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TIL about the reverse boustrophedon writing style used by the Easter island people (en.wikipedia.org)

submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Boustrophedon is a style of writing in which alternate lines of writing are reversed, with letters also written in reverse, mirror-style.

The original term comes from Ancient Greek: "like the ox turns [while plowing]". It is mostly seen in ancient manuscripts and other inscriptions. It was a common way of writing on stone in Ancient Greece.

A fun variation is the reverse boustrophedon: the text in alternate lines is rotated 180 degrees rather than mirrored.

The reader begins at the bottom left-hand corner of a tablet, reads a line from left to right, then rotates the tablet 180 degrees to continue on the next line from left to right again. When reading one line, the lines above and below it appear upside down.

I heard about it on a podcast about the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island. They use used the reverse boustrophedon style for their system of glyphs called Rongorongo, which remains undeciphered.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rongorongo

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago

Less time moving from line to line, and due to the alternating you would have a much harder time accidentally skipping lines.