The previous two nights were spent at Passover seders telling the tale of the Exodus, when the Hebrew peoples left Egypt and were freed as slaves.
On this week's episode of the Naked Archeologist on the History Channel, Simcha Jacobovici explores the new idea that Semite slaves in Egypt invented the first alphabet and the brought it with them as they traveled from Egypt to Canaan. New archaeological findings in a cave in The Valley of Terror and also in Egypt in another cave where turquoise was mined seem to support that the written alphabet that uses sounds (phonetic) rather than pictographs (such as Hieroglyphics) to communicate ideas.
The original written languages were image based. Some of those images suggested letters, such as the letter used to mean eye finally becomes the English letter “o”. It seems sounds that the new phonetic letters represented were often the first sound of the pictogram they depicted. For instance the Hebrew letter ‘beit” resembles a house and is even shares the same name! “Beit” also means house in Hebrew.
Much of this episode of the Naked Archaeologist stems from a new book by David Sachs, Letter Perfect . Where I live the show came on shortly after the close of the second day of Passover, which is celebrated in the Diaspora (outside of Israel). So the story of the Exodus is still fresh in my mind. The ramifications of the idea that ancient Semitics in Egypt, who seem to be those 12 tribes of Semitics that Moses led from Egypt invented the first alphabet are numerous, and make a great deal of sense.
From the early writings in the caves it is clear that the laborers, not their Egyptian overseers could read and write this new phonetic language. This means that they could communicate with each other plans and orders over distances scratching or painting of small rocks, papyrus, even cloth, etc. This would account for how such a vast number of people were all organized so quickly and efficiently not only to leave Egypt but to eat the lamb, stay indoors and place the blood of the lamb over their door posts. The messages of what to do were not garbled or confused if they were written down!
If the Hebrew slaves could read and write their languages how Moses could easily order the vast number of people through the desert, through their assigned tribal leaders also seems clear. We easily recall the image of Moses coming down from the Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments on the tablets, but how could he have accomplished this if the writing of phonetic languages, including Hebrew first appear in Canaan years later? Obviously, it makes sense if those Semitics, the Hebrews, bring a phonetic written language to Canaan.
If the Twelve Tribes carry the first phonetic alphabet and language out of Egypt they carry with them another new kind of freedom: freedom of communication and language. With a phonetic language the common man can easily learn to read and write. In fact, the phonetic Hebrew letters have been used by the Jews to read and write in many of the languages they have spoken in the Diaspora throughout the world.
I can fairly easily write English using the Hebrew letters because they are phonetic. And another person who speaks English and knows the sounds of the letters can easily decode what I wrote. This is not much different than transliterating the sounds of Hebrew words into English as English is phonetic and we may not understand the Hebrew but we can join in by reading the transliteration out loud.
Historians and have know for a long time that the seafaring Phoenicians later spread the use of an alphabet. We derive the word phonetically from their name. Then the Greeks add vowels to the alphabet, as before the vowels (and in Hebrew still are) added by memory.
Currently 4.8 billion people use phonetic languages.
For me as an artist who uses the Hebrew letters for every stroke in a painting this means that now language has come full circle. I am using the letters to create images, more intricate and layered images often using Torah font and often original texts from the Torah (Pentateuch) itself.
I am a great fan of the
Naked Archaeologist (Here's link also written out: http://www.visiontv.ca/NakedArchaeologist/who_is_he.htm) Simcha Jacobovici is a much awarded documentary filmmaker, who brings ancient history alive. I highly recommend catching this show and his films. At the very least they are fun and thought provoking. David Sachs'
Letter Perfect can be purchased through a link to Amazon on the Naked Archaeologist's site.
