( Remember the p-sound in Greek is represented by a Pi, while the r-sound is represented by the Rho, which is written like a P.) The letters that the Greeks added to the end of the alphabet were symmetrical, as were some of the others. Note that the modern Alpha is symmetrical, but it wasn't always. Letters that would appear different are Alpha, Beta Β, Gamma Γ, Epsilon Ε, Digamma Ϝ, Iota Ι, Kappa Κ, Lambda Λ, Mu Μ, Nu Ν, Pi π, Rho Ρ, and Sigma Σ. Sometimes the letters were upside down and boustrophedon could be written from up/down as well as from left/right. In alternate lines, the non-symmetric letters usually faced the opposite way. This was called boustrophedon or boustrophedon from the word for βούς bous 'oxen' + στρέφειν strephein 'to turn'. In time they developed a system of circling the writing around and back on itself, like the course of a pair of oxen yoked to a plow. You may see this direction of writing called "retrograde." It was how the Greeks first wrote their alphabet, as well. The writing system adopted from the Phoenicians was written and read from right to left. The Semitic Waw became the Greek Digamma ( voiced labial-velar approximant), which Greek eventually lost, but Latin retained as the letter F. They turned four Semitic consonants, Aleph, He, Yod, and Ayin, into symbols for the sounds of the Greek vowels a, e, i, and o. The number of consonants in the borrowed alphabet was roughly adequate to the Greeks' need for distinguishable consonantal sounds, but the Semitic set of letters included representations for sounds the Greeks didn't have. ![]() ![]() While the Greeks may have been able to find some use for around 22 consonants, vowels were essential, so, ever resourceful, they reassigned the letters. One theory, based on events contemporary with possible dates for the adoption of the Semitic alphabet, is that the Greeks needed vowels in order to transcribe hexametric poetry, the type of poetry in the Homeric epics: The Iliad and The Odyssey. There are surprising theories about why the Greek language needed to have written vowels. In English, among other languages, people can read what we write reasonably well even without the vowels. The Greeks also needed vowels, which their borrowed alphabet didn't have. The Semitic alphabet wasn't quite adequate, though. ![]() The borrowed alphabet had 22 consonantal letters. It is currently believed that the Greeks adopted a West Semitic (from an area where Phoenician and Hebrew groups lived) version of the alphabet, perhaps between 1100 and 800 B.C., but there are other points of view, perhaps as early as the tenth century BC (Brixhe 2004a)"]. We've listed some books and other resources for you to follow if you find the history of the alphabet especially fascinating. The following information on the development of the Greek alphabet should be taken as general background. ![]() As in most disciplines, there is rarely consensus, but there are conventional approaches and widely held theories, as well as intriguing, but hard to verify outliers. Discoveries, usually from archaeology, but more recently from x-ray type technology provide us with new information that may or may not substantiate previous theories. Beyond that, scholars specializing in related areas make educated guesses. Like so much of ancient history, we only know so much.
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