Recently, people began to lose their passion for knowledge, including in the historical sciences. As a result of this, many of us do not even know the meaning of the word "paleography". Paleography is a historical and philological science that studies the history of writing, the laws of its development among different nations, and visual forms of writing.
The lexical meaning of the word "paleography"
Paleography as a science generally studies the history of writing, but also includes some additional branches, such as cryptography (the study of the cryptography of antiquity), filigree (the study of ornament) and others.
History has been and remains the most confusing and vague discipline among all. Its purpose is to get to the bottom of things, which in some cases, alas, is impossible. Invaluable help in historical analysis to historians is provided by chronicles - historical documents in which a chronological sequence of events of those years is given.
Paleography is primarily an auxiliary science that facilitates the study of the same history. The meaning of the word "paleography" can be distinguished from its composition. “Paleos” in Greek means “important, significant,” and “grapho” means “to write.”
The specifics of paleography
Due to the highly specialized nature of this field, a good paleographic scientist should also be knowledgeable in areas related to paleography. History, literary criticism, art criticism require the help of paleographers. Ancient records, ornaments, watermarks, manuscripts - all these are studied by these specialists.
The meaning of the word "paleography" includes not only the humanities. Around the beginning of the 20th century, paleographers began to use the achievements of the natural sciences. Using chemical analysis methods, the composition of the ink and inks with which the text was written is studied, and color photography methods allow the identification and analysis of half-faded characters under the influence of rays of a special color spectrum.
Field of work of scientists
The meaning of the word "paleography" is often mistakenly identified with forensic expertise. In fact, this is not entirely true. Paleography primarily deals with the analysis of texts that have the status of the ancients. If the text does not have any value for research as not ancient enough, this manuscript is considered fake.
The scope of the work of paleography scholars is not limited to paper and papyrus - rock painting, cuneiform writing, inscriptions on historical and cultural monuments, household items, dishes, coins, and so on are also being studied.