What scripts did the ancient Romans use? In the absence of a printing press, everything was handwritten, but we can still identify distinct scripts that were used for different purposes. It was square capitals (capitalis quadrata) for inscriptions on public monuments since the early imperial age, old and new Roman cursive for daily writing (shopping lists, inventories, birthday notes etc), and rustic capitals for copying out literary works.
Square Capitals used on funeral effigy. Vatican Museum.
Prior to viewing how the specific scripts are written, it is important to familiarize yourself with their history. Rustic capitals were used for copying and writing literary works. The individual letters in rustic capitals are easier to read than new and old roman cursive, however the script is written in scriptio continua, meaning there is no spacing between the words. The cursive forms were used mainly in every day life situations such as shops and letters. Old roman cursive was a popular script between the 1st century BCE to the third century CE. It can be found mostly on wax tablets, graffiti, and other various inscriptions. The new roman cursive was popular between the 3rd and 10th century.
For more historical background on these different types of scripts, please follow the link below!
In my tutorial, I did not use a reed pen because I thought it was easier to see using this writing utensil. A reed pen is encouraged when writing in these scripts. Below, you will see images in all three of these different scripts. Notice the variance as well as the similarities between them and how script evolved through the centuries!
