The Lascaux Cave,

17000 BC.
Haljesta-Scandinavia,
Nordic Bronz Age
an ideogram
The Ancient Egypt
hieroglyphs consisted
pictographs (e.g. man,
woman), ideographs
(e.g. circle/light/time;
eye/seeing), and also
phonetic symbols. But
writing just with
phonetic symbols was
to be invented by
Phoenicians around
1000 BC.
Aleph (means Ox) Phoenician - Aleph - "Ah" Greek - Alpha
c. 1200 BC c. 800 BC
Αα Alpha
Ββ Beta
Γγ Gamma
∆δ Delta
Εε Epsilon
Ζζ Zeta
Ηη Eta
Θθ Theta
Ιι Iota
Κκ Kappa
Λλ Lambda
Μµ Mu
Νν Nu
Ξξ Xi
Οο Omicron
Ππ Pi Boustrophedon
Ρρ Rho “how the ox ploughs”
Σσ Sigma Phenicians wrote from left to right,Greeks developed
Ττ Tau a writing system that used both directions.

Υυ Upsilon
Φφ Phi
Χχ Chi
Ψψ Psi
Ωω Omega
Greeks added vovels to the Phonecian alphabet.
Αα Aa unchanged from Greek
Ββ Bb revised
Γγ Cc, Gg added
∆δ Dd
Εε Ee
Ζζ Zz
Ηη Hh
Θθ th
Ιι Ii, Jj
Κκ Kk
Λλ Ll
Μµ Mm
Νν Nn
Ξξ Xx (ksi)
Οο Oo The letters U and V were declared as
Ππ Pp separate letters officially in 1762.
Ρρ Rr
Σσ Ss The letter J was split from I in mid 16th c.
Ττ Tt Until then the two letters were interchangeable.
Dutch printers were first to use J and I separately,
Υυ Yy, Ff, Vv, Uu, Ww, that’s why J was called an “I from Holland.”
Φφ ph
Χχ Xx W came from Germanic languages of the Middle Ages.
Ψψ ps The sound was indicated by double U (UU).
In the 12th c. two v’s were joined to form a single letter.
Ωω o,ö
Qq (from Koppa)
The adoption of
the Latin alphabet,
and Turkish letters.
 breve

cedilla

trema

diacritical marks