I think fully intended by the engravers. Adds flare!
Agree about the fully intended... Decorative purpose is a
good explanation. It also fits the general "
Byzantine" principle of putting crosses everywhere possible.
My question: Do we see this in any other kind of "
Byzantine" inscriptions? Whether Latin or Greek, in
stone or papyri or mosaic or
graffiti...? I don't think I've seen them elsewhere, but I don't have much background in Classics or Archaeology, so it wouldn't be a surprise if I'd missed it.
I've wondered about it before. I've assumed it may have been a combination of artistic flourish (they look like little crosses, which may have appealed, and would explain why the tradition took off then, not earlier), and the kind of guiding marks that engravers use to trace the width & distances of the letters.
You can see similar features on both of my Folles below. On the
Anastasius, it's especially on the
obverse legend (...ANA ... IVS...). On the
Maurice Tiberius, the
reverse characters (including the Large M, the
cross, and
monogram) have similar features all over. In fact, they're much less subtle, and have almost become primary features of the lettering. (Sorry, couldn't get better detail, using the
auction photos here: NAC 46, 1184
[LINK] &
CNG EA 494, 453
[LINK]. A
bit hard to see, but a number of the characters on the
reverse of my ex-Forum (SH36361) Justinian
Follis have the same feature:
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/catalog/roman-and-greek-coins.asp?zpg=47237