Ancient civilizations-2

The alphabet

Of all the accomplishments of the ancient Middle East, the invention of the alphabet is probably the greatest. While pre-alphabetic systems of writing in the Old World became steadily more phonetic, they were still exceedingly cumbersome, and the syllabic systems that gradually replaced them remained complex and difficult. In the early Hyksos period (17th century bc) the Northwestern Semites living in Egypt adapted hieroglyphic characters—in at least two slightly differing forms of letters—to their own purposes. Thus was developed the earliest known purely consonantal alphabet, imitated in northern Syria, with the addition of two letters to designate vowels used with the glottal catch.

This alphabet spread rapidly and was in quite common use among the Northwestern Semites (Canaanites, Hebrews, Aramaeans, and especially the Phoenicians) soon after its invention. By the 9th century bc the Phoenicians were using it in the western Mediterranean, and the Greeks and Phrygians adopted it in the 8th. The alphabet contributed vastly to the Greek cultural and literary revolution in the immediately following period. From the Greeks it was transmitted to other Western peoples. Since language must always remain the chief mode of communication for Homo sapiens, its union with hearing and vision in a uniquely simple phonetic structure has probably revolutionized civilization more than any other invention in history. William Foxwell Albright

Citation Information

Article Title: Ancient Middle East

Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica

Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Date Published: 30 July 2014

URL: https://www.britannica.com/place/ancient-Middle-East

Access Date: August 22, 2019

Additional Reading

Works treating the rise of civilization in the Middle East specifically include Walther Hinz, The Lost World of Elam: Re-Creation of a Vanished Civilization (1972; originally published in German, 1964), an account of art, religion, and social mores in the Elamite empire; Chester G. Starr, Early Man: Prehistory and the Civilizations of the Ancient Near East (1973), a popular overview of the development of literacy, urban living, art, literature, and religion; Charles L. Redman, The Rise of Civilization: From Early Farmers to Urban Society in the Ancient Near East (1978), on agricultural development, urbanization, and cultural change from 10,000 to 2000 bc; Jack Finegan, Archaeological History of the Ancient Middle East (1979, reissued 1986), a reference work covering history, mythology, and art between 10,000 and 330 bc; and Donald O. Henry, From Foraging to Agriculture (1989), a discussion of the origins of agriculture in the Middle East and surrounding area.