Phoenician alphabet
Ancient Levantine writing
The Phoenician alphabet was an ancient writing system developed around 1050 BCE in the eastern Mediterranean.
It consisted of 22 consonant letters with no vowels—readers supplied vowel sounds from context.
This system became the ancestor of most Western alphabets: the Greeks adapted it by adding vowels, which led to Latin script and eventually to the alphabet you're reading now.
Ancient Levantine people
Manual document copier
- papyrusAncient plant-derived writing material
- inkWriting fluid
- reed penCut hollow stem for writing
- parchmentTreated hide for manuscripts
tablet · clay · stylus · transcription · literacy · record-keeping · administrative · commercial
Historic Phoenician maritime center
- CarthagePhoenician colony that challenged Rome
- CanaanAncient Palestinian region
- MediterraneanSea between Europe, Africa, Asia
- Bronze AgeEarly metalworking civilization period
Iron Age · maritime · trading · colonization · purple dye · city-states · merchants · seafaring
Inscribed memorial pillar
- stelaeInscribed commemorative pillars
- epigraphyStudy of ancient inscriptions
- engravingCarving into hard surfaces
- carvingShaping by cutting away
monumental · tombstone · votive · dedicatory · funerary · graffiti
Ancient Semitic language
- HebrewSemitic language of Israel
- ArabicSemitic language family member
- CyrillicSlavic alphabet system
- transmissionSending of information
adaptation · borrowing · influence · diffusion · adoption · Etruscan
Of obstructed speech sounds
- lettersAlphabetic characters or mail
- glyphsCarved symbolic figures
- right-to-leftReading toward the margin
- alephHebrew alphabet's beginning
linear · angular · stylized · letterforms · graphemes · characters · symbols · stroke order
Ancient pictorial script
- pictographicUsing images as language
- evolutionSpecies changing over generations
- adaptationFitting to new conditions
- simplificationMaking something less complex
invention · development · derivation · precursor · antecedent
Canaanite
Ancient Levantine people
scribe
Manual document copier
parchment · tablet · clay · stylus · transcription · literacy · record-keeping · administrative · commercial · correspondence
Tyre
Historic Phoenician maritime center
- CarthagePhoenician colony that challenged Rome
- CanaanAncient Palestinian region
- MediterraneanSea between Europe, Africa, Asia
Bronze Age · Iron Age · maritime · trading · colonization · purple dye · city-states · merchants · seafaring · Levant
stele
Inscribed memorial pillar
- stelaeInscribed commemorative pillars
- epigraphyStudy of ancient inscriptions
- engravingCarving into hard surfaces
carving · monumental · tombstone · votive · dedicatory · funerary · graffiti
Aramaic
Ancient Semitic language
transmission · adaptation · borrowing · influence · diffusion · adoption · Etruscan
consonantal
Of obstructed speech sounds
- lettersAlphabetic characters or mail
- glyphsCarved symbolic figures
- right-to-leftReading toward the margin
aleph · linear · angular · stylized · letterforms · graphemes · characters · symbols · stroke order · simplified
Egyptian hieroglyphics
Ancient pictorial script
- pictographicUsing images as language
- evolutionSpecies changing over generations
- adaptationFitting to new conditions
simplification · invention · development · derivation · precursor · antecedent
- ancient communicationsmoke signal, hieroglyphs, carrier pigeon, pictographs, pictograms
- writing systemsvowel, consonant, syllable, capital letters, script
- Ancient LevantCanaan, Canaanites, Levant, Tyre, Damascus
- ancient scriptsglyphs, cuneiform, hieroglyphs, hieroglyphics, Sumerian
- ancient writinghieroglyphs, cuneiform, papyrus, scroll, clay tablets
- Lebanon historyTyre, Beirut, Mount Lebanon, Tripoli, cedar forests
Phoenician alphabetChinese characters
Logographic writing system
Egyptian hieroglyphs · cuneiform · oracle bone script · kanji · Mayan glyphs
Phoenician alphabetEgyptian hieroglyphs
Ancient pictorial writing system
Latin alphabet · Greek alphabet · cuneiform · oral tradition · illiteracy
alphabet, alpha, alphabets, alphabetical, alphabetic, alphabetically, Phoenicians, Phoenician, Phoenicia