Revision as of 11:17, 13 November 2009

Maas's Law

In papyrology, Maas's law - named after classical scholar Paul Maas (1880-1964) - refers to the observation that columns in bookrolls often exhibit a forward tilt such that both edges of the column gradually move to the left as the column progresses. In other words, the bottom-most line of the column of text is further to the left than the top-most line. William Johnson has argued that this tilt was deliberate and formed part of the bookroll's design.

An example from P. Oxy. 17 2102 can be seen here[1]

Footnotes

Johnson, William A., "Column Layout in Oxyrhynchus Literary Papyri: Maas's Law, Ruling and Alignment Dots," ZPE 96 (1993) 211-215.[2]
Johnson, William A., Bookrolls and Scribes in Oxyrhynchus (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004; see esp. pp. 91-99).

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 An example from ''P. Oxy.'' 17 2102 can be seen here[http://163.1.169.40/gsdl/collect/POxy/index/assoc/HASH01d5/e96eb782.dir/POxy.v0017.n2102.a.01.hires.jpg]<br />
-== References ==
+== Footnotes ==
 Johnson, William A., "Column Layout in Oxyrhynchus Literary Papyri: Maas's Law, Ruling and Alignment Dots," ''ZPE'' 96 (1993) 211-215.[http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/zpe/downloads/1993/096pdf/096211.pdf]<br />
 Johnson, William A., ''Bookrolls and Scribes in Oxyrhynchus'' (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004; see esp. pp. 91-99).