Editing Literacy (section)

===Alphabetic writing===
According to social anthropologist [[Jack Goody]], there are two interpretations regarding the origin of the alphabet. Many classical scholars, such as historian [[Ignace Gelb]], credit the Ancient Greeks for creating the first alphabetic system ({{circa|lk=no|750 BCE}}) that used distinctive signs for consonants and vowels. Goody contests:
{{blockquote|The importance of Greek culture of the subsequent history of Western Europe has led to an over-emphasis, by classicists and others, on the addition of specific [[vowel]] signs to the set of [[consonant]]al ones that had been developed earlier in Western Asia.<ref name="Goody-1987">{{Cite book |last=Goody |first=Jack |title=The interface between the written and the oral |year=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-33268-2 |edition=Repr. |pages=40–51}}</ref>}}

Many scholars argue that the [[ancient Semitic-speaking peoples]] of northern [[Canaan]] invented the [[Abjad|consonantal alphabet]] as early as 1500 BCE. Much of this theory's development is credited to English archeologist [[Flinders Petrie]], who, in 1905, came across a series of Canaanite inscriptions in the turquoise mines of [[Serabit el-Khadem]]. Ten years later, English Egyptologist [[Alan Gardiner]] reasoned that these letters contain an alphabet as well as references to the Canaanite goddess [[Asherah]]. In 1948, [[William F. Albright]] deciphered the text using new evidence, including a series of inscriptions from [[Ugarit]]. Discovered in 1929 by French archaeologist [[Claude F. A. Schaeffer]], some of these inscriptions were mythological texts (written in an early Canaanite dialect) that consisted of a 30-letter [[cuneiform]] consonantal alphabet.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ras Shamra Tablet Inventory |url=https://voices.uchicago.edu/rsti/iug/introduction/ |access-date=2023-12-22 |website=voices.uchicago.edu}}</ref>

Another significant discovery was made in 1953 when three arrowheads were uncovered, each containing identical Canaanite inscriptions from 12th century BCE. According to [[Frank Moore Cross]], these inscriptions consisted of alphabetic signs that originated during the transitional development from pictographic script to a linear alphabet. Moreover, he asserts, "These inscriptions also provided clues to extend the decipherment of earlier and later alphabetic texts".<ref name="Cross-1980">{{Cite journal |last=Cross |first=Frank Moore |title=Newly Found Inscriptions in Old Canaanite and Early Phoenician Scripts |journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research |year=1980 |volume=238 |issue=Spring, 1980 |pages=1–20 |doi=10.2307/1356511 |jstor=1356511 |s2cid=222343641}}</ref>

The Canaanite script's consonantal system inspired alphabetical developments in later systems. During the Late [[Bronze Age]], successor alphabets appeared throughout the [[Mediterranean Basin|Mediterranean]] region and were used in [[Phoenician language|Phoenician]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], and [[Aramaic]].<ref name=":0" />

According to Goody, these cuneiform scripts may have influenced the development of the Greek alphabet several centuries later. Historically, the Greeks contended that their writing system was modeled after the Phoenicians. However, many Semitic scholars now believe that [[Ancient Greek]] is more consistent with an early form  of Canaanite that was used {{circa|lk=no|1100 BCE}}. While the earliest Greek inscriptions are dated circa 8th century BCE, [[Epigraphy|epigraphical]] comparisons to [[Proto-Canaanite]] suggest that the Greeks may have adopted the consonantal alphabet as early as 1100 BCE and later "added in five characters to represent vowels".<ref name="Goody-1987" />

Phoenician, which is considered to contain the first linear alphabet, rapidly spread to Mediterranean port cities in northern Canaan.<ref name="Cross-1980" /> Some archeologists believe that Phoenician influenced the Hebrew and Aramaic alphabets, as these languages evolved during the same time period, share similar features, and are commonly categorized into the same language group.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McCarter |first=P. Kyle |date=September 1974 |title=The Early Diffusion of the Alphabet  |journal=The Biblical Archaeologist |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=54–68 |doi=10.2307/3210965 |jstor=3210965 |s2cid=126182369 |issn=0006-0895}}</ref>

When the Israelites migrated to Canaan between 1200 and 1000 BCE, they adopted a variation of the Canaanite alphabet. [[Baruch ben Neriah]], Jeremiah's scribe, used this alphabet to create the later scripts of the [[Old Testament]]. The early Hebrew alphabet was prominent in the Mediterranean region until [[Neo-Babylonian]] rulers exiled the Jews to [[Babylon]] in the 6th century BCE. It was then that the new script ([[Square Hebrew]]) emerged, and the older one rapidly died out.<ref name="Goody-1987" />

The [[Aramaic alphabet]] also emerged sometime between 1200 and 1000 BCE. Although early examples are scarce, archeologists have uncovered a wide range of later Aramaic texts, written as early as the seventh century BCE. In the [[Near East]], it was common to record events on clay using the [[cuneiform]] script; however, writing [[Aramaic]] on leather parchments became common during the [[Neo-Assyrian]] empire. With the rise of the [[Persians]] in the 5th century BCE, [[Achaemenid]] rulers adopted Aramaic as the "diplomatic language".<ref name="Goody-1987" />

[[Darius the Great]] standardized Aramaic, which became the [[Imperial Aramaic]] script. This Imperial Aramaic alphabet rapidly spread: west, to the Kingdom of Nabataea, then to the [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai]] and [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabian]] peninsulas, eventually making its way to Africa; and east, where it later influenced the development of the [[Brahmi script]] in India. Over the next few centuries, Imperial Aramaic script in Persia evolved into [[Pahlavi scripts|Pahlavi]], "as well as for a range of alphabets used by early [[Turkish peoples|Turkish]] and [[Mongol]] tribes in [[Siberia]], [[Mongolia]] and [[Turkestan]]".<ref name="Goody-1987" /> During this period, literacy spread among the merchant classes, and 15-20% of the total population may have been literate.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}}

The Aramaic language declined with the spread of [[Islam]], which was accompanied by the spread of [[Arabic]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-09-06 |title=The growth and decline of the Aramaic language |url=https://apnews.com/article/3ea7983eb9ad49f089fbccc27d8a1206 |access-date=2023-12-22 |website=AP News}}</ref>