1. THE ANCIENT WORLD CHAPTER 2 The Ancient Greeks and Romans
----- Meeting Notes (9/1/15 11:30) -----
pictographic and alphabetic forms on both sides of the disk
6 inches diameter
typelike stamps pressed the characters into the wet clay

2. Phaistos Disk
Minoan
Mid–late Bronze Age

3. Phoenician
North Semetic
alphabet

5. 2-01
This diagram displays several evolutionary steps of Western alphabets. The controversial theory linking early Cretan pictographs to alphabets is based on similarities in their appearance.

6. 2-10
Timotheus, The Persians, papyrus manuscript, fourth century B.C. This excellent example of the Greek alphabet shows the symmetrical form and even visual rhythm that evolved. These qualities made the Greek alphabet the prototype for subsequent developments.

7. 2-11
Votive stela with four figures, fifth century B.C. The design excellence of Greek inscriptions is clearly shown in this fragment. By using a three‑sided square with a central dot for the E and a V‑shaped horizontal in the A, the designer engaged in a personal inventiveness with form.

8. 2-12
Greek wooden tablet with uncials, A.D The rounded uncials allowed an A to be made with two strokes instead of three, and an E to be made with three strokes instead of four.
Excerpted from Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, Fourth Edition. Copyright 2005, All rights reserved. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

9. 2-18
Trajan’s Column
Excerpted from Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, Fourth Edition. Copyright 2005, All rights reserved. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

10. Trajan’s Column Capitalis Monumentalis
2-18
Trajan’s Column Capitalis Monumentalis
Excerpted from Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, Fourth Edition. Copyright 2005, All rights reserved. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

11. 2-18
Detail, inscription on a tomb along the Appian Way, Rome. The controlled brush drawing of the forms on the stone combines with the precision of the stonemason’s craft to create letterforms of majestic proportion and harmonious form.
Excerpted from Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, Fourth Edition. Copyright 2005, All rights reserved. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

12. Pompein wall writing Rustic Capitals, political propaganda
2-18
Pompein wall writing Rustic Capitals, political propaganda

13. Greek Codex Rustic Capitals, 3rd Cent. AD
2-18
Greek Codex Rustic Capitals, 3rd Cent. AD
Excerpted from Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, Fourth Edition. Copyright 2005, All rights reserved. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

14. The three Roman Capital lettering styles.
2-18
The three Roman Capital lettering styles.