Bible major

Bible major in the Vienna Dioscurides

The Bible major is a late ancient Greek font in capital letters ( capitals ). The current name Biblical Major comes from the fact that it was used in many important biblical manuscripts, such as the Codex Vaticanus , the Codex Sinaiticus and the Codex Alexandrinus . The best known profane example is the Viennese Dioscurides .

distribution

The Bible major arose in the late 2nd century AD and had its most common use in the 5th century. Their later forms are used for more sophisticated literature until the 9th century.

There are four so-called written provinces : the Constantinopolitan area, to which the Vienna Dioscurides belongs, the Egyptian-Alexandrian, the Egyptian-Nitrian and the Syrian-Antiochian area.

features

The font is very geometric, so the letters, with a few exceptions, can be drawn in a square outline. Most follow the two-line scheme, only Rho and Ypsilon have descenders, Phi and Psi descenders and ascenders. The descending vertical lines are emphasized, the horizontal and ascending lines as thin hairlines. Sloping descending lines are of medium strength.

The font has no spaces between words and punctuation marks ( scriptio continua ), only chapters are separated by paragraphs.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Commentary by Otto Mazal , p. 6 ff. In: Der Wiener Dioskurides. Codex medicus graecus 1 of the Austrian National Library , Graz: Academic Printing and Publishing Society 1998, Volume 1 ISBN 3-201-01699-3
2. ↑ Jan Eden: The Byzantine Scriptures accessed on April 8, 2012