The Alphabet and its Legacy

Abstract

The alphabet employed by the Phoenicians was the inheritor of a long tradition of alphabetic writing and was itself adapted for use throughout the Mediterranean basin by numerous populations speaking many languages. The present contribution traces the origins of the alphabet in Sinai and the Levant before discussing different alphabetic standardizations in Ugarit and Phoenician Tyre. The complex adaptation of the latter for representation of the Greek language is described in detail, then some brief attention is given to likely—Etruscan and other Italic alphabets—and possible (Iberian and Berber) descendants of the Phoenician alphabet. Finally, it is stressed that current research does not view the Phoenician and other alphabets as inherently simpler, more easily learned, or more democratic than other writing systems. The Phoenician alphabet remains, nevertheless, an impressive technological development worthy, especially by virtue of its generative power, of detailed study ranging from paleographic and orthographic specifications to social and political contextualization.

The Stele of Nora: A Phoenician gift that keeps on giving

“…Two recent reappraisals of the stele of Nora have been proposed by Mosca (2017) and Puech (2020), which I will discuss in detail in the following section. For general comments and observations on the stele from the point of view of archaeologists, epigraphists, and academics, see those offered by Sabatino Moscati (1973: 133, 138, 141, 258, 263), M'hamed Hassine Fantar (1993, Tome 1: 48-51, albeit with an erroneous date of discovery); Enrico Acquaro (2001: 264-265), Maria Giulia Amadasi Guzzo (20142019a: 200;2019b), Mastino (2017: 25), Brian R. Doak (2020: 178), Carolina López-Ruiz (2021, Vadim S. Jigoulov (2021: 186), andMark Woolmer (2022: 191-192). Other cursory comments on the stele are provided by Glenn E. Markoe (2000: 177-178), with the German version of the latter translated by Tanja Ohlsen (Markoe 2003: 374-379, albeit with an upside-down image of the stele reproduced on p.375, which, for some reason, has been cropped and malformed into a fake semblance of the contours of the stele as if standing the correct side up!).…”