Who Invented the Alphabet: The Semites or the Greeks?

Archaeolgy Odyssey ^ | Winter 1998 | Barry B. Powell

[SunkenCiv]

I would make the startling suggestion that the alphabet was invented by a single human being, who created this remarkable technology to record the Greek hexameters of the poet we call Homer.

Certainly everyone agrees that the invention of the alphabet made possible the development of philosophy, science and democracy, some of the finest achievements in the history of human culture. But who invented the alphabet? Was it really the Semitic-speaking Phoenicians, as many of us learned in grammar school? Or was it actually the Greeks, to whom the Phoenicians supposedly passed it?

I don't believe the Phoenicians actually had an alphabet. The alphabet was a Greek invention. I would even make the startling suggestion that the alphabet was invented by a single human being, who created this remarkable technology to record the Greek hexameters of the poet we call Homer...

For convenience, I call this supreme inventor of the Greek alphabet the Adapter. The Adapter chose five signs from the West Semitic syllabary to use as vowel sounds, as reflected in every early Greek alphabetic inscription. Both the number of signs (five) and the particular signs chosen are arbitrary. Ancient Greek has many more than five vowel sounds; indeed, in later Greek inscriptions, seven vowel signs are employed, and there could have been more.

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

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[Mr. Jazzy]

According to Rev. Farahkahn, it was someone who had NOTHING to do with white devils. Oh, and the number 19 was also in there, somewhere.

[RegulatorCountry]

The name being derived from “Aleph-Bet” might be a clue.

[silentreignofheroes]

Phoenicians’

http://www.phoenician.org/alphabet.htm

[kabumpo]

Read Robert Graves’s “The White Goddess”.
Five is the number of fingers, the alphabet began on segments of the fingers.

[Alex Murphy]

The Muppets. And they're not at all happy about someone else taking the credit.

[SunkenCiv]

It was careless of me to omit this link -- completely different author, article:

• Who Really Invented the Alphabet -- Illiterate Miners or Educated Sophisticates? [08/31/2010]

-but not this-

• How the Alphabet Was Born from Hieroglyphs ( BAR 36:02, Mar/Apr 2010)
• ReViews: Leaves from an Epigrapher's Notebook ( BAR 32:03, May/Jun 2006)
• Reviews ( AO 6:01, Jan/Feb 2003)
• Alphabet and Internet ( BR 18:06, Dec 2002)
• Scrolls, Scripts and Stelae ( BAR 28:05, Sep/Oct 2002)
• Origins: Signs of Life ( AO 5:01, Jan/Feb 2002)
• It's Elementary ( BR 17:03, Jun 2001)
• The Sumerian King List ( AO 4:01, Jan/Feb 2001)
• The Missing Millennium in Jerusalem's Archaeology ( BAR 26:05, Sep/Oct 2000)
• Strata ( BAR 26:01, Jan/Feb 2000)
• The Forum ( AO 3:01, Jan/Feb 2000)
• Reviews ( AO 2:05, Nov/Dec 1999)
• Recovered! ( AO 2:04, Sep/Oct 1999)
• Field Notes ( AO 2:04, Sep/Oct 1999)
• The Forum ( AO 2:04, Sep/Oct 1999)
• Field Notes ( AO 2:03, Jul/Aug 1999)
• Bought on the Market ( AO 2:02, May/Jun 1999)
• Strata ( BAR 24:05, Sep/Oct 1998)
• ReViews ( BAR 24:05, Sep/Oct 1998)
• The Egyptianizing of Canaan ( BAR 24:03, May/Jun 1998)
• The Enigma of Qumran ( BAR 24:01, Jan/Feb 1998)
• First Person: A Name in Search of a Story ( BAR 24:01, Jan/Feb 1998)
• A Different View ( AO 1:01, Winter 1998)
• Field Notes ( AO 1:01, Winter 1998)
• As Simple as ABC ( BR 13:02, Apr 1997)
• Strata ( BAR 22:06, Nov/Dec 1996)
• Even Briefer ( BAR 21:01, Jan/Feb 1995)
• Even Briefer ( BAR 20:03, May/Jun 1994)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 20:03, May/Jun 1994)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 20:02, Mar/Apr 1994)
• Books in Brief ( BAR 20:01, Jan/Feb 1994)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 20:01, Jan/Feb 1994)
• What Ever Happened to the Ammonites? ( BAR 19:06, Nov/Dec 1993)
• BARlines ( BAR 19:06, Nov/Dec 1993)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 19:06, Nov/Dec 1993)
• The Oldest Cookbooks in the World ( BR 9:04, Aug 1993)
• The Bat Creek Inscription: Did Judean Refugees Escape to Tennessee? ( BAR 19:04, Jul/Aug 1993)
• Books in Brief ( BAR 19:03, May/Jun 1993)
• Even Briefer ( BAR 19:01, Jan/Feb 1993)
• Part III: How the Alphabet Democratized Civilization ( BR 8:06, Dec 1992)
• Mining the History of the Alphabet at Serabit el-Khadem ( BR 8:06, Dec 1992)
• Inscribed Arrowheads: The Missing Link in the Evolution of the Alphabet ( BR 8:06, Dec 1992)
• The Complexities of Cuneiform ( BR 8:02, Apr 1992)
• Even Briefer ( BAR 17:06, Nov/Dec 1991)
• The Man Who Wasn't There ( BR 6:06, Dec 1990)
• Readers Reply ( BR 6:01, Feb 1990)
• Books in Brief ( BAR 15:04, July/Aug 1989)
• BARlines ( BAR 15:04, July/Aug 1989)
• The Question of Israelite Literacy ( BR 3:03, Summer 1987)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 11:06, Nov/Dec 1985)
• Books in Brief ( BAR 11:05, Sep/Oct 1985)
• You Too Can Read Hieroglyphics ( BAR 11:04, Jul/Aug 1985)
• Readers Reply ( BR 1:03, Summer 1985)
• Books in Brief ( BAR 11:02, Mar/Apr 1985)
• Fifteen Years in Sinai ( BAR 10:04, Jul/Aug 1984)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 10:02, Mar/Apr 1984)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 10:01, Jan/Feb 1984)
• The Tablets from Ugarit and Their Importance for Biblical Studies ( BAR 9:05, Sep/Oct 1983)
• Even Briefer ( BAR 9:05, Sep/Oct 1983)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 8:02, Mar/Apr 1982)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 8:01, Jan/Feb 1982)
• The Exodus and the Crossing of the Red Sea, According to Hans Goedicke ( BAR 7:05, Sep/Oct 1981)
• Earliest Aramaic Inscription Uncovered in Syria ( BAR 7:04, Jul/Aug 1981)
• Did I Excavate Kadesh-Barnea? ( BAR 7:03, May/Jun 1981)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 5:05, Sep/Oct 1979)
• The Hebrew Origins of Superman ( BAR 5:03, May/Jun 1979)
• The Evolution of Two Hebrew Scripts ( BAR 5:03, May/Jun 1979)
• Did Yahweh Have a Consort? ( BAR 5:02, Mar/Apr 1979)
• Phoenicians in Brazil? ( BAR 5:01, Jan/Feb 1979)
• An Alphabet from the Days of the Judges ( BAR 4:03, Sep/Oct 1978)
• The Name of God in the New Testament ( BAR 4:01, Mar 1978)
• Oldest Hebrew Letters Found Near Tel Aviv ( BAR 2:04, Dec 1976)
• American Tourist Returns "Hazor" Tablet to Israel After 13 Years ( BAR 2:02, Jun 1976)

Greece/Greeks

• WorldWide ( BAR 36:02, Mar/Apr 2010)
• WorldWide ( BAR 34:06, Nov/Dec 2008)
• Past Perfect: Pottery in Motion ( BAR 32:03, May/Jun 2006)
• Asklepios Appears in a Dream ( AO 8:04, Jul/Aug 2005)
• Field Notes ( AO 8:04, Jul/Aug 2005)
• East Meets West ( AO 8:02, Mar/Apr 2005)
• Ancient Life: Tying the Knot ( AO 7:05, Sep/Oct 2004)
• Strata: Brother, Can You Spare a Tetradrachm? ( BAR 30:04, Jul/Aug 2004)
• Origins: Tuning Up ( AO 7:03, May/Jun 2004)
• Strata: What Is It? ( BAR 30:01, Jan/Feb 2004)
• Mankillers ( AO 6:06, Nov/Dec 2003)
• The Forum ( AO 6:06, Nov/Dec 2003)
• Male Fantasies ( AO 6:05, Sep/Oct 2003)
• Death at Kourion ( AO 6:04, Jul/Aug 2003)
• Kourion Through the Millennia ( AO 6:04, Jul/Aug 2003)
• Editors' Page: Crossing Over on Cyprus ( AO 6:04, Jul/Aug 2003)
• Field Notes ( AO 6:04, Jul/Aug 2003)
• Origins: Reasons to Believe ( AO 6:03, May/Jun 2003)
• Ancient Life: Liquid Gold ( AO 6:03, May/Jun 2003)
• Worldwide ( BAR 29:02, Mar/Apr 2003)
• Field Notes ( AO 6:02, Mar/Apr 2003)
• Ancient Life: Heavens! ( AO 6:02, Mar/Apr 2003)
• Sailing the Open Seas ( AO 6:01, Jan/Feb 2003)
• Naked and the Nude ( AO 6:01, Jan/Feb 2003)
• Past Perfect: In the Footsteps of Pausanias ( AO 6:01, Jan/Feb 2003)
• Cypriot Land Mines ( AO 5:06, Nov/Dec 2002)
• Was She Really Stoned? ( AO 5:06, Nov/Dec 2002)
• The New Trojan Wars ( AO 5:04, Jul/Aug 2002)
• Greeks vs. Hittites ( AO 5:04, Jul/Aug 2002)
• Lay That Ghost ( AO 5:04, Jul/Aug 2002)
• Field Notes ( AO 5:04, Jul/Aug 2002)
• Destinations: Punic Double Take ( AO 5:04, Jul/Aug 2002)
• Paul at the Races ( BR 18:03, Jun 2002)
• Iphigenia & Isaac ( AO 5:03, May/Jun 2002)
• Sea Monsters and Other Ancient Beasts ( AO 5:02, Mar/Apr 2002)
• Ancient Life: Shooting the Moon ( AO 5:02, Mar/Apr 2002)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 27:06, Nov/Dec 2001)
• Briefly Noted ( AO 4:06, Nov/Dec 2001)
• Past Perfect: The Omphalos and the Oracle ( AO 4:05, Sep/Oct 2001)
• Briefly Noted ( AO 4:05, Sep/Oct 2001)
• The Forum ( AO 4:05, Sep/Oct 2001)
• Strata ( BAR 27:04, Jul/Aug 2001)
• WorldWide ( BAR 27:04, Jul/Aug 2001)
• Imagining Buddha ( AO 4:04, Jul/Aug 2001)
• Field Notes ( AO 4:04, Jul/Aug 2001)
• The Forum ( AO 4:04, Jul/Aug 2001)
• Debunking the Copy Myth ( AO 4:03, May/Jun 2001)
• Discovering Modesty ( AO 4:03, May/Jun 2001)
• Origins: And the Verdict Is … ( AO 4:03, May/Jun 2001)
• Briefly Noted ( AO 4:03, May/Jun 2001)
• Ideology from Artifacts ( AO 4:02, Mar/Apr 2001)
• Ancient Life: The Life of the Fairer Sex ( AO 4:02, Mar/Apr 2001)
• WorldWide ( BAR 27:01, Jan/Feb 2001)
• Origins: …And by the People ( AO 4:01, Jan/Feb 2001)
• Reviews ( AO 4:01, Jan/Feb 2001)
• The Forum ( AO 4:01, Jan/Feb 2001)
• Readers Reply ( BR 16:06, Dec 2000)
• WorldWide ( BAR 26:06, Nov/Dec 2000)
• Briefly Noted ( AO 3:06, Nov/Dec 2000)
• The Forum ( AO 3:06, Nov/Dec 2000)
• Iconoclasm ( BR 16:05, Oct 2000)
• Field Notes ( AO 3:05, Sep/Oct 2000)
• Ancient Life: Greek Fire ( AO 3:05, Sep/Oct 2000)
• The Forum ( AO 3:05, Sep/Oct 2000)
• The Resurrection of Resurrection ( BR 16:04, Aug 2000)
• WorldWide ( BAR 26:04, Jul/Aug 2000)
• Origins: The First Act ( AO 3:04, Jul/Aug 2000)
• The Forum ( AO 3:04, Jul/Aug 2000)
• Field Notes ( AO 3:03, May/Jun 2000)
• Field Notes ( AO 3:02, Mar/Apr 2000)
• Reviews ( AO 3:02, Mar/Apr 2000)
• Destinations: The Gateway to Hell ( AO 3:02, Mar/Apr 2000)
• ReViews ( BAR 26:01, Jan/Feb 2000)
• Georgia Through the Millennia ( AO 3:01, Jan/Feb 2000)
• Destinations: Sounion, Greece ( AO 2:05, Nov/Dec 1999)
• Field Notes ( AO 2:04, Sep/Oct 1999)
• Field Notes ( AO 2:03, Jul/Aug 1999)
• The Master from Apulia ( AO 2:02, May/Jun 1999)
• Field Notes ( AO 2:02, May/Jun 1999)
• Reviews ( AO 2:02, May/Jun 1999)
• Reviews ( AO 2:01, Winter 1999)
• Past Perfect: A Novelist Among the Ruins ( AO 1:04, Fall 1998)
• The Forum: Taking Issue ( AO 1:04, Fall 1998)
• Reviews ( AO 1:03, Summer 1998)
• The Forum ( AO 1:03, Summer 1998)
• Leave the Marbles Where They Are! ( AO 1:02, Spring 1998)
• Bring the Marbles Home! ( AO 1:02, Spring 1998)
• Lord Elgin's Marbles ( AO 1:02, Spring 1998)
• What Are the Elgin Marbles? ( AO 1:02, Spring 1998)
• How the Marbles Changed History ( AO 1:02, Spring 1998)
• The Birth of Adonis? ( AO 1:02, Spring 1998)
• Origins: Ptolemy Charts the World ( AO 1:02, Spring 1998)
• Reviews ( AO 1:02, Spring 1998)
• The Forum ( AO 1:02, Spring 1998)
• Searching for the Historical Homer ( AO 1:01, Winter 1998)
• Reading Homer After 2,800 Years ( AO 1:01, Winter 1998)
• A Different View ( AO 1:01, Winter 1998)
• Field Notes ( AO 1:01, Winter 1998)
• Reviews ( AO 1:01, Winter 1998)
• WorldWide ( BAR 23:06, Nov/Dec 1997)
• WorldWide ( BAR 22:06, Nov/Dec 1996)
• WorldWide ( BAR 21:04, Jul/Aug 1995)
• WorldWide ( BAR 20:05, Sep/Oct 1994)
• Books in Brief ( BAR 19:03, May/Jun 1993)
• Jewish Funerary Inscriptions -- Most Are in Greek ( BAR 18:05, Sep/Oct 1992)
• Books in Brief ( BAR 18:05, Sep/Oct 1992)
• Books in Brief ( BAR 17:06, Nov/Dec 1991)
• Even Briefer ( BAR 17:06, Nov/Dec 1991)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 17:06, Nov/Dec 1991)
• Even Briefer ( BAR 17:04, Jul/Aug 1991)
• Ancient Aromas ( BR 7:03, Jun 1991)
• Why Were Hundreds of Dogs Buried at Ashkelon? ( BAR 17:03, May/Jun 1991)
• Even Briefer ( BAR 17:03, May/Jun 1991)
• The Massive Middle Bronze Fortifications -- How Did They Work? ( BAR 17:02, Mar/Apr 1991)
• Classical Scholarship -- Anti-Black and Anti-Semitic? ( BR 6:03, Jun 1990)
• First Glance ( BR 6:03, Jun 1990)
• Books in Brief ( BAR 13:06, Nov/Dec 1987)
• Books in Brief ( BAR 11:04, Jul/Aug 1985)
• Books in Brief ( BAR 11:01, Jan/Feb 1985)
• Books in Brief ( BAR 7:05, Sep/Oct 1981)

Greek Language

• The Forum ( AO 6:06, Nov/Dec 2003)
• The Destruction of the Great Library at Alexandria ( AO 6:04, Jul/Aug 2003)
• Field Notes ( AO 6:03, May/Jun 2003)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 27:06, Nov/Dec 2001)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 27:05, Sep/Oct 2001)
• When Palestine Meant Israel ( BAR 27:03, May/Jun 2001)
• The Book of Jeremiah: a Work in Progress ( BR 16:03, Jun 2000)
• Searching for the Better Text ( BR 15:04, Aug 1999)
• Heinrich Schliemann: Improbable Archaeologist ( AO 2:03, Jul/Aug 1999)
• The Forum: Taking Issue ( AO 1:04, Fall 1998)
• How to Read Etruscan ( AO 1:03, Summer 1998)
• A Different View ( AO 1:01, Winter 1998)
• Greek for Bible Readers ( BR 10:01, Feb 1994)
• Greek for Bible Readers ( BR 9:06, Dec 1993)
• Greek for Bible Readers ( BR 9:05, Oct 1993)
• Greek for Bible Readers ( BR 9:03, Jun 1993)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 19:03, May/Jun 1993)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 19:02, Mar/Apr 1993)
• Greek for Bible Readers ( BR 9:02, Apr 1993)
• Book Notes ( BR 9:01, Feb 1993)
• Greek for Bible Readers ( BR 9:01, Feb 1993)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 19:01, Jan/Feb 1993)
• Greek for Bible Readers ( BR 8:06, Dec 1992)
• Greek for Bible Readers ( BR 8:05, Oct 1992)
• Jewish Funerary Inscriptions -- Most Are in Greek ( BAR 18:05, Sep/Oct 1992)
• Did Jesus Speak Greek? ( BAR 18:05, Sep/Oct 1992)
• The Mysterious Copper Scroll ( BR 8:04, Aug 1992)
• Bible Books ( BR 8:04, Aug 1992)
• Greek for Bible Readers ( BR 8:04, Aug 1992)
• Greek for Bible Readers ( BR 8:03, Jun 1992)
• Greek for Bible Readers ( BR 8:02, Apr 1992)
• Greek for Bible Readers ( BR 8:01, Feb 1992)
• Greek for Bible Readers ( BR 7:06, Dec 1991)
• Greek for Bible Readers ( BR 7:05, Oct 1991)
• Heavens Torn Open ( BR 7:04, Aug 1991)
• Greek for Bible Readers ( BR 7:04, Aug 1991)
• Eroticism and Infanticide at Ashkelon ( BAR 17:04, Jul/Aug 1991)
• Greek for Bible Readers ( BR 7:03, Jun 1991)
• Bible Books ( BR 7:02, Apr 1991)
• Books in Brief ( BAR 17:02, Mar/Apr 1991)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 14:03, May/Jun 1988)
• Learning Biblical Languages ( BAR 13:06, Nov/Dec 1987)

Homer

• Historic Homer ( BAR 33:02, Mar/Apr 2007)
• Strata: Greek Epics Depicted on Cypriot Sarcophagus ( BAR 33:02, Mar/Apr 2007)
• Did Theseus Slay the Minotaur? ( BAR 32:06, Nov/Dec 2006)
• Is Homer Historical? An Archaeology Odyssey Interview ( AO 7:03, May/Jun 2004)
• The New Trojan Wars ( AO 5:04, Jul/Aug 2002)
• Greeks vs. Hittites ( AO 5:04, Jul/Aug 2002)
• Destinations: Sailing the Wine-dark Seas ( AO 5:02, Mar/Apr 2002)
• The Forum ( AO 4:01, Jan/Feb 2001)
• Destinations: The Long Voyage Home ( AO 3:05, Sep/Oct 2000)
• Priam's Treasure ( AO 2:03, Jul/Aug 1999)
• Hector and Andromache ( AO 2:03, Jul/Aug 1999)
• Reviews ( AO 2:03, Jul/Aug 1999)
• Reviews ( AO 2:01, Winter 1999)
• The Forum ( AO 1:02, Spring 1998)
• Searching for the Historical Homer ( AO 1:01, Winter 1998)
• Reading Homer After 2,800 Years ( AO 1:01, Winter 1998)
• Penelope's Test ( AO 1:01, Winter 1998)
• A Different View ( AO 1:01, Winter 1998)
• Field Notes ( AO 1:01, Winter 1998)

Phoenicians

• Achziv Cemeteries: Buried Treasure from Israel's Phoenician Neighbor ( BAR 36:05, Sep/Oct 2010)
• Tools of Their Trades? ( BAR 36:05, Sep/Oct 2010)
• Strata: Return of the Ancient Mariner ( BAR 34:04, Jul/Aug 2008)
• Excavating Ekron ( BAR 31:06, Nov/Dec 2005)
• Sacred Precincts ( AO 6:06, Nov/Dec 2003)
• The Search for Biblical Blue ( BR 19:01, Feb 2003)
• Sailing the Open Seas ( AO 6:01, Jan/Feb 2003)
• WorldWide ( BAR 28:06, Nov/Dec 2002)
• Destinations: Punic Double Take ( AO 5:04, Jul/Aug 2002)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 27:06, Nov/Dec 2001)
• King Hezekiah's Seal Revisited ( BAR 27:04, Jul/Aug 2001)
• The Forum ( AO 4:03, May/Jun 2001)
• Were living Children Sacrificed to the Gods? No ( AO 3:06, Nov/Dec 2000)
• Were living Children Sacrificed to the Gods? Yes ( AO 3:06, Nov/Dec 2000)
• "Carthage Must be Destroyed" ( AO 3:06, Nov/Dec 2000)
• Strata ( BAR 25:05, Sep/Oct 1999)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 25:05, Sep/Oct 1999)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 25:04, Jul/Aug 1999)
• Past Perfect: On a Mission from God ( AO 2:03, Jul/Aug 1999)
• Tripartite Buildings: Divided Structures Divide Scholars ( BAR 25:03, May/Jun 1999)
• King Hezekiah's Seal Bears Phoenician Imagery ( BAR 25:02, Mar/Apr 1999)
• Buried Treasure: The Silver Hoard from Dor ( BAR 24:04, Jul/Aug 1998)
• The Birth of Adonis? ( AO 1:02, Spring 1998)
• A Different View ( AO 1:01, Winter 1998)
• Strata ( BAR 23:01, Jan/Feb 1997)
• Strata ( BAR 22:05, Sep/Oct 1996)
• From Death to Resurrection: The Early Evidence ( BAR 21:05, Sep/Oct 1995)
• WorldWide ( BAR 21:01, Jan/Feb 1995)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 19:06, Nov/Dec 1993)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 19:04, Jul/Aug 1993)
• The Many Masters of Dor, Part 3: The Persistence of Phoenician Culture ( BAR 19:03, May/Jun 1993)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 19:03, May/Jun 1993)
• The Many Masters of Dor, Part 2: How Bad Was Ahab? ( BAR 19:02, Mar/Apr 1993)
• Cabul: A Royal Gift Found ( BAR 19:02, Mar/Apr 1993)
• The Many Masters of Dor, Part 1: When Canaanites Became Phoenician Sailors ( BAR 19:01, Jan/Feb 1993)
• Excavating an Ancient Merchantman ( BAR 18:06, Nov/Dec 1992)
• Books in Brief ( BAR 18:05, Sep/Oct 1992)
• Rediscovered! The Land of Geshur ( BAR 18:04, Jul/Aug 1992)
• The Sea Peoples and Their Contributions to Civilization ( BAR 17:06, Nov/Dec 1991)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 17:06, Nov/Dec 1991)
• Why Were Hundreds of Dogs Buried at Ashkelon? ( BAR 17:03, May/Jun 1991)
• Glossary: Coffins in a Human Shape ( BAR 16:04, Jul/Aug 1990)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 16:04, Jul/Aug 1990)
• Volunteer's Report: Searching for the Phoenicians in Sardinia ( BAR 16:01, Jan/Feb 1990)
• Queries & Comments ( BAR 15:06, Nov/Dec 1989)
• What Happened to the Cult Figurines? Israelite Religion Purified After the Exile ( BAR 15:04, July/Aug 1989)
• Is This Solomon's Seaport? ( BAR 15:04, July/Aug 1989)
• Phoenicians in Brazil? ( BAR 5:01, Jan/Feb 1979)

[LiteKeeper]

There is a very credible theory that says the first man, Adam, wrote Genesis 2:4 - 5:1, using as a model tablets written by the Creator Himself, and found in Genesis 1:1 - 2:3. I do not have the time or the energy to defend this assertion, but would be happy to provide links to anyone seriously interested in the documentation.

POINT: You can't write without symbols (code), and, by definition, those symbols would constitute the first alphabet.

[rmlew]

Oldest Greek writting is from ~800 BCE. The Wadi el-Hol inscriptions are 1000 years older as are the Serabit inscriptions. I am not, as some fools have, going to suggest that the hbrw/Hebrew/Israelites created the alphabest. Rather the Canaanites, Phonecians, and the Canaanites in Egypt and the Sinai did. Or rather these groups created thr oldest known alphabets. Herodotus claimed that a Canaanite prince gave the alphabet to the Greeks. The names “Alpha-bet” and phonics are caled these for a reason.
Case closed.

[rmlew]

Pictographs or cuneform are not an alphabet. You don’t have an alphabet until glyphs are seen as sounds or phonics in a distinct reproduce-able manner.

[muawiyah]

The Babylonians used a "base 60" counting system. There are a variety of reasons given for that choice ~ but no one really knows why.

A more ancient structure relies on a "base 12" counting system. You can derive 12 groups of 1, 6 groups of 2, 3 groups of 4, and 4 groups of 3, and 2 groups of 6.

You can also subdivide the structure into a "base 10" count of 2 groups of 5, 10 groups of 1, 5 groups of 2 ~ and all of it with a "bracket".

You can add "closed fist", "open fist", and so forth, and combine all of that with a three tiered totemic structure. The premier layer are the animals ~ each with basic meaning associated with common elements of life in the Paleolithic. The second layer could very well be assigned to various human virtues, and a third layer associated with natural virtues/events (storms, lightning, etc.).

Simply pairing a number with a totemic symbol can yield a very large number of symbols ~

Such systems are known. They haven't all been worked out but they're out there, and they are very old.

Any good explanation of the development of the Sumerian hieroglyphics invariably harkens back to the association of counters with a simple picture of the items being counted.

You could have 27 associated with a cow, or 38 associated with a bull ~ and that would mean about all you'd need in a society of pastoralists (like the folks who founded civilization in Mesopotamia). Once they had sheep, goats, flocks of ducks, chickens and so on, you'd have more characters, and finally, if trade advanced to tools and ceramic or clay products, there'd be even more characters.

Or, as is more likely, the scribes and accountants of the earlier pastoral groups knew another much more ancient system and simply selected out of it "ideas" that were of use to them as they trekked around the countryside chasing cows. The good stuff was left behind at the tribal graveyards.

Relating "letters" to "sounds" probably didn't work out well before 2000 BC simply because travel was too difficult, distances too far, divisions among related linguistic groups too easy. However, once an "alphabet" became feasible it popped up just like earlier hieroglyphic systems, and before them ideographs, and grave marking systems.

[null and void]

[muawiyah]

Yeah, send me the references. My own thoughts are that we've had some sort of symbolic representational system for the last 10,000 to 20,000 years ~ but most of it is simply buried and we don't know about much of it ~ but we do know some of it.

I hope everyone realizes that as recently as the 1950s we were still of the impression that the Bible was derived from oral tradition ~ and whole libraries of books were written attacking the Bible as a fable.

The Sumerian texts had been discovered, in part, a number of years before but none of that sunk in until good translations were produced. Then, all at once the Bible didn't look at all that ancient~ kind of a "newcomer" in fact.

The tablets at Ebla were discovered, translated, and names like those of ancient Hebrews began popping up.

Genesis still contains basic instructions for creating a Memory Palace if you wish ~ think of an Ark ~ lots of cages, many levels, a handful of people each with different skill levels ~ that's the first one. Then, there are the genealogies of the prophets, et al ~ very similar to the lists of French Kings that you can use to help you organize historic timelines for your readings.

I think it just now occurred to me why the full set of instructions for using the Memory Palaces wasn't provided ~ e.g. the one for the Garden of Eden was really truncated ~ down to one plant and one critter for example!

It would be contact with writing, and lo and behold, Abram was known to have visited places where Sumerian writing was known and taught. Once you had writing, the discussions of Memory Palaces became less important.

[Verginius Rufus]

In the Phoenician alphabet the letters' names mean something--what the character was originally a picture of (aleph--ox head, beth--house, etc.). In Greek the names are based on the Phoenician names but have no meaning beyond being the name of the letter. The only way you could say that the Greeks invented the alphabet is to say it wasn't a true alphabet until the vowel signs were added, but that's just quibbling...worthy of Bill Clinton maybe.

"Phonics" has nothing to do with "Phoenicians" (who didn't call themselves that anyway), but derives from the Greek word phone meaning sound or voice (the O is an omega whereas the corresponding syllable in "Phoenicians" has an Omicron-Iota diphthong).

Powell isn't the first to suggest that the alphabet was invented to write Homer's epics--H. T. Wade-Gery made a similar suggestion many decades ago (he died around 40 years ago). More likely it was invented to be used by merchants in trade.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Aleph was the semetic word for “ox” and the Phonecian Aleph had a reasonable resemblance to a stick figure of an oxen. Ditto, Bet(h) was house and the correspondence of the Phonecian character to as stick drawing of a house was pretty good. Alpha and Beta mean nothing in Greek, other than the names of letters.

[Liberty Valance]

Campbell's!

[LiteKeeper]

Tablet Theory

[GenXteacher]

Phoenicians all the way. They were traders who didn’t have time for a cumbersome system of hieroglyphics.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks.