Syria, Mesopotamia, and the Origins of the Alphabet
New potentially Early Alphabetic finds from Umm al-Marra (Syria) and Sealand (Mesopotamia) require a reanalysis of traditional out-of-Egypt hypotheses of alphabetic origins. The present article considers the problems new discoveries introduce for traditional understandings of alphabetic invention an...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Western Academic Press
2023
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| In: |
Maarav
Year: 2023, Volume: 27, Issue: 1/2, Pages: 1-38 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Alphabet
/ Umm el-Marra
/ Levant (Nord)
/ Hieroglyphus
/ Sinai
|
| IxTheo Classification: | BH Judaism HB Old Testament |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | New potentially Early Alphabetic finds from Umm al-Marra (Syria) and Sealand (Mesopotamia) require a reanalysis of traditional out-of-Egypt hypotheses of alphabetic origins. The present article considers the problems new discoveries introduce for traditional understandings of alphabetic invention and proposes to overcome these problems by endorsing a northern Levantine context for the Early Alphabet’s initial adaptation from Egyptian hieroglyphs and its earliest usage. This proposal is contextualized among—and arguably supported by consideration of—other scribal experiments in the Levant during the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Maarav
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1086/727576 |