Greek Calligraphy Fonts:

These fonts closely imitate the different Greek minuscule handwriting styles used in manuscripts until the invention of printing with movable type in the fifteenth century. They also contain specialty characters (ligatures etc) that you can use with programs that support them. So, the latest Greek Calligraphy Fonts is provided here to download.

A decorative font that has a flowing feeling. Its ligatures make it more realistic and give you that handwritten-type lettering look. FREE FOR PERSONAL USE!

Ancient Greek Uncials:

This set of paleographic fonts reproduces the writing systems used in ancient Greek manuscripts on papyrus and parchment. The fonts are in Unicode-encoded TrueType and OpenType format and can be used on both Windows and Mac. The set includes ANGULAR UNCIAL, BIBLICAL UNCIAL, COPTIC UNCIAL, PAPYRUS UNCIAL, ROUND UNCIAL, SLAVONIC UNCIAL, SLOPING UNCIAL, and MINUSCULE IX century and MINUSCULE XI century.

The name “uncial” comes from the Latin word for an inch, since these forms were about an inch high. The early Greek uncials were based on late rustic capitals but had rounder shapes to take advantage of the smooth surfaces of papyrus and vellum, rather than the more angular forms suited to rough paper or stone.

The earliest uncials were not written on a single sheet of paper, but rather on small fragments (often less than an inch wide) stuck together in a papyrus book. The letters were drawn separately on each fragment, and they were joined together by the scribe with glue. This made the fragments easier to read by others who copied the manuscript.

Later, the uncials were adapted to single sheets of paper, and a wider range of letters was added. The style continued to develop, and in the ninth century, a new minuscule script was developed, which was based on Greek lowercase letters with elements of cursive handwriting.

Modern Greek Uncials:

Uncial letters are broad, single-stroke forms that take advantage of the smooth surface of parchment and vellum. They are distinct from Roman square capitals, which were used for writing on rough surfaces such as papyrus. Early uncials developed from late rustic capitals, with rounded forms that allowed the letter to follow the shape of its stroke. Later, the letters evolved into a cursive script (the minuscule) and then into Greek handwriting.

The Greek minuscule, first developed as a book hand in Byzantine manuscripts around AD 600, differed from earlier uncial styles by having more curved and connected letter forms, and by using many ligatures. The resulting shapes formed the basis of modern lowercase Greek letters.

As with all ancient calligraphic scripts. The style of the individual scribe was an important factor in determining how each character looked. The uncials of Codex Sinaiticus, for example, have relatively thick descenders, and a g> that has a slightly curled stem, while the uncials in the Petropolitanus contain thin descenders and a sharply pointed g>.

The style of the individual letters themselves tended to vary little from century to century. However, paleography textbooks note that the earliest Greek uncials are not as elegant and well-connected as later ones. For instance, the d> of the later uncials sometimes has a flattened stem and does not fully curve in to meet the a> it joins with; the s> resembles (and is an ancestor of) the long s in Latin, and the r> in Greek often looks more like a f> than a r>.

Ancient Greek Scripts:

Greek is a very complicated script to learn and read. It is also one of the oldest alphabets that was ever used in human history. So, it was the first alphabet to distinguish vowels based on their length rather than by their sound. This gave it an advantage in the modern world where many languages have multiple vowel forms for different sounds. It also invented the concept of ligatures and abbreviations for letters that are hard to write separately.

The modern Greek alphabet developed from the Phoenician alphabet. Which was quite explicit about consonants. The Greeks added three new consonant symbols for its aspirated plosive sounds and consonant clusters, Ph (phi) for /ph/, Kh (chi) for /kh/, and Ps (psi) for /khs/. They also introduced two new vowel symbols for its long and short vowels, o and e, and created the letter omega to represent both the long and short o.

Besides these two types of Greek letters. The ancients developed their own form of numerals and other technical symbols. They even incorporated Roman characters into their system of writing. So that they could use them for things like counting and enumerating chapters in books. This was a way to keep the alphabet simple for people who knew nothing about Greek or its pronunciation. This way, they would be able to understand the text as easily as possible.

Modern Greek Scripts (Greek Calligraphy Fonts):

The Greek alphabet was developed by Phoenicians around 750 BC. It initially took over all 22 letters of the Phoenician alphabet and incorporated five of its glide consonants. Which largely denoted vowel sounds: the Canaanite glides (yodh) and w (waw) became [i] (I, iota) and [u] (U, upsilon); the Canaanite glottal stop consonant (aleph) was turned into [h] (He, he); and the Canaanite pharyngeal consonant (ayin) was changed to [o] (O, omicron). In addition to these changes, Greeks developed a system of diacritics, including three different stress accent marks, the so-called breathing signs (rough and smooth), and a diaeresis. Which marked the full syllabic value of a vowel that would otherwise be written as part of a diphthong.

The modern Greek script is almost identical to the Greek of antiquity, with only a few minor differences in diacritic signs. Its simple morphology and syllable-based alphabet make it suitable for handwriting. But also for an unlimited number of other applications: logos, posters, invitations, weddings, artistic design, t-shirts, accessories, etc. Its elegant style is reminiscent of calligraphy, but it also has the dynamic feel of a cursive font. Moreover, it is incredibly versatile: it can be used in polytonic or monotonic forms. The latter was formally dropped in 1982 but remains in use by some older people and the Orthodox Church.