we used "V" instead.
Key Concepts and Terms “Graecia capta victorem cepit”: Captured Greece captured her uncultured conqueror Column of Trajan: A huge column built in Rome by Trajan. Trajan in buried within the base of this column and the inscription on the base inspired typographers to create typefaces in the 15th and 16th centuries Humanist: A person who wants to revive the traditions of ancient Greece and Rome Typographer: A person who arranges letterforms to make the written language legible and appealing Apollodorus of Damascus: The arichitect who built the Column of Trajan Golden Section: A math equation where the long side of a rectangle equals 1.618 times the short side and can fit within itself infinitely. Optical Refinements: Changes made to monuments to make the writing look normal from the intended viewing aria. The Column of Trajan displays this in the from of the letters at the top of the inscription on the base of the column are both larger and taller than those on the bottom making them look uniform when standing underneath reading it. Serif: The little feet on letters Calamus Pen: The tool used to write Roman Square Capitals by hand in books
Roman Rustic Capitals
http://www.ancient.eu/image/962/
There is no "U" so we had to use "V" instead.
Key Concepts and Terms Graffiti: Writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place. Pompeii: A place in Rome where they found Roman Rustic Capitals
Old Roman Cursive ("Cursive Antigua")
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vindolanda_tablets
There is no "U" so we had to use "V" instead.
Key Concepts and Terms Vindolanda: A fort in Rome Claudia Severa: The lady who wrote the earliest known example of a woman writing in latin
Key Concepts and Terms Caroline: Invented lowercase letters minuscule: Lowercase letters Charlemagne: The king of the Franks, Lombardy, and later the first Holy Roman Emperor Constantine I: The emperor who legalized Christianity Justinian I: Last emperor before before Charlemagne to unify Europe Alcuin of York: Charlemagne's teacher, made a simplified and legible script known as Carolingian Scriptoria: A place where you can go to copy books Saint Jerome: Translated the bible into Latin and corrected it. Harley Golden Gospels: Iconoclasm: A call for the destruction of images of people in religious art
For my version of the Lindisfarne Gospels incipit page I created some intricate designs and patterns, based off of the ones in the original, to use in the border and versal letters. I included some letters based off of other writing conventions including the "S" and "A" in the second line, I also included some letters nested together with the "LS" on the bottom line, I showed variation in letterforms with the three different "R's," and I created a ligature by connecting the "IT" in the second line. I showed diminuendo by making the letters smaller and the backgrounds less intricate as you go down the page. Looking back on this work I wish that I had used less black but bedsides that I believe that I did pretty well.
Key Concepts and Terms Gospel: The books of the bible Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John Monastery: A building or buildings occupied by a community of monks living under religious vows Insular: Island England, Ireland, Scotland Lindisfarne: A place in northern England Eadfrith: The guy who made the Lindisfarne Gospels he also invented pencils with led and a version of the light box and he died before finishing the Lindisfarne Gospels Half uncial: Both lowercase and uppercase letters, hand written Diminuendo: A writing convention where letters get smaller words the bottom of the page Abbreviation: A shortened form of a word or phrase Suspension: An abbreviation what a marking at the end Ligature: Connected letters Justified Text: Text is aligned along the left margin, and spacing is adjusted so that the text falls flush with both margins Header: Is text that is separated from the main body of text and appears at the top of a printed page Carpet page: Pages within the Lindisfarne Gospels that are very ornate and resemble a carpet Initial Page: The first page of the Lindisfarne Gospels Explicit: The closing words of a text, manuscript, early printed book, or chanted liturgical text Incipit: Latin for here it begins Nomina Sacra: Sacred Name
Textura (aka textualis, Gothic, Blackletter, and Old English)
Key Concepts and Terms Minims: Angular chunky feet on letters Textura: A script with minims, Latin for woven pattern Scholasticism: A method of critical thought Dialectical Reasoning: Debating two opposing point of views Versal: An ornamented letter that begins a section of text Historiated Initial: A versal with an image Inhabited Initial: A versal with an image containing figures usually human or animal
Key Concepts and Terms Bastarde: "Low born" Roman de la Rose: "The Book of the Rose" a love poem written in Bastarde Burgundian Court: A place ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy and pictured in Roman de la Rose