Early History of the Alphabet. An Introduction to West Semitic Epigraphy and Palaeography

COVER......Page 1
TITLE PAGE......Page 4
COPYRIGHT......Page 5
CONTENTS
......Page 6
PREFACE to the First Edition......Page 8
PREFACE to the Second Edition......Page 10
I. INTRODUCTION......Page 12
1. Inscriptions and Manuscripts......Page 13
2. Epigraphy and Palaeography......Page 16
3. The Development of Scripts and Script Styles......Page 17
4. Semitic Languages and Scripts......Page 19
a. Sumerian cuneiform writing......Page 24
b. Egyptian hieroglyphic scrip......Page 25
c. The Hittite "hieroglyphic" script......Page 29
d. The Cretan script......Page 30
e. Undeciphered scripts in Syria-Palestine......Page 32
2. The Beginnings of the Alphabet......Page 34
III. THE SOUTH SEMITIC SCRIPTS......Page 54
1. The Phoenician Script......Page 64
2. The Hebrew Script......Page 76
3. The Aramaic Script......Page 89
4. Comparative Aspects of the Phoenician, Hebrew and Aramaic Scripts......Page 100
5. The Scripts of Israel's Neighbours......Page 111
6. The Change from Hebrew to Jewish Script......Page 123
V. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE LATER ARAMAIC OFFSHOOTS......Page 136
1. Aramaic Writing in the Iranian World......Page 138
2. The Aramaic Script in the East......Page 143
a. The South Mesopotamian branch......Page 144
b. The North Mesopotamian branch......Page 149
c. The Palmyrene-Syriac branch......Page 154
3. The Nabataean Script and the Rise of the Arabic Script......Page 164
4. The Jewish Script......Page 173
VI. THE ANTIQUITY OF THE GREEK ALPHABET......Page 186
ABBREVIATIONS......Page 198
Figures......Page 200
Plates......Page 208
INDEX......Page 214
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS......Page 224
PLATES......Page 234