Phoenician Alphabet

The 22-letter consonantal ancestor of nearly every alphabet in the world.

Core Principles & Analysis

• Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic scripts all descend from it.
• Its letter names — aleph, beth, gimel — became alpha, beta, gamma.
• Spread by Phoenician traders across the Mediterranean from about 1050 BC.

Specifications & Metrics

• TYPE: Abjad