Alphabets of Asia Minor

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History of the alphabet Middle Bronze Age 19 c. BCE Ugaritic 15 c. BCE Phoenician 14–11 c. BCE Paleo-Hebrew 10 c. BCE Samaritan 6 c. BCE Aramaic 8 c. BCE Brāhmī & Indic 6 c. BCE Tibetan 7 c. CE Khmer/Javanese 9 c. CE Hebrew 3 c. BCE Syriac 2 c. BCE Arabic 4 c. CE Pahlavi 3 c. BCE Avestan 4 c. CE Greek 9 c. BCE Etruscan 8 c. BCE Latin 7 c. BCE Runic 2 c. CE Gothic 3 c. CE Armenian 405 CE Glagolitic 862 CE Cyrillic 10 c. CE Paleohispanic 7 c. BCE Epigraphic South Arabian 9 c. BCE Ge'ez 5–6 c. BCE Meroitic 3 c. BCE Ogham 4 c. CE Hangul 1443 CE Canadian syllabics 1840 CE Zhuyin 1913 CE complete genealogy

Ancient Near East Portal

Various alphabetic writing systems were in use in Iron Age Anatolia to record Anatolian dialects and the Phrygian language. Previously several of these languages had been written with logographic and syllabic systems.

The alphabets of Asia Minor may be classified into two groups. The first of them (Phrygian and Lemnian) were early adaptations of regional variants of the Greek alphabet; the earliest Phrygian inscriptions are contemporary with early Greek inscriptions, but contain Greek innovations such as the letters Φ and Ψ which did not exist in the earliest forms of the Greek alphabet.

• The Phrygian alphabet, recording the Phrygian language, was in use in Phrygia from ca. the 8th to the 3rd century BCE, 20 letters. Phrygian was based on the western Greek alphabet which used Ψ (instead of Χ) for [kʰ]. The Mysian alphabet is a variant, with one additional letter.
• The Lemnian alphabet of Pelasgians, see Lemnos stele

The second group (Carian, Para-Carian, Lydian, Para-Lydian, Lycian and Sidetic) share characteristics that distinguish them from the earliest forms of the Greek alphabet. Many letters in these alphabets resemble Greek letters but have unrelated readings, most extensively in the case of Carian.

• The Lydian script, an alphabet used to record the Lydian language from ca. the 5th to 4th centuries BCE, related is the "Para-Lydian" alphabet known from a single inscription in Sardis. Lydian used the letter 8 for /f/, a remarkable convergence with the Etruscan alphabet, where 8 (𐌚) was added in the 6th century BCE.
• The Carian script, recording the Carian language, extant in about ten varieties known from inscriptions in Caria, Egypt and Athens. Only partially understood, there may have been 35-45 letters. Deciphered in 1960s by Russian (later American) linguist Vitaly Shevoroshkin.
• The Lycian script, an alphabet recording the Lycian language from the 5th to 4th centuries BCE.
• The Sidetic script, an alphabet of 25 letters, known from coin legends in what might be a Sidetic language, is only partially deciphered.

The Anatolian alphabets fell out of use around the 4th century BCE with the onset of the Hellenistic period.

[edit] See also

• History of the alphabet
• Greek alphabet
• Old Italic alphabets

[edit] External links

• Alphabets of Asia Minor (indoeuro.bizland.com)
  • Carian inscription
• Lydian-Aramaean bilingue (titus.uni-frankfurt.de)
• Lycian inscribed pillar (holylandphotos.org)

[edit] Literature

• Diringer D. Alphabet. Cambridge, 1948.
• Friedrich J. Geschichte der Schrift. 1966.