Editing Roman square capitals (section)

== History ==

=== Antiquity ===
Square capitals were used to write [[inscription]]s, and less often to supplement everyday handwriting as Latin book hand. For everyday writing, the Romans used a current cursive hand known as [[Latin cursive]]. Notable examples of square capitals used for inscriptions are found on the [[Pantheon, Rome|Roman Pantheon]], [[Trajan's Column]], and the [[Arch of Titus]], all in [[Rome]]. These Roman capitals are also called [[majuscule]]s, as a counterpart to minuscule letters such as [[Merovingian script|Merovingian]] and [[Carolingian minuscule|Carolingian]].

Before the 4th century [[Common era|CE]], square capitals were used to write ''de luxe'' copies of the works of authors categorized as "pagan" by [[early Christianity|Christians]], especially those of [[Virgil]]; the only three surviving [[manuscript]]s using this letter, among them the [[Vergilius Augusteus]], contain works by Virgil. After the 5th century the square capitals fell out of use, except as a display lettering for titles and chapter headings in conjunction with various script hands for body text: for example, [[uncial]]s.

[[Edward Catich]] is noted for the fullest development of the thesis that the inscribed Roman square capitals owed their form, including the serifs, wholly to the use of the flat brush, rather than to the exigencies of the chisel or other stone cutting tools. Although not universally accepted, the brushed-origin thesis had been proposed in the nineteenth century. Catich made a complete study and proposed a convincing [[wiktionary:ductus|''ductus'']] by which the forms were created, using a flat brush and then chisel.{{efn|Edward Catich promulgated his views in two works, ''Letters Redrawn from the Trajan Inscription in Rome'' and ''The Origin of the Serif: Brush Writing and Roman Letters''.}}

==== Gallery ====
{{gallery|mode=packed|height=160
|File:Arch.of.Titus-Inscription.jpg|The [[SPQR]] inscriptional capitals on the [[Arch of Titus]], {{circa|AD 81}}, are an example of inscriptional lettering which would have been infilled with bronze. Note the holes for the "tangs" of the cast bronze letters.
|File:Tabula Claudiana Lugdunum AD12 n2.jpg|Close-up of the [[Lyon Tablet]], a bronze tablet from after AD 48
|File:Latin Inscription - YDEA - 34184.jpg|Ink and [[gypsum]] inscription from [[Dura-Europos]], AD 193–211
|File:RMW - Bronzebuchstaben.jpg|Gilded bronze letters from the eastern gate of Ancient Roman [[Biriciana]], probably an inscription for emperor Caracalla
|File:CIM-F66-1-10-1.jpg|Inscription from the turn of the 2nd and 3rd century AD
|File:Vergilius Augusteus (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Lat. fol. 416).jpg|Folio of the 4th century Vergilius Augusteus with handwritten square capitals
|File:CIL XI 4781-Spoleto.jpg|Inscription celebrating the restoration of the Baths of [[Spoleto|Spoletium]], by order of Emperor [[Constantius II]] and caesar [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]]
}}

=== Later influence ===

==== Renaissance ====
Square capitals were greatly respected by artisans of the [[Renaissance]] such as [[Geoffroy Tory]] and [[Felice Feliciano]].<ref name=Warde>{{cite journal|last1=Warde|first1=Beatrice|author-link=Beatrice Warde|title=The 'Garamond' Types|journal=The Fleuron|date=1926|pages=131–179|url=http://www.garamond.culture.fr/en/page/the_article_by_beatrice_warde}}</ref><ref name="Ivans Tory">{{cite journal|last1=Ivans|first1=William M.|title=Geoffroy Tory|journal=Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art|date=April 1920 |volume=15|issue=4 |pages=79–86|doi=10.2307/3253359 |jstor=3253359 |url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-3253359|access-date=17 September 2017}}</ref>

==== Arts and Crafts movement ====
{{main|Trajan lettering}}
In the 19th and 20th centuries, they were a major inspiration for artisans of the [[Arts and Crafts movement]] such as [[Edward Johnston]] and [[Eric Gill]], and so many signs and engravings created with an intentionally artistic design in the twentieth century are based on them.<ref name="In Defence of the Roman Letter">{{cite journal|last1=Nash|first1=John|title=In Defence of the Roman Letter|journal=Journal of the Edward Johnston Foundation|url=http://www.ejf.org.uk/Resources/JRNarticle.pdf|access-date=13 October 2016}}</ref><ref name="Writing & Illuminating & Lettering">{{cite book|last1=Johnston|first1=Edward|author-link=Edward Johnston|title=Writing & Illuminating & Lettering|date=1906|publisher=Macmillan|quote=The Roman capitals have held the supreme place among letters for readableness and beauty. They are the best forms for the grandest and most important inscriptions.|pages=[https://archive.org/details/writingilluminat00johnrich/page/268 268]–269, 384, 391|url=https://archive.org/details/writingilluminat00johnrich}}</ref><ref name="The Trajan Letter in Russia and America">{{cite web|last1=Zhukov|first1=Maxim|title=The Trajan Letter in Russia and America|url=http://typejournal.ru/en/articles/The-Trajan-Letter-in-Russia-and-America|website=Typejournal.ru|access-date=4 March 2017}}</ref><ref name="Trajan Revived (Mosley)">{{cite journal|last1=Mosley|first1=James|title=Trajan Revived|journal=Alphabet|date=1964|volume=1|pages=17–48}}</ref>

==== Influence on modern typefaces ====
During the early era of the [[movable type]] [[printing press]], Roman square capitals became the primary inspiration for the capital letters in early serif [[typeface]]s; [[Roman type]], especially that developed by those associated with [[Aldus Manutius]], came to produce a number of typefaces still used to the present day.<ref>[[Bringhurst, Robert]] (2008), ''[[The Elements of Typographic Style]]'' (version 3.2). Vancouver: Hartley & Marks.</ref>{{efn|Often referred to simply as "Bringhurst", [[Robert Bringhurst]]'s ''Elements'' is widely respected as the current English-language authority on typographic style.}} The 1989 digital typeface [[Trajan (typeface)|Trajan]] from [[Adobe Systems|Adobe]] is a direct, all-capital adaptation of the Roman square capitals on Trajan's column.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.typekit.com/2014/06/12/the-adobe-originals-silver-anniversary-story-stone-slimbach-and-twombly-launch-the-first-originals/|title=The Adobe Originals Silver Anniversary Story: Stone, Slimbach, and Twombly launch the first Originals|first=Tamye|last=Riggs|date=12 June 2014}}</ref>