XIII.] THE CAUCASIC PEOPLES. 495 



and the peculiar language and character of the race must have 

 been first developed in the growing civilization which preceded 

 the ancient Minrean Empire, probably as the later Stone Age was 

 passing into that of metal 1 ." 



It should be mentioned that the Minaean script, often described 

 as a modified form of Phoenician, reveals on the contrary a writing 

 system more primitive than the oldest extant Phoenician letters. 

 It is on this ground that Sayce asks whether the Phoenician itself 

 may not be derived from the Minaean (rather than from the 

 Egyptian hieroglyphs) as often assumed but never proved, or from 

 the Cretan syllabary, as above suggested. The Minaean language 

 is by far the most primitive member of the Semitic family, and 

 Sayce shows that its characters afford a better explanation of the 

 names of the Phoenician letters than do the hieroglyphs. Thus 

 aleph, "ox," presents in Minasan the outlines of an ox's head, but 

 bears no resemblance to any of the Egyptian symbols used for a 2 . 

 Should this view be confirmed, Semitic origins must be set still 

 further back to give time for the slow evolution of the Minasan 

 script from the assumed pictorial prototypes to the already highly 

 conventionalised forms of the oldest known inscriptions. 



It is noteworthy that the Amorites, unless they are to be 

 identified with the Hittites, have always played a 

 very subordinate part amongst the Semitic peoples. A^ites. 

 Their territory was properly that part of Syria which 

 lay north of what was afterwards Palestine, although the name was 

 extended by the Babylonians to the whole of Canaan. At a very 

 early date the Amorites had also, though apparently only as 

 peaceful settlers, reached Babylonia, where they had a colony at 

 Sippara, and were able to hold high offices in the state (Pinches). 

 After the Hebrews had migrated from this region ("Ur of Chaldaea") 

 to Canaan (South Syria), the two peoples were often at war, but 

 were sometimes also allies, engaged in international courtesies and 

 "covenants," as in i Kings xx. 34, where we read that the kings 

 of Israel and Syria severally " made streets " for their subjects in 



1 Human Origins, p. 94. 



2 Later, rejecting Mr Evans's suggested Cretan theory, Sayce declares his 

 present belief to be "that the Phoenician alphabet came from Arabia" 

 (Academy, Aug. 29, 1896, p. 149). 



