The Phoenician alphabet is an alphabet discovered in modern times from Canaanite and Aramaic inscriptions found throughout the Mediterranean.

What made the Phoenician alphabet different from contemporary writing systems?

The alphabet is sometimes referred to as the Early Linear script (in the context of Semitic languages, that is) because it also represented a development stage of the Old Canaanite or Proto-Canaanite pictographic script (that is, a writing system that uses pictures to represent concepts) to an alphabetic script (a writing system that has symbols represent sounds, more familiar to most readers here). This new script also marked a change from a multi-directional writing system, where any direction could be used, to a fixed system where all writing went from right to left.

What makes the Phoenician alphabet important?

Well, its immediate predecessor, the Proto-Canaanite, Old Canaanite or early West Semitic alphabet, was the oldest fully matured alphabet system, and was derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs. Some writers say the Phoenician alphabet was the first, but it’s more accurate to say that it was the first widely adopted writing system.

How did the Phoenician alphabet work?

The Phoenician alphabet consisted of 22 letters, all of which corresponded to consonant sounds, not vowels. Like some other later writing systems, vowel sounds were meant to be figured out via implication and context clues. However, later on in the alphabet’s development, Matres lectionis (special consonants used to indicate which vowel to use) were sometimes used. The individual letters themselves were angular with straight, not curved, lines, mostly because the alphabet was intended to be written with a stylus.

Who used the Phoenician alphabet?

The Phoenician alphabet was used to write what are referred to as the Early Iron Age Canaanite languages. That is, Phoenician, Hebrew, Moabite, Ammonite and Edomite, and Old Aramaic. Its use in Phoenicia (the coastal Levant) led to its spread far outside of its region of origin, with Phoenician merchants spreading it far and wide across the Mediterranean. Many cultures adopted and modified the alphabet into their own alphabets, including the Aramaic, Samaritan, several Anatolian, and the early Greek alphabets. Later, in the classical Middle East, the Aramaic alphabet became especially successful, leading to the development of, among other scripts, the Jewish Square script and the Perso-Arabic scripts.

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