1. Old Roman cursive, reed pen, 131 AD.
2. New Roman cursive, middle of 4th century.
3. New Roman cursive, ca 346 AD.
4. From a manuscript (St. Hilarius), before 509.
5. From a manuscript (St. Maximus), 7th century.
6. Carolingian minuscule, 810.

I freaking love #3.

Uh, no. Typography 101…the ampersand evolved from the hand written “et” which in Latin means “and”. What you're seeing is an e and t mashed together to make a typographic ligature. (I know, I know. I'm a type nerd. Sue me.)

Well, since there's no citations, dates or context, you don't have to believe it.

This is why you see '&c.' used for et cetera—it's just a convoluted 'et'.

I like the vintage, slanty chair look of #1. How it got so complicated is beyond me.