Roman square capitals

Square capitals are characterized by sharp, straight lines, supple curves, thick and thin strokes, angled stressing and incised serifs.

Notable examples of square capitals used for inscriptions are found on the Roman Pantheon, Trajan's Column, and the Arch of Titus, all in Rome.

After the 5th century the square capitals fell out of use, except as a display lettering for titles and chapter headings in conjunction with various script hands for body text: for example, uncials.

Edward Catich is noted for the fullest development of the thesis that the inscribed Roman square capitals owed their form, including the serifs, wholly to the use of the flat brush, rather than to the exigencies of the chisel or other stone cutting tools.

Catich made a complete study and proposed a convincing ductus by which the forms were created, using a flat brush and then chisel.