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A star marking a line as genuine.
Also known as: Little star
The Alexandrian critical sign marking a line as rightly belonging to the text, or wrongly omitted elsewhere.
Marks a line as genuine, or as one wrongly missing from other copies.
Contexts: Language and transcription, History
The direct ancestor of the modern asterisk, which retains the shape and has entirely lost the meaning: it now points to a note rather than defending a line.
Contexts: Language and transcription, History
Used together with the obelos in a single margin, so an ancient critical edition carried a two-value verdict on every disputed line — the apparatus criticus in its earliest form.
Contexts: Language and transcription, History
A small star of crossed strokes set in the margin beside the line it defends.