Which civilization is credited with spreading an early alphabet later used by Greeks and Romans?

Which civilization is credited with spreading an early alphabet later used by Greeks and Romans?

• A. Hebrews
• B. Phoenicians
• C. Greeks
• D. Egyptians

Answer: (B)

Writing systems often spread through contact and trade, and the earliest alphabetic system that shaped Greek and Roman scripts came from the Phoenicians. Their 22-sign alphabet, used by traders across the Mediterranean, provided a practical way to write sounds in a compact form. As Phoenician merchants interacted with other cultures, the idea of an alphabet spread, and the Greeks adopted and adapted it—adding vowels to create their own alphabet, which later influenced the Latin alphabet used by the Romans. Hebrews also used a script with Phoenician roots, but the diffusion that reached Greeks and Romans came through Phoenician traders and cultural contact. So, the Phoenicians are the civilization credited with spreading that early alphabet later used by Greeks and Romans.

Writing systems often spread through contact and trade, and the earliest alphabetic system that shaped Greek and Roman scripts came from the Phoenicians. Their 22-sign alphabet, used by traders across the Mediterranean, provided a practical way to write sounds in a compact form. As Phoenician merchants interacted with other cultures, the idea of an alphabet spread, and the Greeks adopted and adapted it—adding vowels to create their own alphabet, which later influenced the Latin alphabet used by the Romans. Hebrews also used a script with Phoenician roots, but the diffusion that reached Greeks and Romans came through Phoenician traders and cultural contact. So, the Phoenicians are the civilization credited with spreading that early alphabet later used by Greeks and Romans.