# Boustrophedon · Concept

> Writing in which the direction alternates line by line, right to left then left to right, often with the letters mirrored on the reversed lines.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DEECXNF8DQC/boustrophedon  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Concepts](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts)Boustrophedon

Concept · writing systems · in 3 mysteries

# Boustrophedon

Writing in which the direction alternates line by line, right to left then left to right, often with the letters mirrored on the reversed lines.

[Rongorongo](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rongorongo)[Etruscan: the readable language that cannot be fully translated](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/etruscan-language)[Eteocretan and Eteocypriot](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot)[2 sources]

The name is Greek for "turning like an ox" pulling a plough across a field. The reader follows the text down the surface without returning to the same margin. It appears in early Greek, Etruscan, South Arabian and other alphabets, and on the Rongorongo tablets in a reversed form. For a decipherer it matters because letter shapes can be mirrored on alternate lines and because word order on a damaged surface depends on knowing which way each line runs. The Etruscan Tabula Capuana is written this way, whereas most Etruscan inscriptions run consistently right to left [@cristofani1995capuana] [@rix2008etruscan].

## Where it comes up

**[Rongorongo](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rongorongo)**

The glyphs are stylised outlines of people, birds, fish, plants and geometric forms, cut in lines that alternate direction and orientation so that the reader turns the tablet after each line (reverse boustrophedon).

**[Etruscan: the readable language that cannot be fully translated](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/etruscan-language)**

The Tabula Capuana, a terracotta tile of about 470 BC, has about 390 legible words in ten sections, written boustrophedon, that is in alternating directions line by line .

**[Eteocretan and Eteocypriot](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/eteocretan-eteocypriot)**

Three come from the Altar Hill sanctuary at Praisos and are in the Heraklion museum: Praisos 1 (inventory 99), five lines in archaic Cretan letters written boustrophedon, found by Halbherr in 1884; Praisos 2 (inventory…

## Artifacts 1

[Tabula Capuana (the Capua tile, ET TC)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/etruscan-language/artifacts/ART0DEDWACQQP7R/tabula-capuana-the-capua-tile-et-tc)

Document

ART

## Sources 2

[Etruscan](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDM0ZD5R16/etruscan)

SRC

[Tabula Capuana: un calendario festivo di età arcaica](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDMCS16M0E/tabula-capuana-un-calendario-festivo-di-eta-arcaica)

SRC

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). Boustrophedon [Concept CPT0DEECXNF8DQC]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/CPT0DEECXNF8DQC
```

Key

**CPT** 0DEECXNF8DQC

Record

Concept

Field

Writing systems

Related

[Palaeography](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW05E35K0/palaeography)

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[Palaeography](https://mysteriesdept.com/concepts/CPT0DECW05E35K0/palaeography)

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