Evolution of the Alphabet 



gram writing. The pictogram embraces signs representing 

 words, the idiogram representing ideas, and the phonogram 

 representing sounds. The Egyptians invented and pre- 

 served, in all, approximately seventeen hundred of these 

 hieroglyphs. 



The cuneiform systems of writing consisted of wedge- 

 shaped, arrow-headed characters that were inscribed on clay 

 tablets, cylinders and monuments and doubtless on less 

 enduring substances which were in use in Babylon, Assyria, 

 Mesopotamia and, in fact, in all the nations of Western 

 Asia. There were many forms of these writings and they 

 served as a means of communication among these ancient 

 peoples for a period of more than 5,000 years. The decrees 

 of some of the ancient kings were written in inscriptions rep- 

 resenting three languages showing that the cuneiform sys- 

 tem had variations of form among the different nations. 

 This system was, so far as we know, the first step above the 

 pictograph system of communication. It was finally aban- 

 doned and supplemented by the more advanced, flexible and 

 comprehensive means of expression afforded by the alpha- 

 bet. After the alphabet came into being, the use of the 

 cuneiform system became obsolete. These wedged-shaped 

 characters served a large part of mankind as a medium of 

 recording his doings and achievements for a period covering 

 about one-half of all recorded history. The tragic thing 

 that happened to this system was that after it went into 

 disuse, the meaning and use of these characters was lost and 

 for a period of more than 1,600 years, no one was able to 

 understand or interpret them. 



[63I 



