Boustrophedon

• Boustrophedon meant a style of writing where each alternate line was read from left to right then from right to left.
• Boustrophedon meant ‘Ox ploughing’ in Greek. This was in reference to the text reversing direction at the end of each line like a team of oxen ploughing a field, with the letters being reversed as well.

Languages written in Boustrophedon

• Phoenician
  • Phoenician text was generally written from right to left using the Phoenician Alphabet.
  • But occasionally it was written Boustrophedon.
• Egyptian Hieroglyphs
  • Hieroglyphs were written right to left as well as in Boustrophedon.
• Etruscan
  • The text was written right to left and in Boustrophedon.
• Early Ancient Greek
  • The text was written right to left and also in Boustrophedon.
  • It settled into left to right during the Hellenistic Period using the Greek Alphabet‘
• Early Latin
  • The text was written in Boustrophedon using the Latin Alphabet.