Phoenician letter. When did alphabetic writing appear in Phenicia? Phoenician alphabet with translation into Russian

Today it is practically forgotten, because it left very few of its traces on the earth. But it radically changed the course of history and determined the development of culture and science for several centuries to come. The appearance of alphabetic writing in Phenicia is considered the main achievement of a small but very powerful maritime power in its time. But first things first.

Location on the map

As many people know, alphabetic writing appeared in Phenicia. But not everyone knows where this country was. The ancient civilization occupied a small strip of land along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Her land was cut off from other territories by the Lebanese Mountains, which came almost close to the water. If we compare the Phoenician state with other civilizations of the ancient world - Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia, Greece or Rome, then it seems like a real Lilliputian. But its inhabitants visited all the ports of the Mediterranean region. Its ships carried important goods, and the merchants themselves were welcome guests in many royal palaces. The appearance of writing in Phenicia was not accidental. After all, an effective and simple system was needed for accounting.

Phoenicians - who are they?

Today it is known for sure that alphabetic writing was invented in Phenicia. When it appeared is also a fairly well-studied question. But historians do not know who the inhabitants of the maritime state were. Their ancestors lived in these lands already in the third millennium BC. True, they did not have a state as such, there were separate cities in which life was in full swing. They called themselves by the name of the settlement (Tyrians, Sidonians), and also said that their home was the land of Canaan. The Semitic language, close to modern Arabic, of the Assyrians, Akkadians, and Egyptians was their native language.

According to many ancient authors, the Phoenicians originated from the islands in the Persian Gulf. They probably left their ancestral home at the end of the fourth millennium BC. To this same time, archaeologists attribute the first traces of their civilization on the Mediterranean coast.

The name of the country

Alphabetical writing in Phenicia appeared in ancient times, at the dawn of the development of human civilization. It was their alphabet, which contained only twenty-two letters, that became the prototype of the writing systems of the ancient world. Interestingly, there are several versions of the origin of the name of the state. The first, the most common, claims that Phenicia is translated from Greek as “Land of Purple.” After all, it was here that rare dye for expensive fabrics was mined. But the name can also be translated as “Country of the Phoenix,” a fabulous creature that can be reborn from the ashes. Phoenix appeared from the east, where the Phoenicians lived. The third version is the most likely. According to it, the name of the state comes from the Egyptian word meaning ship builder.

How did the Phoenicians live?

Alphabetical writing in Phenicia appeared in the fifteenth to thirteenth centuries BC. Until that time, the people lived on a fertile and fertile land. Although it was small, it made it possible to grow dates, olives, grapes, and raise cows and sheep. There was no need to artificially irrigate the soil, since the rains watered it generously. The sea provided fish and other underwater inhabitants. It is not surprising that already in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e. small villages grew into cities. The largest of them were Byblos, Arvad, Tyre, Ugarit, Sidon, Lagish. Almost all of them were surrounded by massive walls, and in the central part there were temples and houses of rulers. Ordinary Phoenicians huddled in small huts made of clay or brick. Drainage ditches were installed along the streets.

Alphabetical writing in Phenicia (century 13-15 BC) appeared much later. But even then the townspeople felt a lack of space. Because of this, they first poured artificial dams, expanding the islands, and built Carthage, the most famous and largest colony, which managed to compete with Rome itself for a long time. The walls were skillfully painted with patterns of geometric shapes and ribbons of different colors. Characteristic was the presence of a long corridor and a courtyard. Among household items, the Phoenicians had low tables and chairs, large chests, and flat beds.

Overseas merchants

The appearance of alphabetic writing in Phenicia was caused by the lively trade of merchants with the whole world. But what did the inhabitants of the eastern coast of the Mediterranean have? The cities of the sea conquerors were very rich, archaeologists have found a lot of evidence of this. The source of the Phoenicians' treasures was trade: routes from the north and south converged in this place. The fruits of the earth were barely enough for food, but there was more than enough wood. And this material was in great demand in desert Egypt. Byblos supplied the market with cedar, oak and cypress, which were widely used in shipbuilding. Sarcophagi were made from valuable wood for the Egyptian nobility and pharaohs.

They traded wine, olive oil, and, of course, purple fabrics. A dye was extracted from a special type of mollusk, which dyed woolen wool a noble purple hue. Only very rich people could afford these fabrics. Production was so massive that there was a shortage of locally produced fabrics. Therefore, merchants brought cheap goods (undyed) to Phenicia, and here they cultivated and transformed them. Products made by local artisans made of silver, bronze, and glass were also in demand. There was also intermediary trade between the West and the East.

Ancient writings: versions of origin

So, alphabetic writing in Phenicia. We have already mentioned when it appeared. But scientists agree on the hypothesis that there was an even more ancient alphabet, which served as the basis for the Phoenicians. They call it Western Semitic or Proto-Sinaitic, but so far this system has not been deciphered.

The first inscriptions made using the Phoenician writing system date back to the thirteenth century BC, shortly before the outbreak of the Trojan War. According to the researchers, the inhabitants of Phenicia made thematic notes on various sciences, and they studied philosophy, literature, and history. Unfortunately, most of their works were lost, and only small excerpts and quotations in the records of ancient authors have survived to this day.

There are also suggestions that the alphabetic writing in Phenicia (approximate date of appearance) originated from them. They could have been brought to Canaan by the Jews after returning from captivity from the land of the pharaohs. Perhaps they were that part of the population that was not captured, but remained in their homeland. Who knows?

System Features

As mentioned above, the emergence of alphabetic writing in Phenicia was caused by the needs of society. Now let's talk about the system itself and its features. The Phoenicians used the consonantal principle, that is, only consonant sounds were recorded on paper. The vowels were not written down, but were thought up by the reader, out of context. They wrote from left to right.

In its development, the writings of the ancient Phoenicians went through three stages of development:

• The first or Phoenician lasted from the birth of the alphabet (second half of the second millennium BC) until the conquest of the country by Alexander the Great.
• The Punic period begins with the founding of Carthage (9th century BC) and ends with the destruction of the city by the Romans.
• Neo-Punian, which lasted until the fifth century AD.

Gradually the alphabet moves from epigraphic to italic. At the same time, the letters lengthened and narrowed, acquiring their final form.

Achievements of the Phoenicians

The appearance of alphabetic writing in Phenicia is not the only achievement of the local population. It is considered a proven fact that it was the sailors from this state who were the first to circumnavigate Africa. The voyage took more than three years. First, the travelers entered the Red Sea, circled the Dark Continent and entered Gibraltar. They also established trade between the West and the East and laid the foundations of maritime craft. And this is a lot for that time.

When the sarcophagus, which was later dated to 1300-1000 BC, was cleaned of the dirt adhering to it, the famous one-line inscription in Phoenician was discovered on its lid: This is the sarcophagus that Etbaal, the son of Ahiram, made, king of Gebal, for Ahiram his father, who begat him.

The latest extant Phoenician texts date back to the 2nd century AD in the Middle East, and to the 3rd and 4th centuries in the Western Mediterranean.

The creation of the alphabet is the greatest cultural achievement of the Phoenicians. From their homeland, from a narrow coastal strip on the territory of modern Lebanon, the alphabet began its triumphal march around the world.

In the city of Ugarit, monuments covered with cuneiform were found. Thirty alphabetic characters. In the city of Byblos, two bronze tablets were found covered with writing - hieroglyphs. The present alphabet was created in the 10th century BC. e. - 22 characters. Each letter corresponds to one consonant or semi-consonant sound. The Phoenicians did not write vowels. They traveled to many countries and knew the writing systems of these countries. It is unknown from whom the alphabet was borrowed.

The names of the Phoenician letters correspond to the names of those objects whose shape these letters resembled:

Aleph - the head of a bull,

Beth is home

Gimel - corner.

"Alphabet" is the first two letters. "Beth" was sometimes pronounced like "vita". "aleph" + "vita".

The invention of the alphabet is the greatest achievement of Phoenician culture. It had a huge impact on the countries of the ancient world.

The emergence of alphabets

An alphabet is a special form of writing based on a standardized set of characters. They designate language phonemes, but there is practically no one-to-one correspondence between sounds and letters. It is believed that the alphabet was first invented in the Phoenician state about 3 thousand years ago. However, some historians believe that similar writing systems existed earlier, but the progenitor of modern alphabetic systems is the Phoenician letter.

Origin of the alphabet

Certain elements of phonetic notation, which preceded the appearance of the alphabet, were used in ancient times in Mesopotamia and Egypt. The Egyptian hieroglyphs used to write during the Middle Kingdom used a system of 1-, 2-, and 3-consonant phonemes. The writing of Ancient Egypt was a combination of ideography and phonetic writing. The latter was used more and more often over time, first to designate foreign words and proper names, the sound of which could not be conveyed using hieroglyphs, and then to convey everyday information in a simplified, more understandable form for the population.

Development of alphabetic systems

In the XIX-VIII centuries BC. The Phoenician alphabet was borrowed by the Greeks, who used it practically unchanged for a long time. As a result, the names of the Greek letters are practically no different from those used in the Phoenician alphabetic system. But on the basis of the Greek alphabet, the Latin alphabet appeared, which very soon became the main writing system for almost all the peoples inhabiting the European continent. Somewhat later, based on the Latin alphabet, the Cyrillic alphabet was created, which we still use today. Although individual facts indicate that even without the invention of Cyril and Methodius, the Slavic peoples had their own Glagolitic writing system, and even earlier runic writing.

Linear alphabetic systems became widespread in the 14th century, which is when the Proto-Haanean and Proto-Sinaitic varieties of writing arose. In these alphabets there is a connection between pictography and phonetics, as in the Old Slavic Glagolitic alphabet. Ugaritic texts dating back to the 13th century deserve special attention. They contain 30 cuneiform characters, which defines the Ugaritic alphabet as the first non-acrophonic system.

Some historians believe that the Phoenician letter developed not at all on the basis of the Egyptian, but on the basis of the Phoenician syllabary or Cretan-Mycenaean letter. Monuments of this letter have come to us from the ancient city of Byblos. But the main thing is immediately clear: the Phoenicians were the first to use a purely alphabetic writing system.

As can be seen from the sources, the need and importance of forming an alphabetic letter appeared in various areas of Phenicia. As navigation and trade developed, where a large part of the population was employed, the need began to arise for a simpler and more accessible writing than that which only a few scribes could study.

The Phoenician alphabet, of course, had its shortcomings. For example, he could convey only consonant sounds, but various additional signs were not transmitted, those with the help of which the Egyptians, for example, simplified the reading of texts written with only consonants. That is why reading remained difficult, and understanding more complex spellings and texts was quite difficult.

The time has come when the northern alphabet replaced the southern one, consisting of 22 characters. It was this alphabet that spread throughout all regions of the country. The Greek alphabet originated from it, as can be seen from the ancient outlines of the Greek letters, as well as from the nuance that the names of some Greek letters are of Semitic origin. For example, the term "alphabet" contains the names of the first two letters of the Greek alphabet, alpha and beta, which correspond to the first two Phoenician letters - "aleph" and "bet". By the way, they mean “bull” and “house” in Western Semitic languages. The basis of these alphabetic signs is more ancient drawing signs. Almost all the names of the letters of the Greek alphabet correspond to the names of the Phoenician letters.

Phoenician writing- one of the first phonetic writing systems recorded in human history. Appeared around the 15th century BC. and became the ancestor of most modern alphabetic and some other writing systems.

Alphabetic writing is a writing system where one character conveys one sound. in contrast to logographic and ideographic writing, where each character corresponds to a specific concept or morpheme. Syllabic writing also cannot be considered an alphabetic writing, since each sign in the syllabaries corresponds to a separate syllable. but not the sound.

However, the Egyptian theory has been criticized, since with so many different forms of signs, coincidences with individual characters of the Phoenician script are inevitable. In addition, it should be noted that in Egyptian hieroglyphic writing, special signs were initially used for monoconsonant and biconsonant parts of words, but subsequently monoconsonant signs began to be used much less frequently than ideographic signs. Moreover, monoconsonant sounds were almost never used independently. It should also be noted that in the alphabet there is one sign to denote one sound, the meaning of which does not change, while in the Egyptian script the same sound can be denoted by different signs. If the alphabet really originated in Egypt, then the Egyptians would have had no reason to use a much more complex hieroglyphic writing for several more centuries, and, several centuries after the invention of the alphabet, to simplify the hieroglyphic and hieratic writing.

Sources: ltalk.ru, otvet.mail.ru, www.letopis.info, sredizemnomor.ru, dic.academic.ru

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The appearance of alphabetic writing in Phenicia was one of the turning points in the history of the Ancient East. According to the research of historians, it first appeared in the 13th century BC, apparently, it was this letter that became the basis on which the writing of the ancient Greeks and Romans was subsequently created. The Latin alphabet is used all over the world to this day, so the contribution of the Phoenicians to world culture can be called invaluable.

Phoenician writing was consonantal, which means that they used only consonant sounds to write their words, and the reader could decide for himself which vowels to use. The text was written from right to left. It is difficult to say whether the Phoenician alphabet was the very first in the world, but it was the writing of Phenicia that became the basis on which most of the modern writing systems were formed. Historians cannot yet agree on the time of origin of this language.

In 1922, archaeologists, conducting investigations in Byblos, discovered the sarcophagus of the ruler Ahiram, on the surface of which an inscription in the Phoenician language was carved. Pierre Monte, who discovered the sarcophagus, and other researchers believed that it was created in the 13th century BC, but at the end of the last century Gibson established that the inscription was created in the 11th century BC. At the same time, the sarcophagus also contained dishes dating back to the 7th century BC, so no one can say with certainty when exactly the Phoenician language originated.

The appearance of alphabetic writing in Phenicia did not mark the appearance of the first phonetic recording of the letter; this achievement was attributed to the Sumerians. At the same time, the symbols of the Phoenicians resemble Scandinavian runes in their forms, and are completely different from the cuneiform script accepted in Western Asia. Some scientists associate this phenomenon with the resettlement of the so-called “peoples of the sea.”

At the end of the 13th century BC. From across the sea, many different peoples arrived in Western Asia, weakened the states existing there, and created their own. Thanks to this, Phenicia was able to exist independently for about four hundred years, although before that local cities had always been part of one state or another.

The earliest traces of the use of alphabetic linear writing systems were dated back to the 19th century BC, when historians were able to discover the Proto-Haanite and Proto-Sinaitic alphabets. The authors of these alphabets tried to improve the ancient pictographic writing; they use simplified pictographic models, but each character received a phonetic content. To record the sound, a simplified pictogram was used, depicting an object whose name begins with a particular letter.

The writing of Phenicia was a kind of revolution in the ancient world; thanks to it, writing became accessible to most of the population. In the first version, there were some kind of hints for readers that made it easier to understand. The simplicity of such writing allowed it to become widespread across the vast territories in which the peoples of the West Semitic group lived. In addition, such writing could be written on different types of surfaces, while cuneiform writing in most cases was written only on clay tablets. The flexibility of the phonetic system created by the Phoenicians makes it possible to use it to write texts in languages ​​belonging to other language groups. The Greeks quickly adapted this system to their needs, and then the Romans began to use a similar one.

4.1. The alphabet was born in Phenicia

Few ancient peoples can boast as many inventions that changed the fate of mankind as the Phoenicians: ships and purple, transparent glass and the alphabet. Even if they themselves were not always their authors, they were the ones who introduced these discoveries and improvements into life, and also popularized them. The last of these inventions largely determined the fate of modern civilization. The world would be a completely different place if we did not have the simplest and most convenient writing system ever created by mankind. This system was invented by the Phoenicians.

They spoke in a language that has long been gone. Phoenician is one of the Semitic languages, and its closest relatives are Hebrew (Hebrew) and Moabite, of which we know only from one surviving inscription. Usually these three languages, also called “Canaanite,” are contrasted with Aramaic. At the same time, together with the Aramaic language, they constitute the northwestern branch of the Semitic language family, which also includes the eastern (Akkadian) and southern, or Arabo-Ethiopian, branches.

Almost all Canaanite languages ​​are dead. The only exception is Hebrew, the official language of Israel. We can judge its related languages ​​only from surviving texts. However, there are not even inscriptions left that depict, for example, the Ammonite or Edomite languages.

The Phoenician language was spoken by the inhabitants of the coastal regions of Lebanon, Palestine and southern Syria, as well as part of the population of Cyprus. It is known to us only from inscriptions, the oldest of which dates back to approximately 1000 BC. Literature in the Phoenician language, the existence of which is spoken of by both Greek and Roman authors, has been completely lost.

Thanks to the colonial policy of the Phoenicians, their language also spread to other parts of the Mediterranean, for example in Carthage and its environs. Here it began to be called “Punic”. Isolated Punic inscriptions are also found in other areas of the Western Mediterranean.

Oddly enough, the Phoenician language disappeared in the metropolis earlier than in the Western colonies. Even in the Hellenistic era, it was gradually replaced by Aramaic and Greek. Residents of the Middle East stopped speaking Phoenician around the 2nd century BC. In the Western Mediterranean, this language was used for much longer - probably until the 8th century AD - and was finally supplanted only after the Arab conquest of North Africa. From now on, local residents spoke only Arabic.

The latest Phoenician texts that have come down to us date back to the 2nd century AD in the Middle East, and to the 3rd–4th centuries in the Western Mediterranean.

The creation of the alphabet is the greatest cultural achievement of the Phoenicians. From their homeland, from a narrow coastal strip on the territory of modern Lebanon, the alphabet began its triumphal march around the world. Gradually, the Phoenician alphabet and related writing systems replaced almost all other ancient forms of writing, except for Chinese and its derivatives. Cyrillic and Latin, Arabic and Hebrew letters - they all go back to the Phoenician alphabet. Over time, the alphabet font became known in India, Indonesia, Central Asia and Mongolia. The Phoenicians created “a universal writing system, the perfection of which has been proven by the entire subsequent history of mankind, for since then he has not been able to come up with anything better,” wrote G.M. Bauer.

What is Phenicia? A piece of land on the periphery of two worlds: Mesopotamian and Egyptian, or a “bridge” laid between them? Or a mirror in which both realities are reflected, merging together?

Since time immemorial, the inhabitants of Phenicia knew two main forms of writing of the Ancient East: the cuneiform script of Mesopotamia and the hieroglyphic script of the Egyptians. From the latter, they learned to use special symbols indicating which vowel comes after or before this consonant. While studying cuneiform, we realized that the same writing system can be used to write a wide variety of languages.

Most often, the inhabitants of Phoenician cities, as well as neighboring Syria, although they were subordinate to Egypt, did not use its hieroglyphs, but syllabic cuneiform. They used it when drafting official letters and diplomatic messages, business documents and trade agreements. Even to the office of the pharaoh they sent tablets with wedges that had to be read - no, not in Phoenician, but in Akkadian, that “Bronze Age Latin”. However, it was a troublesome task - to express one’s thoughts in the words of a foreign language, and even write them down in poorly understood symbols.

Firstly, the language was not native. Even professional scribes often could not find the right words and, as evidenced by the Amarna letters, continually inserted Canaanite words familiar to them from childhood into phrases. Sooner or later, one of the scribes would have refused to dilute their native Canaanite speech with rote Akkadian words. And so it happened.

Secondly, cuneiform was a complex script. The scribe needed to remember up to six hundred cuneiform characters, each of which could have several meanings. At the court of every Phoenician king, a whole staff of scribes was needed, dealing only with correspondence and office work. And any merchant would do well to have a retinue of several literate scholars who have studied cuneiform for many years. But the merchants themselves didn’t like it. They preferred to conduct business quickly and discreetly, not trusting their secrets to strangers. To do this, a simple system was needed that would make it possible to make notes in their native language and not spend a lot of time and effort on mastering literacy. This is how linear writing arose. Apparently, one of the most important centers where it was developed was Byblos. Any material was suitable for such a letter. Obviously, the first monuments of writing in Phenicia were business documents written on some light, short-lived material, such as leather or papyrus.

Egyptian hieroglyphs

To create their original system, the Phoenicians used, as most experts believe, modified Egyptian hieroglyphs as letters. The oldest inscriptions, reminiscent of the later Phoenician script, were found in Palestine and the Sinai Peninsula, where the Egyptians and Semites had fairly close contact. They are dated to the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. Perhaps it was here that the selection and simplification of some Egyptian hieroglyphs took place, with which the Canaanites began to designate certain sounds of their language.

However, as emphasized by I.Sh. Shifman, “the signs of the Sinai and Phoenician writing proper, which served to designate the same sounds, were very different from each other. This does not make it possible to consider the Sinai script as the direct ancestor of Phoenician graphics, despite all the seductiveness of such assumptions, which are widespread in the scientific literature.”

Perhaps, another hypothesis has been expressed, the alphabetic writing system originated in the Canaanite cities of Palestine. Writing is the fruit of urban civilization. At the end of the 2nd millennium BC, the cities of Canaan fell under the onslaught of Israeli nomads, and then the writing system continued to exist only among the Canaanites of the coast - in Phenicia - and was subsequently borrowed from them by other peoples.

Cuneiform

In some Palestinian cities, indeed, examples of linear writing have been found, left on durable materials. Similar finds were made in Lachish (inscriptions on a dagger, vessel and bowl), Shechem (inscription on a plate) and Gezer (inscription on a shard). All of them date back to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. However, according to most researchers, they are still not related to the main line of development of alphabetic writing.

Obviously, the idea of ​​​​creating an alphabetic writing originated in Phenicia itself, and was not borrowed by its inhabitants from neighboring peoples. However, the origins of linear alphabetic writing, notes N.Ya. Merpert, “are increasingly becoming more ancient with new discoveries and can be associated with the Middle Bronze Age.”

The Phoenicians themselves attributed the invention of letters to a certain Ta-avt. It is possible that this is the god of writing. After all, “the sacralization of writing in the East is beyond doubt,” notes Yu.B. Tsir-kin. “Therefore, in the memory of the people, its creator (or one of the creators) could well have acquired the features of a god, for whom a genealogy was then invented.” Something similar happened in Egypt, where the famous physician Imhotep became the god of healing. After all, as the famous Soviet linguist T.V. emphasized. Gamkrelidze, “nowadays science has accepted the point of view that the creation of a writing system was not and could not be the fruit of collective creativity, but it is the result of the creative act of a specific creator.”

In any case, during the Bronze Age, a great need for a simple writing system arose in various parts of Western Asia. In certain areas of Syria, Phenicia and Palestine, attempts were made to create a linear alphabetic writing. Ultimately, they led to the appearance of the alphabet. The first evidence of its existence was discovered in Phenicia, a country focused on trade with other Mediterranean countries and therefore in need of reliable and convenient means of communication.

Its own special alphabetic script existed in the 14th – 13th centuries BC in Northern Syria, in the large merchant city of Ugarit. This font was a three-dimensional cuneiform script. The letters had not only height and width, but also depth. The use of such icons was possible only on certain materials, such as clay.

The Ugaritic alphabet contained only thirty characters, and therefore was much simpler than the syllabary cuneiform of Mesopotamia. Even then, as can be seen from the alphabetic tables found in Ugarit, the order of letters characteristic of the Phoenician alphabet was formed.

However, the future belonged not to the Ugaritic alphabet, but to the linear alphabet, because its letters were suitable for writing on papyrus and leather, and not just clay and stone. Unfortunately, in the humid Lebanese climate, papyrus cannot be preserved for long, so we now have neither the archives of the Phoenician kings - unlike the archives of many other eastern rulers of the Bronze Age - nor the first evidence of the formation of the Phoenician alphabet.

There is still much that is unclear in the history of the linear alphabet. Apparently, its predecessor was pseudo-hieroglyphic biblical writing. At the same time, Ugaritic cuneiform and Phoenician writing were based on the same principle.

Soviet historian A.G. Lundin suggested in this regard that alphabetic linear writing arose around 1500 BC and soon “divided into South Semitic and North Semitic branches, which adopted different alphabetical orders of signs... The Phoenician alphabet evolved from the North Semitic linear alphabet of 27 characters due to the coincidence of a number of sounds language and the disappearance of the five sounds."

For a long time, different writing systems coexisted in Phenicia: Akkadian cuneiform, pseudo-hieroglyphics, linear. It was only towards the end of the 2nd millennium BC that the more accessible Linear script won out.

Its comparative simplicity has led to its widespread use. It began to be used to write various official documents, such as messages that Phoenician kings exchanged with their neighbors, such as Hiram and Solomon. Apparently, temple archives arose where sacred texts were stored, written in alphabetical symbols. It can be assumed that secular historiography also appeared.

At first, any symbol in Ugaritic and Phoenician writing denoted all possible combinations of a certain consonant sound with any vowels: for example, the same symbol denoted such syllables as B(a), B(i), B(u), B(e) and etc. This made it possible to sharply reduce the number of characters. Phoenician Linear writing had only 22 letters. When reading, a vowel that was necessary in meaning was added to each consonant sound. The rules of such writing were easy to understand.

However, this system had its disadvantages. Thus, the absence of vowels in writing was extremely unpleasant. “Even a good knowledge of the language did not always guarantee an accurate understanding of the meaning of a word, because the same combination of consonants could have practically several meanings,” noted I.Sh. Shifman. “Then the Phoenicians decided, if not to designate all the vowels in the letter, then at least somehow signal the reader about how a particular word should be read.”

For the convenience of readers, they invented a system of “auxiliary signs”, which were some letters that were more or less similar in pronunciation to a given vowel sound. Thus, the sound u was denoted by the letter used to convey the consonant sound w, and the sound i was denoted by the letter j. First, the presence of vowels was marked for greater clarity at the end of words, and then in the middle. This is clear from inscriptions found in Syria and dating from the 10th – 9th centuries BC.

Another inconvenience is due to the fact that the Phoenicians over time abandoned the so-called word separators (in our language, their role is played by a space separating words). The earliest inscriptions had vertical lines or dots that marked where a word ended. Starting from the 8th century BC, these icons fell out of use. Now the words in the inscriptions merge with each other. An outsider, not knowing what was being said, could practically not understand where one word ended and another began.

The earliest Phoenician inscriptions known to us date back only to the 11th century BC. Made on arrowheads, they indicated the names of the owners. They were found in the Bekaa Valley and near Palestinian Bethlehem. The five inscribed arrowheads are the most important literary monuments of the 11th century BC. The longest example of early alphabetic writing is the inscription already known to us on the sarcophagus of King Ahiram from Byblos.

The Phoenician alphabet itself appears at the beginning of the Iron Age. The consonant sounds that make it up quite accurately convey the Semitic speech of the Phoenicians. The alphabet letter quickly spread throughout the Syro-Palestinian region. Its various variants began to be used to convey related languages ​​- Aramaic, Moabite and Hebrew. Phoenician writing replaced all local graphic systems. It became widespread in Syria, Palestine and Transjordan. Even an excerpt from the biblical book of Leviticus, written in Phoenician script, was found at Qumran. By the way, the eastern neighbors of the Phoenicians retained their principle of writing only consonants, and both modern Arabic and Hebrew writing are based on this.

Apparently, I.Sh. assumed. Shifman, the rapid spread of linear writing in the first centuries of the 1st millennium BC was due to the fact that the peoples of Western Asia stopped using the Akkadian language, the language of cuneiform, in business correspondence.

The emergence of the alphabet - an easily learned system of written characters - had major social consequences. From now on, writing ceased to be the privilege of special castes of the population (priests, scribes), whose members studied hundreds of hieroglyphs or cuneiform characters for many years. From that time on, it became a common property, which could be owned by both the rich and the poor.

The Phoenician alphabet quickly spread not only in the cities of Phenicia and surrounding countries, but throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. Examples of Phoenician linear writing are found in Cyprus, Rhodes, Sardinia, Malta, Attica and Egypt. Phoenician merchants and colonists carried his skills throughout the then ecumene.

When the Phoenicians penetrated the Aegean Sea basin, the Greeks became acquainted with their alphabet and, realizing its advantages, borrowed it. Apparently, this happened in the 9th century BC. Apparently, the first to adopt the new writing system were the Greeks, who lived on the islands of the Aegean Sea next to the Phoenicians. They did not forget to whom they owe this font, and for quite a long time they called it “Phoenician signs.”

The alphabetic writing, light and simple, replaced the complex Mycenaean syllabary (“Linear B”), which the population of Greece used in the 2nd millennium BC. It contained almost a hundred characters denoting various syllables. This letter was used only by professional scribes. If the Greeks had not abandoned it, the average resident of the polis would hardly have been able to learn to read and write. In that case, great Greek literature would never have been born.

So, we owe its very existence to the quick-witted Phoenicians, who divided human speech into two dozen sounds. If it weren’t for them, the residents of Moscow and New York, London and Paris would have crammed, like Chinese schoolchildren, several hundred hieroglyphs, and this store of knowledge was only enough to read simple articles in newspapers. Now, within a year, any schoolchild can learn to read and write normally.

“Without alphabetic writing,” historians admit, “the rapid development of world writing, science and literature, that is, records of any nature, not constrained by the space of writing material and the slowness of learning writing and reading, would have been impossible.”

For greater convenience, the Greeks supplemented the alphabet with new symbols denoting vowel sounds, adapting it to their language, which is replete with vowels. The Greeks even borrowed the names of letters from the Phoenicians. Thus, the Phoenician “aleph” (ox) turned into “alpha”, “bet” (house) - into “beta” and so on. Thus, the familiar word “alphabet” goes back to the Phoenician language.

Phoenician alphabets

Over time, the Greeks also changed the direction of writing. They began to write from left to right, in contrast to the direction adopted by the Phoenicians and Jews from right to left.

Later, Jews and Arabs also made their own innovations. They began to use special superscript and subscript symbols to indicate vowel sounds. This was done to avoid discrepancies in the sacred texts - the Bible and the Koran.

The Phoenicians themselves, wherever they lived, firmly adhered to their own language and writing, although over time their own dialects appeared in different areas of their settlement. The style of the letters also changed little by little.

The form of their writing became standard by the 1st century BC at the latest. The colonists took this type of letter writing with them to the west. Therefore, classical Phoenician writing was almost the same in all areas of the Mediterranean. It was this form of writing that was adopted by the Greeks, as well as the Etruscans.

Subsequently, in Carthage, on the basis of Phoenician, Punic writing, slightly different in graphics and vocabulary, arose from it. Punic inscriptions dating from the 1st – 2nd centuries BC, as well as the so-called New Punic inscriptions dating from the 2nd century AD, have been preserved.

Phoenician inscription

Monuments of Phoenician writing, belonging primarily to the Carthaginians, can be found in almost all the countries with which they traded. Basically, these are short epitaphs or dedicatory inscriptions on stone, which say little about the political history of their time, about the economic and social life of the Phoenicians and other peoples of the Mediterranean.

Written monuments on the territory of Phenicia itself are extremely rare. These are mainly short dedications, building inscriptions or conspiracies warning against desecration of burials, as well as ostracons - inscriptions on shards. All these texts are written in Linear Phoenician script; they have practically no designations of vowel sounds. Therefore, a special place among the monuments of the Phoenician language is occupied by “vocalized” texts written in the Greek or Latin alphabet. These texts recreate the sound of living Punic speech as it was perceived in a foreign language environment.

There is no doubt that the Phoenicians once had extensive business correspondence, since the mother country maintained contact with its colonies, and merchants apparently wrote down the results of at least some of their transactions, rather than keeping all trade transactions in memory. Thus, when Un-Amon met with Za-kar-Baal, the latter “ordered that the daily records of his fathers be brought. He ordered that they be read out before me” (translated by M.A. Korostovtsev). However, the Phoenicians made similar records, apparently on short-lived materials, and therefore they were not preserved, and we cannot now fully appreciate the full scope of Phoenician trade.

Therefore, when studying the cultural, political and economic life of Phenicia in the 1st millennium BC, one has to rely on the evidence of biblical and ancient authors. Alas, the people who created the first convenient alphabetic system left practically no written sources. We can only reread with sadness the words of Josephus: “From ancient times, the Tyrians have had state chronicles, written and kept with special care.”

The loss of eastern Phoenician books - there were both historical and poetic works - is partially compensated by the finds of Ugaritic texts and literature in the Hebrew language. At the same time, we are practically deprived of rich Carthaginian literature. We have only a few dozen quotes relating to farming, wine making, animal husbandry and beekeeping. They are included in the works of Columella, Pliny, and Varro.

We are somewhat better acquainted with the religious life of the Phoenicians, since the inscriptions contain oaths and curses, as well as the names of gods called upon to monitor the observance of the oath or to punish those who disobey. Phoenician gods and rituals are mentioned in the books of the Old Testament. Greek and Roman writers report on the beliefs of the Phoenicians, their religious traditions and festivals. Some Phoenician deities were especially respected in Carthage, and therefore became famous in the Greco-Roman world. This applies, for example, to Melqart.

However, despite the almost complete absence of Phoenician written monuments, a number of historians are optimistic to a certain extent. Thus, Donald Harden wrote: “One can still hope that valuable archaeological finds will be made in the east, for example, an archive of clay tablets comparable to the Ugaritic one will be discovered. However, in the western colonies of Phenicia it is unlikely that clay tablets or documents will be found to supplement our meager supplies.”

It is impossible not to quote the words of I.Sh. Shifman, sounding like a command to scientists of the 21st century: “Our time is a time of remarkable archaeological discoveries. Excavations at Ras Shamra revealed the Ugaritic language and Ugaritic literature to science. Discoveries off the shores of the Dead Sea provided scientists with numerous, extremely interesting, hitherto unknown monuments of Hebrew writing. It remains only to express the hope that excavations in the sands of the Sahara, in Syria and Lebanon will eventually reveal to us works of Phoenician literature, which will allow us to raise the study of the Phoenician language to a higher level.”

As a matter of fact, the study of the Phoenician language began relatively recently. The first coherent text in the Phoenician language - the Greco-Phoenician bilingual from the island of Malta - was published in 1735 by the commander of the Order of Malta, Guyot de Marne. A more or less correct reading of this monument was proposed only in 1758 by Abbot Barthelemy. In 1837, the first collection of Phoenician texts was published, which was preceded by scattered publications. In 1951, a seminal work on the Phoenician language was published. Its author was the German linguist I. Friedrich, one of the largest modern experts in ancient Eastern languages.

Monuments of Phoenician literature were first published in Russian in 1903 by B.A. Turaev. The works of Russian and Soviet scientists, primarily B.A., occupy an honorable place in world Phoenician studies. Turaeva, I.N. Vinnikova, M.L. Geltser and I.Sh. Shifman. Yu.B. devotes a lot of time and effort to popularizing the forgotten Phoenician culture. Tsirkin.