Editing Palaeography (section)

=== Roman period ===
[[File:HARRIS HOMER - 1st CENTURY B.C..png|thumb|left|Greek papyrus with [[Homer]]'s verses, 1st century BC]]

Papyri of the Roman period are far more numerous and show greater variety. The cursive of the 1st century has a rather broken appearance, part of one character being often made separately from the rest and linked to the next letter. A form characteristic of the 1st and 2nd century and surviving after that only as a fraction sign ({{frac|1|8}}) is {{angbr|η}} in the shape [[File:Hand 2 sample q.png|20px]]. By the end of the 1st century, there had been developed several excellent types of cursive, which, though differing considerably both in the forms of individual letters and in general appearance, bear a family likeness to one another. Qualities which are specially noticeable are roundness in the shape of letters, continuity of formation, the pen being carried on from character to character, and regularity, the letters not differing strikingly in size and projecting strokes above or below the line being avoided. Sometimes, especially in tax-receipts and in stereotyped formulae, cursiveness is carried to an extreme. In a letter of the prefect, dated in 209, we have a fine example of the [[Chancery hand]], with tall and laterally compressed letters, {{angbr|ο}} very narrow and {{angbr|α}} and {{angbr|ω}} often written high in the line. This style, from at least the latter part of the 2nd century, exercised considerable influence on the local hands, many of which show the same characteristics less pronounced; and its effects may be traced into the early part of the 4th century. Hands of the 3rd century uninfluenced by it show a falling off from the perfection of the 2nd century; stylistic uncertainty and a growing coarseness of execution mark a period of decline and transition.

[[File:Herculanean Rolls - Papyrus 157-152.png|thumb|Copy of Herculanean Rolls, Greek papyrus 157–152]]

Several different types of book-hand were used in the Roman period. Particularly handsome{{According to whom|date=April 2013}} is a round, upright hand seen, for example, in a [[British Museum]] papyrus containing ''[[Odyssey]]'' III. The cross-stroke of {{angbr|ε}} is high, {{angbr|Μ}} deeply curved and {{angbr|Α}} has the form {{angbr|α}}. Uniformity of size is well attained, and a few strokes project, and these but slightly, above or below the line. Another type, well called by palaeographer Schubart the "severe" style, has a more angular appearance and not infrequently slopes to the right; though handsome, it has not the sumptuous appearance of the former.<ref>Cf. Wilhelm Schubart, ''Griechische Palaeographie'', C.H. Beck, 1925, vol. i, pt. 4; also 1st half of new ed. of Muller's ''Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft''; and Schubart's ''Das Buch bei den Griechen und Römern'' (2nd ed.); ''ibid''., ''Papyri Graecae Berolinenses'' (Boon, 1921).</ref> There are various classes of a less pretentious style, in which convenience rather than beauty was the first consideration and no pains were taken to avoid irregularities in the shape and alignment of the letters. Lastly may be mentioned a hand which is of great interest as being the ancestor of the type called (from its later occurrence in [[vellum]] codices of the [[Bible]]) the biblical hand. This, which can be traced back at least the late 2nd century, has a square, rather heavy appearance; the letters, of uniform size, stand upright, and thick and thin strokes are well distinguished. In the 3rd century the book-hand, like the cursive, appears to have deteriorated in regularity and stylistic accomplishment.

In the charred rolls found at [[Herculaneum]] are specimens of Greek literary hands from outside Egypt dating to {{circa|1 AD}}. A comparison with the Egyptian papyri reveals great similarity in style and shows that conclusions drawn from the henads of Egypt may, with caution, be applied to the development of writing in the Greek world generally.