You may have already learned by studying the civilizations of the eastNext (that is, peoples who developed in Asia Minor, such as the Persians and the Hebrews) Phoenician civilizationit was one of those that expanded the most, reaching regions along the Mediterranean Sea, such as the island of Cyprus, and northwestern Africa, where they built the city of Cartago.
Such expansion occurred due to the great capacity for navigation and commercial articulation that these peoples had. These activities, however, required them to have effective ways of controlling the storage and flow of goods. O alphabetPhoenician, Or the writingPhoenician, was born of that need.
Navigating and trading required complex knowledge, such as cartography, mathematics and astronomy, especially at the time of the Phoenicians (around 1200 BC. Ç.). Based on this knowledge, the Phoenicians systematized a writing composed of simplified phonetic characters. There were a total of 22 characters (see top image), or letters, each equivalent to a different sound. The combination of these characters enabled the formation of words, which made communication more practical, especially when compared to other forms of writing, such as Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Despite having systematized this first model of phonetic alphabet, the Phoenicians were not the first to create characters that corresponded to specific sounds. the written call proto-sinaitic it existed centuries before the Phoenicians made their alphabet.
Despite still being written in hieroglyphics, Proto-Sinaitic already established a connection between the symbolic character and a specific sound, around 1400 BC. Ç. The first document to testify to this type of writing was found in 1905, in the Serabit-el-Hkadem Plateau region, by the archaeologist F.W.M. Petri. It was a sphinx dedicated to the goddess Hathor.
Centuries later, the Phoenician alphabet became the main writing model for classical civilizations such as Greeks and Romans. Among these, Latin, which became the official language of the Roman Empire and, later, of Europe as a whole – until the time of the Rebirth, was the main alphabetic language of the West, given that national languages such as Portuguese, French, Italian and Spanish were derived from it.
Centuries later, the Phoenician alphabet became the main writing model for classical civilizations such as Greeks and Romans. The latter developed the Latin language, which became the official language of the Roman Empire and, later, of Europe as a whole – having been in force until the time of the Rebirth. Thus, the Latin it was constituted as the main alphabetic language of the West, given that national languages such as Portuguese, French, Italian and Spanish were derived from it.
*Image credits: commons
Take the opportunity to check out our video lesson related to the subject: