AP World History 2012-2013
  • Unit 1
    • 1.1.3: Tools and Adaptation>
      • Case Study
      • AGMSPRITE Analysis
    • 1.3.9 & 1.3.2: New Religions & Geographies of Early Civs.>
      • Early Religions>
        • AGMSPRITE Analysis
        • Works Cited
      • The Early Civilizations>
        • Case Study
        • AGMSPRITE Analysis
        • Works Cited
    • 1.1.2: Humans and Fire>
      • 1.1.4: Economic Structures>
        • Case Study
        • AGMSPRITE Analysis
      • Case Study
      • AGMSPRITE Analysis
    • 1.3.6: Arts & Record Keeping>
      • Arts and Artisanship
      • Systems of Recordkeeping
      • Case Study: The Phoenician Alphabet
      • AGMSPRITE Analysis
    • 1.3.1-1.3.3: Early Culture & Systems of Rule>
      • Culture's Effects
      • Systems of Rule
      • Case Study: Hammurabi's Code
      • AGMSPRITE Analysis
    • 1.1-1.4 Early Human Innovation>
      • 1.1.1: Human Patterns of Migration>
        • Case Study
        • AGMSPRITE Analysis
    • 1.2.1-1.2.3: The Climate & The Neolithic Era>
      • Case Study
      • AGMSPRITE Analysis
    • 1.2.5-1.2.6: Reliable Food Sources & Innovation>
      • Case Study - The Plow
      • Works Cited
    • 1.3.1-1.3.2: Pastoralists & Early Architecture>
      • Introduction
      • Monumental Architecture And Urban Planning
      • Pastoralist Weapon Dissemination And Transportation
      • Pastoralist Tools
      • Basic
      • AGMSPRITE Analysis
      • Works Cited
  • Unit 2
    • 2.2.5-2.2.7 Social Hierarchy and Gender Roles>
      • Gender Roles>
        • Case Study
        • AGMSPRITE Analysis
      • Social Hierarchies >
        • AGMSPRITE
    • 2.2.4 Cities>
      • Trade>
        • Trade AGMSPRITE
        • Trade Case Study
      • Religious Rituals>
        • Religious Rituals AGMSPRITE
        • Religious Rituals Case Study
      • Public Administration>
        • Public Administration AGMSPRITE
        • Public Administration Case Study
    • 2.2.2 Orchestration of the Persian and S. Asian Empires>
      • Persia>
        • Imperial Administration and Legal Systems
        • Military Power
        • Trade and Economic Integration and Regulation
        • AGMSPRITE Analysis
      • South Asia>
        • Imperial Administration and Legal Systems
        • Military Power
        • Trade and Economic Integration and Regulation
        • AGMSPRITE Analysis
    • 2.2.2 Orchestration of Rome and China>
      • China>
        • Imperial Administration
        • Military Power
        • Trade and Economics
        • AGMSPRITE Analysis
      • Rome>
        • Imperial Administration
        • Military Power
        • Trade and Economics
        • AGMSPRITE Analysis
    • 2.2.1: Growth of Empires & States>
      • Case Study
      • AGMSPRITE
    • 2.1.6 Cultures Of Second Wave Civilizations>
      • Sculptures
      • Architecture
      • Literature
      • A.G.M.S.P.R.I.T.E
      • Sources
    • 2.1.1: Religions as a Bonding Force>
      • The Basic Gist
      • AGMSPRITE Analysis
      • Case Study
    • 2.1.4 Buddhism and Hinduism Impact on Gender Roles>
      • Buddhism
    • 2.1.2 The Emergence of Religions>
      • Christianity
      • Confucianism
      • Greco-Roman Philosophy
      • Daoism
      • AGMSPRITE
  • Unit 3
    • 3.1.1 Third Wave Global Trade Routes>
      • Basic Gist
      • Case Study
      • AGMSPRITE Analysis
    • 3.1.2 The Impact of trade on emerging trading cities>
      • Basic Gist
      • Case Study
      • AGMSPRITE Analysis
    • 3.1.3. Spread of Islam Through Afro-Eurasia>
      • Basic Gist
      • Case Study
      • AGMSPRITE
    • 3.1.4 Inter-Regional Travelers >
      • The Basic Gist
      • Compare and Contrast
      • AGMSPRITE Analysis
    • 3.1.5. Cultural Interactions and Art>
      • The Basic Gist
      • Cultural Traditions AGMSPRITE
      • Art AGMSPRITE
      • Literature AGMSPRITE
      • Case Study
    • 3.1.6: The Impact of Newly Spread Technologies and Scientific Knowledge>
      • Basic Gist
      • Movement of Gunpowder from East to West
      • Movement of Printing from East to West
      • AGMSPRITE Analysis
    • 3.1.7 Inter-Regional Conflicts>
      • Case Study
      • AGMSPRITE Analysis
  • Unit 4
    • 4.1.1. - Influence of Tools Upon Transoceanic Trade>
      • Basic Gist
      • Case Study
      • AGMSPRITE
    • 4.1.2: Maritime Reconnaissance>
      • Basic Gist
      • AGMSPRITE Analysis
    • 4.1.3 World Economies>
      • Basic Gist
      • AGMSPRITE analysis
      • Case Study
    • 4.1.4 The Colossal Impact of the Colombian Exchange>
      • Basic Gist
      • Case Study on Sugar
      • AGMSPRITE Analysis of the East
      • AGMSPRITE Analysis of the West
    • 4.1.5 Government and the Arts>
      • Case Study
      • AGMSPRITE
    • 4.2.3 Forced Migration of Africans Cause and Effect>
      • Basic Gist
      • Causes of the forced migration of Africans
      • Effects/Developments of the forced migration of Africans
      • AGMSPRITE Analysis
    • 4.3.2 Impact of Technology on state consolidation and imperial expansion>
      • Basic Gist
      • Case Study
      • AGMSPRITE
  • Unit 5
    • 5.3.1 US and Latin American Revolutions >
      • Basic Gist
      • Case Study
      • AGMSPRITE
    • 5.3.2b Hatian Revolution>
      • Basic Gist
      • AGMSPRITE
    • 5.3.2a: Causes and Effects of French Revolution>
      • Causes of the French Revolution
      • Effects of the French Revolution
      • AGMSPRITE
    • 5.3.2c Causes and Effects of the Mexican Revolution>
      • Basic Gist
      • Causes of the Mexican Revolution
      • Effects of the Mexican Revolution
      • AGMSPRITE Analysis
    • 5.3.3: The Winds of Change>
      • Case Study
      • The Conception of Nation-States
      • Nationalism on the Rise
      • AGMSPRITE Analysis
    • 5.3.4 Nationalism and Democracy >
      • Case Study
      • AGMSPRITE
      • 5.3.5 Enlightenment and European Despots>
        • Basic Gist
  • Unit 6
    • War and Peace in a Global Context>
      • Big Gist>
        • WWI vs WWII
      • Case Study
      • AGMSPRITE
    • Changing Economics>
      • Basic Gist
      • AGMSPRITE
      • Case Study
      • Case Study
      • AGMSPRITE
    • Demographic and Environmental Changes>
      • Basic Gist
      • Case Study
      • AGMSPRITE Analysis
    • 20th Century Globalization>
      • Basic Gist
      • Case Study
      • AGMSPRITE
    • Effects of Revolutions on Women>
      • Basic Gist
      • Case Study
      • AGMSPRITE
    • New Patterns of Nationalism >
      • Basic Gist
      • Independence of Vietnam Case Study
      • Effects of Communism Case Study
      • Chinese and Russian Revolutions
      • AGMSPRITE
    • Globalization of Science, technology and culture. >
      • Basic Gist
      • Case Study
      • AGMSPRITE

The Phoenician Alphabet

 Phoenician Trade

Picture
Map of common Phoenician trade routes.

  

The Phoenician civilization was situated along the western coast of the Fertile Crescent. Because of its location on the Mediterranean coast, now modern-day Lebanon, Phoenician influence spread to various parts of Africa, Europe, and the Middle East through trade.

The Phoenicians were expert sailors, and traded with many civilizations. They recorded trade in cuneiform, but needed a more effective and accurate system of record keeping. Around the 15th century B.C., they created an alphabet that consisted of 22 consonants and no vowels. Unlike cuneiform, the Phoenician alphabet was easier to learn, write and understand. Soon, other civilizations adopted it.

                                                      Society and the Alphabet

While the Phoenician alphabet was easier to learn than cuneiform, many people were still illiterate. Reading and writing was limited to merchants, traders, scribes, priests, kings, and wealthy people. In most cases, only men were taught to read and write. The ability to read and write showed a degree of wealth, class, power, and status. It was not until modern times that it became more common for both men and women to be literate.

In societies, having one common language made it easier for people to communicate with one another; thus making the society more efficient. With the new found efficiency the civilizations could grow and prosper like never before, spreading their influence over a greater area.

The Greek Alphabet

Picture
Greek version of the Phoenician alphabet.
Phoenician sea traders often traded a valued purple clothing dye, carved ivory, colorful glass, textiles, and metal jewelry with the Greeks. The Phoenicians not only took with them goods, but also their alphabet.

When the Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, they added vowels to it. The amount of intellect in the Greek society made the alphabet a bigger achievement than with the Phoenicians. Philosophers and other intellectuals such
as Socrates, Plato, Euclid, Hippocrates, and Pythagoras were able to record their achievements using the alphabet, making their thoughts and discoveries easier to understand and more well-known. Also, literature by Homer such as the Illiad and the Odyssey were written using this alphabet, making the material simpler to understand and easy to translate.

The Greeks were not the only ones to adopt the Phoenician alphabet. The Etruscans, and later the Romans, also adopted it.


Picture
The Latin alphabet.

                The Roman Alphabet

Early Rome was ruled by the Etruscans. As Rome became sovereign, it experienced various cultural exchanges with Greece through trade and war. One such exchange was of the alphabet.

The Romans, like the Greeks, modified the Phoenician alphabet. Overtime, the adapted Roman alphabet became known as the Latin alphabet, which became the base of modern of various alphabets used today.

Rome's biggest acccomplishment was its great expasnsion and continuously conquering land. It is easier to acquire people into one's civilization if there is an efficient way to communicate their intentions.

The English Alphabet

The modern-day English alphabet is a descendant of the Phoenician alphabet. After many modifications made by the Greeks, the Romans, and others, it became what we know today. The efficiency of the alphabet system allowed its existence to surpass the majority of the other forms of recordkeeping. The alphabet's easy-to-use quality has made it easier for others throughout history to adjust to and adapt it into their own culture.
Picture
The English alphabet.

Works Cited

"Phoenician Alphabet Origin." Phoenician.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2012. <http://www.phoenician.org/alphabet.htm>.
"Phonetic Alphabet." Madison Clarke's Porfolio. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2012. <http://madisonclarke.wordpress.com/2011/03/page/2/>.
"The Latin Alphabet." N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2012. <http://mysite.du.edu/~etuttle/classics/latalph.htm>.
"The Phoenician Alphabet." N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2012. <http://suite101.com/article/the-phoenician-alphabet-a39076>.
"Latin Alphabet." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Apr. 2012. Web. 05 Oct. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_alphabet>.
"(13) The Origin of Alphabets and the Languages of the World." N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2012. <http://www.encyclopediaofauthentichinduism.org/articles/13_the_origin_of.htm>.
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