The Development of the Greek Alphabet within the Chronology of the ANE

The Development of the Greek Alphabet within the Chronology of the ANE Andrew Cross University of Calgary November 29, 2009 The transition from a pictogram based writing system to the alphabet transformed societies by bringing literacy to the masses. Pictogram based writing systems such as Egyptian hieroglyphics used more than 400 signs to represent syllables or objects, many of which had multiple uses. Such a complex writing system required many years of study to gain literacy. With the invention of the alphabet, one needed only to learn 22 signs, each representing a phoneme. The shift from pictograms to the alphabet resulted in the democratization of writing; a change that is reflected in the types of inscriptions found. For example, not a single graffito exists in Linear B, a pictograph based writing system, whereas most of the early Archaic Greek inscriptions are graffito.