The Artifact: The Boustrophedon

the left hand margin. While this is true of various modern European languages, other scripts such as Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, and Urdu, run right to left, top to bottom. Still other writing systems, however, are bi directional. Traditionally, Chinese script was read right to left and top to them, but European influences subsequently introduced a left to right, top to bottom styling. Chinese signs may be encountered written in either direction. Likewise,

Egyptian hieroglyphics can be read in almost any direction. This enabled the production of Egyptian steelers that could encode multiple readings, as discussed in our core episodes on document duplication. But this leads me to the main topic of discussion today. Booster feed on style. This was an ancient Greek style of writing that moved in a kind of snaking pattern,

alternating direction by line. When a line of text moving left to right reached the end of the line, it continued on the next line sure enough, But it didn't jump to the far left again. No, it began at the far right, directly underneath where the last line ended, and then it moved right to left in reversed script. You might think of it as a textual snake, unable to teleport or type brighter its body to the beginning

of the next line. You can look up examples of the booster feed on style using modern English language, and you might be surprised that you can certainly read it even with the reversed letters of the right to left traveling lines. The name booster feed on literally means as

the ox plows, which makes perfect sense. The directional details of reading and writing concern more than just the written word, however, is E. W. J. Swan noted in ninety left and right in visual perception as a function of the direction of writing. The direction one writes in is tied to

one's visual perception of the passage of time. For individuals whose language travels left to right, the left side of the page is associated with proximity past and self, and the right side of the page is associated with distance, others and the future. In short, such left to right writing styles result and a visual concept of time is a straight line traveling from the left to the right.

The reverse is true of right to left scripted cultures. Thus, the readers and writers of the Booster feed On would have likely viewed time differently, at least when visualizing its flow, has pointed out by Marilyn Mitchell in two thousand four's The Visual Representation of Time in Timelines, Graphs, and Charts. None of this means that we're restricted, of course, to a given visual depiction of times flow. We can draw on multiple different visual depictions of time, but it's interesting

how different models give us different ideas. Booster feed On, for instance, is still used in timeline designs due to its emphasis on snaking continuity from one event or item to the next. The author writes quote in a booster feed on design, neither the hand nor the eye has to be raised back to one side of the pay to continue writing or reading, Unlike a horizontal timeline. Booster feed on timelines always show an arrow or arrows showing

how to read the line. Now, I can't help be reminded in all of this of the classic board game Snakes and Ladders, which entails alternating directions of travel, but with the added element of special roots connecting different portions of the procession of tiles. Game boards, after all, are also a visual depiction of time and space. A different board game, just like a different writing system, can provide us with an alternative means of visualizing the flow of time.

Tune in for additional editions of the Artifact or the Monster Fact each week. As always, you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.