The alphabet has its origins in ancient writing systems developed independently in Egypt and Mesopotamia, including hieroglyphics and cuneiform, which represented words rather than individual sounds. The Phoenicians developed the first true alphabet around 3500 BC, using symbols to represent consonant sounds. The Greeks later adapted this alphabet, adding vowels, and their alphabet is the origin of our term. The Latin alphabet descended from the Greek through the Etruscans and Romans, and ultimately spread throughout Europe as the Roman Empire fell.

1. ORIGINS OF ALPHABETS

2. Although we call it the Latin
alphabet, and it has a Greek
name, the alphabet actually has
far older origins

4. Egypt, Sumeria and the Origins of Writing
• Writing began is ancient Mesopotamia
and ancient Egypt.
• Both writing systems were developed
independently, and they are very
different from each other.
• Neither of the systems incorporated a
true alphabet, the majority of symbols
were used to identify whole words or
multiple symbols.

5. Cuneiform
Cuneiform is the system of writing
developed by the ancient Sumerians,
between 3500 and 3100 BC. Sumeria
was one of the first civilisations to
develop in the world. It resided in the
area of what is now Iraq. Thei system
consisted of wedge shaped marks made
with the edge of a stylus pressed into
clay. The clay would then be baked so
the marks could not be removed.
“Cuneiform” is a Greek word meaning
“wedge‐shaped”.

6. Hieroglyphs
The ancient Egyptians, another of the first civilisations, developed a very
different system of writing than the Sumerians. It was developed about the
same time as Cuneiform, but involved tiny pictures or glyphs which were used
to represent words.

7. The Phoenicians and the First Alphabet
The developers of the first true alphabet
were the Phoenicians. The Phoenicians
originate from the coast of the
Mediterranean, in what is now Lebanon.
They were a trading and seafaring
culture, and had contact with both the
Egyptians and the Sumerians.
The Phoenicians symbols did not
represent entire words though, but
single syllables.
The original Phoenician alphabet
consisted of 22 letters, none of which
were vowels.

8. The Greek Alphabet
It is from the Greeks that we get our
name for the word “alphabet”. It comes
from the first 2 letters of their alphabet,
Alpha and Beta.
The Greeks were the first to introduce
vowels into the alphabet.

9. The Latin Alphabet
The Etruscan peoples if Italty picked up
the alphabet from the Greeks, in about
the 7th Century BC, and from the
Etruscans it ultimately came to the
Romans.
The Roman Empire collapsed in the 5th
Century AD, but it’s alphabet would
remain. The illiterate barbarians who
conquered the remains of the Roman
Empire would ultimately adopt its
alphabet as they developed their own
written languages.

10. Your task, should you
accept it
Gather information and design an
“Alphabet Timeline”.
This will be an informational graphic
poster, A3 in size.
Start from the very earliest form of the
alphabet (Cuneiform and Hieroglyphics)
and continue the timeline to the current
alphabet used today.