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Rustic letters en vogue

Related Images

  • Fig. 1 - Latin tombstone inscription with monumental capitals - Rijksmuseum van Oudheden - [Pb 48](https://hdl.handle.net/21.12126/58369)
  • Fig. 2 - Page with text in rustic capitals from Codex Vergilius Romanus, a manuscript dating from late antiquity - Vatican Apostolic Library - [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RomanVirgilFolio014rVergilPortrait.jpg)
  • Fig. 3 - Election slogans on the wall of a pub in Pompeii in rustic capitals - [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Capitalis_rustica#/media/File:Affiche_%C3%A9lectorale_tr%C3%A8s_ancienne.JPG)
  • Fig. 4 - Tombstone from Carthage in rustic capitals - Rijksmuseum van Oudheden - [HN 6](https://hdl.handle.net/21.12126/58419)

The elegant, curvy capital letters of the inscription immediately catch the eye. They are not as linear as the capital letters that are commonly used on monumental Latin inscriptions (fig. 1), but rather resemble the so-called rustic letter-form that was in use from the second century AD onwards.

Typical for this type of script are for example the oval O, the elongated G and Q, and the V with a more round bottom than usual. These letter-forms were mainly used on other media, such as parchment (fig. 2) or walls (fig. 3). It was much harder to carve these curvy letters into stone. For some examples of these letters, see here See also J. Edmondson, Inscribing Roman Texts, p.125 in C. Bruun and J. Edmondson (eds.), 2015, The Oxford Handbook of Roman Epigraphy, Oxford.

These elongated, curvy capitals were en vogue in North Africa, it seems. The National Museum of Antiquities has another example from Carthage in its collection (fig. 4).