Phoenician alphabet

The Phoenician alphabet, called by convention the Proto-Canaanite alphabet for inscriptions older than around 1050 BC, is the oldest verified alphabet. The Phoenician alphabet contains 22 letters, all of which are consonants, and is described as an abjad, with matres lectionis being used for some vowels in certain late varieties. It was used for the writing of Phoenician, a Northern Semitic language, used by the civilization of Phoenicia.

The Phoenician alphabet is derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs and became one of the most widely used writing systems, spread by Phoenician merchants across the Mediterranean world, where it evolved and was assimilated by many other cultures. The Paleo-Hebrew alphabet was directly derived from Phoenician. Another derivative script is the Aramaic alphabet, which was the ancestor of the modern Arabic script. The Modern Hebrew script is a stylistic variant of the Aramaic script. The Greek alphabet (and by extension its descendants such as the Latin, the Cyrillic, and the Coptic) was also derived from Phoenician.

Lost history

Many significant locations, cultures/groups, and objects throughout history have been lost, inspiring archaeologists and treasure-hunters around the world to search for them. The existence of some of these places or items, particularly those from ancient history, is legendary and remains in doubt. Excluded from these lists are lost works—literary, historical, or mythological writings which have no current complete copies but are referenced by their contemporaries.

Previously lost