The birth of the alphabet (hypotheses, myths and legends)

The emergence of the alphabet is a controversial subject for which there are only more or less well-founded hypotheses. To find out more, read David Dieringer's book (DIRINGER, 1948). We agree with this author on the essential point: the alphabet is indeed a key that marks the history of humanity, like the birth of Jesus: there is a "before" and an "after". In this article, we put forward the hypothesis that the alphabet was formed at the beginning of the Bronze Age, during the period of intense commercial interaction, when, before becoming a writing tool, it was first used for accounting (in the form of alphabetical numbering). It is logical to think that the new skills (agriculture and animal husbandry), which provided more food than the tribes needed to survive, led them to trade. This led to the emergence of new skills for quantifying, negotiating and trading surplus production. When trade took on an "international" dimension, a common accounting system had to be invented so that the whole world could agree on sales in a single system. We call it the "ancestor" of the alphabet and believe that it was born with the appearance of the first farmers (in Anatolia) who, following the demographic explosion, migrated in search of farmland in all directions (southwards and northwards), taking it with them wherever they went. We believe that this 'ancestor' is at the origin of three cradles of writing: in the Balkans, Egypt and Mesopotamia. We are putting forward our hypothesis, which also has the right to exist, like others, based on archaeological artefacts. Conclusion: The history of the alphabet is closely linked to the history of trade and the geopolitical situation. The Phoenician version of the alphabet was widespread when the Phoenicians controlled international trade. It was replaced by the Greek alphabet around the time of the Iron Age, when we find our Antikythera machine logically using Greek alphabetic numeration (except of three letters).