A text, inscription, or phrase where certain letters form numerals that spell out a date when added together according to Roman numeral values.
From Greek chronos (time) and gramma (letter or writing), literally 'time-writing.' This clever literary device was especially popular during the Renaissance and Baroque periods in inscriptions and commemorative verses.
Chronograms are hidden dates encoded into sentences—if you know which letters equal Roman numerals, you can decode when a building was built or a person died directly from its dedication plaque. It's like ancient cryptography meets timekeeping!
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