Editing 2nd millennium BC (section)

==Languages==
{{More citations needed section|date=April 2024}}
{{see|Bronze Age writing}}
[[File:Treaty of Kadesh.jpg|180px|thumb|The [[Treaty of Kadesh|Kadesh peace agreement]]—on display at the [[Istanbul Archaeology Museum]]—is believed to be the earliest international agreement ]]In the history of the [[Egyptian language]], the early 2nd millennium saw a transition from [[Old Egyptian language|Old Egyptian]] to [[Middle Egyptian language|Middle Egyptian]]. As the most used written form of the Ancient Egyptian language, it is frequently (incorrectly) referred to simply as "[[Hieroglyphics]]".

The earliest attested [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European language]], the [[Hittite language]], first appears in [[Hittite cuneiform|cuneiform]] in the 16th century BC ([[Anitta text]]), before disappearing from records in the 13th century BC. Hittite is the best known and the most studied language of the extinct [[Anatolian languages|Anatolian branch]] of Indo-European languages.

The first [[Northwest Semitic languages|Northwest Semitic language]], [[Ugaritic]], is attested in the 14th century BC. The first fully phonemic script [[Proto-Sinaitic script|Proto-Canaanite]] developed from Egyptian hieroglyphs, becoming the [[Phoenician alphabet]] by 1200 BC. The Phoenician alphabet was spread throughout the Mediterranean by Phoenician maritime traders and became one of the most widely used writing systems in the world, and the parent of virtually all alphabetic writing systems. The Phoenician language is also the first [[Canaanite languages|Canaanite language]], the Northwest Semitic languages spoken by the ancient peoples of the [[Canaan]] region: the [[Israelites]], [[Phoenicians]], [[Amorites]], [[Ammon]]ites, [[Moabites]] and [[Edomites]].

[[Mycenaean Greek]], the most ancient attested form of the [[Greek language]], was used on the Greek mainland, [[Crete]] and [[Cyprus]] in the [[Mycenaean period]].