A Proto - Canaanite Abecedary Dating from the Period of the Judges and its Implications for the History of the Alphabet

An ArchaicBaclInscription from Tel Beth-Shemesh

“…establishing the classic form of late Canaanite and early Phoenician bet. Even so, the head remains very large (early Phoenician will be smaller) and sharp angled, in contrast to the small, rounded head of the bet of the >Izbet Ṣarṭah abecedary (Kochavi 1977;Demsky 1977;Naveh 1978;Cross 1980: 8-15 andFigs. 9-10 [= Cross 2003: 220-227 andFig.…”

“…The first and fifth signs represent the letter he, which appears here in the stemless E-shaped form first recognized in the abecedary on the >Izbet Ṣarṭah ostracon (Kochavi 1977;Demsky 1977;Naveh 1978;Cross 1980: 8-15 andFigs. 9-10 [ = Cross 2003: 220-227 and Fig.…”

The Ras Shamra Matrix

“…8 We note in passing that the fact that no pre-Ugaritic Canaanite abecedarium has come to light is not very telling, given the Brought to you by | University Library Technische Universitaet Authenticated Download Date | 7/3/15 5:07 AM paucity of materials from that place in that period. (Though a quite ancient Canaanite abecedarium has recently been found, among other old materials [Demsky 1977;Cross 1980], this dates only from the twelfth century and so cannot be pre-Ugaritic.) Of course it is quite possible that no Canaanite abecedarium will ever turn up, and possible (barely) that no such thing ever existed.…”