Typography study of ancient Persian cuneiform in Achaemenian royal inscriptions

Abstract

Since Writing script is the most important visual element it has had a significant practical role in forming and improvement of culture and civilization. In the history of Iranian typography, the cuneiform inscriptions of the Achaemenianera are of great importance due to different aspects. Several studies have been carried on deciphering this script which are mostly based on historic aspect and the identity of the ancient Achaemenian cuneiform. Accurate reading of the information and also legibility are the most important applications of typing; and the Achaemanian cuneiform has a fairly good readability. This script has an orderly structure, suitable visual intermission space, and phonological line spacing is homologous. The negative space between the characters is meaningful and there is a common formal debate among shapes of characters. Besides examining visual and structural characteristics of the Achaemenian cuneiform, this research is studying the visual elements of Achaemenian cuneiform based on a typographic view. The research method of present paper is a historic -descriptive and data was gathered based on library resources. Results indicate that roots of typography – considered as elegance, legibility, and clarity of letters- can be seen in the structure of the cuneiform alphabets, leading to the idea that Achaemenians tried to represent writing with the principals of aesthetics. The typeface also has common structure and borders with the inscriptions of Achaemenians and some of typography principals are observed in Achaemenian cuneiform script. The authors are trying to study the visual effects of the script from the visual and practical point of view and compare them with the modern typography. Furthermore, the visual quality of the writing structure of Achaemenian cuneiform has been studied here.

Keywords

• achaemenian
• script
• cuneiform
• type
• typography
• modern