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Keith Houston's latest work Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks, can now be acquired from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBookstore, Indiebound, and Powell's.
Throughout history, the edges of books have served as a canvas for readers' annotations, sketches, and inquiries. From the famed Library of Alexandria to the secluded medieval monasteries of Europe, discover five ancient symbols that guided readers in interpreting their texts.
1. Paragraphos
Ménandre: Sicyoniens; MP 3 1308.1. inv. 2272 e. Image courtesy of Jean Gascou of the Institut de Papyrologie, Paris Sorbonne.
In Homer's era, ancient Greeks faced significant challenges when reading. Texts were written in a continuous flow, alternating left to right without spaces, capitalization, or punctuation. The only aid was the paragraphos, a horizontal line placed beside or below a text line. Derived from para- (beside) and graphein (to write), it signaled something noteworthy in the text, such as a speaker change or new chapter, leaving the reader to interpret its meaning.
2. Diple
Diples, an obelos, and paragraphoi in a reproduction of Homer. (“Book 12.” In Homeri Ilias Cum Scholiis. Codex Venetus A, Marcianus 454 Phototypice Editus, 161v. Lugduni Batavorum: A. W. Sijthoff, 1901.) Courtesy of Stoa.org.
Punctuation, originating from the Latin punctus (point), emerged in the third century BC at Alexandria's library. While the paragraphos served writers, points aided readers by marking pauses of varying lengths (·, ., ˙) during oral readings. Soon, editors adopted specialized marks, starting with the diple (>, ⸖, ·>). Popularized by Aristarchus, Homer's editor, the diple highlighted notable lines. Unlike the paragraphos, which evolved into the pilcrow (¶), the diple inspired inverted commas (“ ”) for quoting text.
3. Asterisk
A collection of asterisks in a reproduction of Homer. (“Book 1.” In Homeri Ilias Cum Scholiis. Codex Venetus A, Marcianus 454 Phototypice Editus, 33r. Lugduni Batavorum: A. W. Sijthoff, 1901.) Courtesy of Stoa.org.
Aristarchus, the renowned Greek scholar who championed the diple, is also celebrated for his suite of “Aristarchean” editorial symbols: the diple, asteriskos, and obelos. The asteriskos, meaning “little star,” was used to flag lines that were erroneously repeated. Such errors were common due to the manual copying of texts, and Homer’s works were particularly prone to inaccuracies. The asteriskos (※) evolved into the modern asterisk (*), which now serves as a footnote marker, typically at the page’s bottom. Today, the asterisk is often used to denote athletes or celebrities whose reputations have been tarnished, suggesting their accomplishments require an explanatory note. Figures like Lance Armstrong, who cheated in his Tour de France victories, and George W. Bush, whose 2000 election win was contested in court, have both been marked with asterisks by critics.
4. Dagger
Daggers and double daggers, or dieses. Top row, left to right: Linotype Didot, Big Caslon (Carter & Cone Type), Hoefler Text (Apple), and Zapfino (Linotype); bottom row, left to right: Helvetica (Linotype), Skia (Apple), Courier New (Microsoft), and Museo Slab (Jos Buivenga). Image by the author.
The obelos, or “roasting spit,” was the final mark in Aristarchus’s trio of symbols. Resembling a dash (—) and sometimes adorned with dots (÷), the obelos was used to mark lines for deletion. A seventh-century writer described it as “an arrow that eliminates excess and exposes falsehood.” Over time, the obelos evolved into the dagger (†), which, alongside the asterisk, became a staple for footnotes. In some European contexts, it also denotes birth (*) and death (†) dates, such as “Herman Melville (*1819)” or “(†1891).” Today, the dagger is often mistaken for a Christian cross, with many fonts blending the two symbols.
5. Manicule
A devout manicule sketched in the margin of an early printed book. Image courtesy of the Penn Provenance Project.
As writers adopted punctuation and symbols like the diple, readers needed a new way to mark significant passages. During the late medieval period, a surge in secular scholarship led to the creation of the manicule, index, or pointing hand (☞). This symbol appeared in Renaissance manuscripts to highlight noteworthy text. Some manicules were simple bookmarks, while others featured elaborate sleeves with annotations. Beyond academic use, some readers opted for whimsical alternatives like octopuses or even phallic symbols to point out their favorite sections.
