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The early history of the Greek alphabet: new evidence from Eretria and Methone

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2016

John K. Papadopoulos
John K. Papadopoulos*
Affiliation:
Department of Classics, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles, 308 Charles E. Young Drive North, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA (Email: jkp@humnet.ucla.edu)
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Abstract

Inscriptions on new archaeological finds in the Aegean, examined alongside linguistic evidence relating to Greek and Phrygian vowels, are here used to explore the origins and spread of the Greek alphabet. The ‘invention’ of vowels happened just once, with all of the various Greek, Phrygian and Italic alphabets ultimately deriving from this single moment. The idea spread rapidly, from an absence of writing in the ninth century BC to casual usage, including jokes, by 725 BC. The port of Methone in the northern Aegean emerges as a probable candidate for the site of origin. A place where Greeks and Phoenicians did business together, with international networks; was this where Semitic, Greek and Phrygian letters first coalesced?

Keywords

AegeanGreekalphabetwritinginscription
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 90 , Issue 353 , October 2016 , pp. 1238 - 1254
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2016 

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