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History Of The Greek Alphabet
The history of the Greek alphabet starts with the adoption of Phoenician letter forms in the 9th–8th centuries BC during early Archaic Greece and continues to the present day. The Greek alphabet was developed during the Iron Age, centuries after the loss of Linear B, the syllabic script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek until the Late Bronze Age collapse and Greek Dark Age. This article concentrates on the development of the alphabet before the modern codification of the standard Greek alphabet. The Phoenician alphabet was consistently explicit only about consonants, though even by the 9th century BC it had developed '' matres lectionis'' to indicate some, mostly final, vowels. This arrangement is much less suitable for Greek than for Semitic languages, and these ''matres lectionis'', as well as several Phoenician letters which represented consonants not present in Greek, were adapted according to the acrophonic principle to represent Greek vowels consistently, if ...
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NAMA Alphabet Grec
Nama or NAMA may refer to: Biology * NAMA (gene), a long non-coding RNA gene * ''Nama'' (plant), a genus of plants in the family Boraginaceae * N-Acetylmuramic acid, a component of bacterial cell walls * North American Mycological Association, a learned society devoted to mushrooms and other fungi Companies * Nama Chemicals, a Saudi Arabian industrial company * Nama (department store), a chain of department stores in Slovenia and a chain of department stores in Croatia Food * Nama bīru, Japanese term for draught beer * Nama (wine), used by the Greek Orthodox in the Divine Liturgy Geology * Nama Group, group of stratigraphic sequences in Namibia * Nama assemblage, final Ediacaran biotic assemblage Politics * National Asset Management Agency, Irish government agency dealing with land and property development loans * Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action, policies regarding greenhouse gas emissions * Non-Agricultural Market Access, the question of non-agricultural ...
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Euboea
Euboea ( ; , ), also known by its modern spelling Evia ( ; , ), is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete, and the sixth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait (only at its narrowest point). In general outline it is a long and narrow island; it is about long, and varies in breadth from to . Its geographic orientation is from northwest to southeast, and it is traversed throughout its length by a mountain range, which forms part of the chain that bounds Thessaly on the east, and is continued south of Euboia in the lofty islands of Andros, Tinos and Mykonos. It forms most of the regional unit of Euboea, which also includes Skyros and a small area of the Greek mainland. Name Like most of the Greek islands, Euboea was known by other names in antiquity, such as ''Macris'' (Μάκρις) and ''Doliche'' (Δολίχη) from its elongated shape, or ''Ellopia'' (after El ...
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Cypriot Syllabary
The Cypriot or Cypriote syllabary (also Classical Cypriot Syllabary) is a syllabary, syllabic script used in Iron Age Cyprus, from about the 11th to the 4th centuries BCE, when it was replaced by the Greek alphabet. It has been suggested that the script remained in use as late as the 1st century BC. A pioneer of that change was King Evagoras I, Evagoras of Salamis, Cyprus, Salamis. It is thought to be descended from the Cypro-Minoan syllabary, itself a variant or derivative of Linear A. Most texts using the script are in the Arcadocypriot Greek, Arcadocypriot dialect of Greek language, Greek, but also one bilingual, the Amathus bilingual, a Greek and Eteocypriot language, Eteocypriot, was found in Amathus. Origin It is thought that the Cypriot syllabary is derived from the Cypro-Minoan syllabary; the latter is thought to be derived from the Linear A script, and certainly belongs to the circle of Aegean script (other), Aegean scripts. The most obvious change is the dis ...
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Kition
Kition (Ancient Greek: , ; Latin: ; Egyptian: ; Phoenician: , , or , ;) was an ancient Phoenician and Greek city-kingdom on the southern coast of Cyprus (in present-day Larnaca), one of the Ten city-kingdoms of Cyprus. Name The name of the city comes from the Phoenician (, pronounced Kitiya). This name was borrowed into Ancient Greek as () and thence into Latin as . History During the Late Bronze Age, the area was settled by Mycenaean Greeks who exploited the local copper deposits. This settlement was destroyed around 1200 BC but rebuilt soon after. The new town was rebuilt on a larger scale; its mudbrick city wall was replaced by a cyclopean wall. Around 1000 BC, the religious part of the city was abandoned, although life seems to have continued in other areas as indicated by finds in tombs. Literary evidence suggests an early Phoenician presence also at Kition which was under Tyrian rule at the beginning of the 10th century BC. Some Phoenician merchants who we ...
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City-state
A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world throughout history, including cities such as Rome, Carthage, Athens and Sparta and the Italian city-states during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, such as Florence, Venice, Genoa and Milan. With the rise of nation states worldwide, there remains some disagreement on the number of modern city-states that still exist; Singapore, Monaco and Vatican City are the candidates most commonly discussed. Out of these, Singapore is the largest and most populous, and is generally considered to be the last real city-state left in the world, with full sovereignty, international borders, its own currency, a robust military, and substantial international influence in its own right. ''The Economist'' refers to it as the "world's only fully functioning city-state". Several non-sovereign cities enjoy a ...
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Fayum Alphabet
The Fayum alphabet is an Ancient Greek abecedary inscribed on four copper plates, purportedly found in Fayum, Egypt but made in Cyprus. It may preserve the earliest form of the Greek alphabet. It is the only known Greek abecedary which ends in the letter tau (Τ), as does the ancestral Phoenician alphabet; all other Greek abecedaries have at least the addition of non-Phoenician upsilon (Υ). See also *History of the Greek alphabet *Dipylon inscription The Dipylon inscription is a short text written on an ancient Greek pottery vessel dated to . It is famous for being the oldest, or one of the oldest, known samples of the use of the Greek alphabet. The text is scratched on an ''oenochoe'', whic ... References External linksThe Schøyen Collection (MS 108 The Earliest Greek Alphabet) photograph of one of the tablets, with history Greek alphabet Faiyum {{AncientGreek-lang-stub ...
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Cyme (Aeolis)
Cyme () or Cumae was an Aeolians, Aeolian city in Aeolis (Asia Minor) close to the kingdom of Lydia. It was called Phriconian, perhaps from the mountain Phricion in Aeolis, near which the Aeolians had been settled before their migration to Asia. The Aeolians regarded Cyme as the largest and most important of their twelve cities, which were located on the coastline of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). As a result of their direct access to the sea, unlike most non-landlocked settlements of the ancient world, trade is believed to have prospered. Location Both the author of the ''Life of Homer (Pseudo-Herodotus), Life of Homer'' and Strabo the ancient geographer, locate Cyme north of the Hermus river on the Asia Minor coastline: After crossing the Hyllus, the distance from Larissa to Cyme was 70 stadia, and from Cyme to Myrina was 40 stadia. (Strabo: 622) Archaeological finds such as coins give reference also to a river, believed to be that of the Hyllus. History Early his ...
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Hermodike I
Hermodike I has been attributed with inventing the Greek written script, i.e. the transfer of earlier technical knowledge from Phrygia into ancient Greek society through Aeolis. She is referred to by Aristotle. The same name was given as Demodike by Pollux. Academics state that Aristotle and Pollux, though ancient commentators, were not historians and so their unsubstantiated opinions may be misleading. Other historians have given the name as Hermodice or Damodice. Hermodike I was the daughter of a dynastic Agamemnon of Cyme and became the wife of Midas, king of Phrygia, who came to the throne in 738 BCE, or alternatively Gyges of Lydia, who was referred to as King Midas (680–644 BCE) after giving the Oracle at Delphi six gold bowls (extracted from the Pactolus river). She is described as "a woman distinguished by beauty and wisdom". She is the ancestor of Hermodike II, who has been attributed with inventing Greek coinage. Linguistic history Most specialists believe tha ...
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Nestor's Cup (Pithekoussai)
Nestor's Cup is an eighth century BC wine cup discovered in 1954 in the San Montano cemetery associated with the ancient trading site of Pithekoussai in Magna Graecia, on Ischia, an island in the Gulf of Naples (Italy). The cup has a three-line inscription, one of the earliest surviving examples of writing in the Greek alphabet. It is currently held by the on Ischia. The cup was originally made in the eastern Aegean, either on the island of Rhodes or in northern Ionia. The inscription was scratched into it after its manufacture, possibly during a communal drinking event known as a symposium. It was found by Georgio Buchner in 1954 in a cremation grave dating to the end of the eighth century, which contained the remains of three adults as well as burnt animal bones, a fibula and fragments of other vessels. The interpretation of the cup's inscription is controversial, particularly as concerns the reconstruction of a lacuna in its first line. At least fifteen possible reconstruct ...
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Dipylon Inscription
The Dipylon inscription is a short text written on an ancient Greek pottery vessel dated to . It is famous for being the oldest, or one of the oldest, known samples of the use of the Greek alphabet. The text is scratched on an ''oenochoe'', which was found in 1871 and is named after the location where it was found, the ancient Dipylon Cemetery, near the Dipylon Gate on the area of Kerameikos in Athens. The jug is attributed to the Late Geometrical Period (750–700 BC). It is now in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens (inv. 192). Text The text is written in an archaic form of the Greek alphabet, with some letter shapes still resembling those of the original Phoenician alphabet. For example, the Greek letter zeta (Ζ) resembles the Phoenician letter zayin (I). The text is written from right to left, with the individual letters mirror-shaped in comparison with the modern forms. It is placed in a circle around the shoulder of the vessel. The text consists of 46 characters, ...
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Epigraphy
Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the writing and the writers. Specifically excluded from epigraphy are the historical significance of an epigraph as a document and the artistic value of a literature, literary composition. A person using the methods of epigraphy is called an ''epigrapher'' or ''epigraphist''. For example, the Behistun inscription is an official document of the Achaemenid Empire engraved on native rock at a location in Iran. Epigraphists are responsible for reconstructing, translating, and dating the trilingual inscription and finding any relevant circumstances. It is the work of historians, however, to determine and interpret the events recorded by the inscription as document. Often, epigraphy and history are competences practised by the same person. Epigraphy is ...
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Dipylon Inscription
The Dipylon inscription is a short text written on an ancient Greek pottery vessel dated to . It is famous for being the oldest, or one of the oldest, known samples of the use of the Greek alphabet. The text is scratched on an ''oenochoe'', which was found in 1871 and is named after the location where it was found, the ancient Dipylon Cemetery, near the Dipylon Gate on the area of Kerameikos in Athens. The jug is attributed to the Late Geometrical Period (750–700 BC). It is now in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens (inv. 192). Text The text is written in an archaic form of the Greek alphabet, with some letter shapes still resembling those of the original Phoenician alphabet. For example, the Greek letter zeta (Ζ) resembles the Phoenician letter zayin (I). The text is written from right to left, with the individual letters mirror-shaped in comparison with the modern forms. It is placed in a circle around the shoulder of the vessel. The text consists of 46 characters, ...
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