History Fact Finder | Culture and Recreation - When Was The First Alphabet Created?

When was the first alphabet created?

The earliest form of an alphabet (an ordered set of symbols that represent the basis for a written language) was developed sometime between 1800 and 1000 B.C. Historians believe that a Semitic (Hebrew) people of unknown origins created an alphabet after contact with both cuneiform (wedge-shaped symbols) and hieroglyphics (a writing system using pictures, developed by ancient Egyptians). In 1928 clay tablets were discovered in the northern Syrian city of Ras Shamra, which helped historians understand part of the evolution of the written form. Although these tablets contained cuneiform and some hieroglyphics, they showed a distinctly new alphabet system. The alphabet consisted of twenty-two characters representing only consonant sounds, indicating that the reader had to supply vowels based on personal knowledge of the language. It is thought that the characters were developed by...

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