Homer and the Origin of the Greek Alphabet

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ISBN: 9780521589079 | 052158907X
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 10/28/1996

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Who invented the Greek alphabet and why? The purpose of this challenging book is to inquire systematically into the historical causes that underlay the radical shift from earlier and less efficient writing systems to the use of alphabetic writing. The author reaches the conclusion that a single man, perhaps from the island of Euboea, invented the Greek alphabet specifically in order to record the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer.

List of figures

page xiii

(1)

List of tables

xiv

(1)

Acknowledgements

(1)

Abbreviations

xvi

(3)

A note on terms and phonetic transcriptions

xix

(1)

Chronological charts

(2)

Maps

xxii

Foreword: Why was the Greek alphabet invented?

(4)

1 Review of criticism: What we know about the origin of the Greek alphabet

(63)

Phoenician origins

(5)

Single introduction by a single man

(2)

The place of adaptation

(6)

The date of transmission

(2)

The moment of transmission

(12)

The names of the signs

(6)

The sounds of the signs

(4)

The vowels

(4)

The problem of the sibilants

(2)

The problem of the supplemental XXX X XXX

(15)

The adapter's system

(3)

Summary and conclusions

(2)

2 Argument from the history of writing: How writing worked before the Greek alphabet

(51)

Elements in the art of writing

(7)

How logo-syllabic writing works: Egyptian hieroglyphic

(13)

How syllabic writing works: the Cypriote syllabary

(12)

How syllabic writing works: Phoenician

101

(4)

Summary and conclusions

105

(14)

3 Argument from the material remains: Greek inscriptions from the beginning to c. 650 B.C.

119

(68)

The lack of semantic devices in early Greek writing

119

(4)

I. "Short" Greek inscriptions from the beginning to c. 650 B.C.

123

(35)

II. "Long" Greek inscriptions from the beginning to c. 650 B.C.

158

(23)

Conclusions

181

(6)

4 Argument from coincidence: Dating Greece's earliest poet

187

(34)

I. What dates does archaeology give for objects, practices, and social realities mentioned in Homer?

190

(17)

II. Is there anything about the language of the Iliad and the Odyssey that can be dated?

207

(1)

III. What are the earliest outside references to Homer?

208

(9)

IV. Homer's date in ancient tradition

217

(2)

Conclusions: the date of Homer

219

(2)

5 Conclusions from probability: how the Iliad and Odyssey were written down

221

(17)

Writing and traditional song in Homer's day

221

(10)

Conclusions

231

(7)

APPENDIX I: Gelb's theory of the syllabic nature of West Semitic writing

238

(8)

APPENDIX II: Homeric references in poets of the seventh century

246

(3)

Definitions

249

(5)

Bibliography

254

(23)

Index

277

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Homer and the Origin of the Greek Alphabet

Summary

Table of Contents

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Homer and the Origin of the Greek Alphabet

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

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