- published: 17 Sep 2008
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The Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC (the 8th century BC). The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega. The Greek alphabet was derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, from which it differs by being the first alphabet that provides a full representation of one written symbol per sound both for vowels as well as consonants. The Greek alphabet in turn is the ancestor of numerous other European and Middle Eastern scripts that follow the same structural principle, among them Cyrillic and Latin.
The Greek alphabet reached its classical form around 400 BC, with some details, including the use of diacritic marks, becoming fixed only during the following centuries of the Hellenistic and Roman period. The sequence of letters has remained unchanged since then up to the present day, although the sound values of individual letters have changed considerably due to phonological changes between ancient and modern Greek. While it was originally written with only a single, majuscule form for each letter, the Greek alphabet developed a second set of letter forms, the minuscule letters, during the Middle Ages, resulting in the modern system of uppercase and lowercase forms.