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Inventing the Alphabet: The Origins of Letters from Antiquity to the Present
The first comprehensive intellectual history of alphabet studies .
Inventing the Alphabet provides the first account of two-and-a-half millennia of scholarship on the alphabet. Drawing on decades of research, Johanna Drucker dives into sometimes obscure and esoteric references, dispelling myths and identifying a pantheon of little-known scholars who contributed to our modern understandings of the alphabet, one of the most important inventions in human history.
Beginning with Biblical tales and accounts from antiquity, Drucker traces the transmission of ancient Greek thinking about the alphabet’s origin and debates about how Moses learned to read. The book moves through the centuries, finishing with contemporary concepts of the letters in alpha-numeric code used for global communication systems. Along the way, we learn about magical and angelic alphabets, antique inscriptions on coins and artifacts, and the comparative tables of scripts that continue through the development of modern fields of archaeology and paleography.
This is the first book to chronicle the story of the intellectual history through which the alphabet has been “invented” as an object of scholarship.
Inventing the Alphabet provides the first account of two-and-a-half millennia of scholarship on the alphabet. Drawing on decades of research, Johanna Drucker dives into sometimes obscure and esoteric references, dispelling myths and identifying a pantheon of little-known scholars who contributed to our modern understandings of the alphabet, one of the most important inventions in human history.
Beginning with Biblical tales and accounts from antiquity, Drucker traces the transmission of ancient Greek thinking about the alphabet’s origin and debates about how Moses learned to read. The book moves through the centuries, finishing with contemporary concepts of the letters in alpha-numeric code used for global communication systems. Along the way, we learn about magical and angelic alphabets, antique inscriptions on coins and artifacts, and the comparative tables of scripts that continue through the development of modern fields of archaeology and paleography.
This is the first book to chronicle the story of the intellectual history through which the alphabet has been “invented” as an object of scholarship.
384 pages, Hardcover
Published July 26, 2022
23 people are currently reading
202 people want to read
About the author
Johanna Drucker
96 books37 followersJohanna Drucker, book artist, visual theorist, and cultural critic, is Martin and Bernard Breslauer Professor in the Department of Information Studies at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 27, 2022
Invention of the alphabet is one the most-important discoveries of our human civilization. The history of alphabetic writing, which is replete with myths and alternate explanations, is generally traced to the fifth century BCE, that is, the time of Herodotus and Socrates. Much has happened in the intervening 2.5 millennia and charting these events was overdue. Key milestones along the way include the much-stressed biblical account (Moses and his stone tablets) and the relatively recent discoveries of hundreds of alphabetic inscriptions in Egypt and Palestine.
In his foundational work, The Histories, Herodotus writes that the Phoenicians brought the alphabet to Greece, and that, over time, the sounds and forms of the letters underwent changes. Drucker supports the view that, inspired by the Phoenician alphabet-based script (itself likely inspired by older occurrences), Greeks living in Phoenicia invented their alphabet, which subsequently spread to the mother country over the period 1000-500 BCE. Discoveries near the end of the 20th century suggest that the first alphabet may have been inspired by the script of ancient Egyptians some 4000 years ago. Debate is still ongoing in this domain and a definitive history of how the alphabet came about remains to be written.
The following 2003 interview with Dr. Drucker ("Art Meets Technology: The History and Effects of the Alphabet") contains a great deal of interesting and useful information about the topic.
https://childrenofthecode.org/intervi...
In his foundational work, The Histories, Herodotus writes that the Phoenicians brought the alphabet to Greece, and that, over time, the sounds and forms of the letters underwent changes. Drucker supports the view that, inspired by the Phoenician alphabet-based script (itself likely inspired by older occurrences), Greeks living in Phoenicia invented their alphabet, which subsequently spread to the mother country over the period 1000-500 BCE. Discoveries near the end of the 20th century suggest that the first alphabet may have been inspired by the script of ancient Egyptians some 4000 years ago. Debate is still ongoing in this domain and a definitive history of how the alphabet came about remains to be written.
The following 2003 interview with Dr. Drucker ("Art Meets Technology: The History and Effects of the Alphabet") contains a great deal of interesting and useful information about the topic.
https://childrenofthecode.org/intervi...
May 19, 2023
Rating is so i don't get recommendations like this. Review is for others: i respect the book but it just wasn't for me. It's more textbooky than i expected and quite a slog to get through. I gave up about halfway through. It's more a collection of names and dates and publications than anything. Just wasn't for me. Might be for you, though!
February 17, 2023
A fascinating journey that explores the origins of the alphabet from classical and biblical associations to devil script, inscriptions found on coins, in tunnels, the biases of researchers. It's a mammoth and informative work. I'm going to talk to Johanna on The Small Machine Talks podcast at the end of February.
July 5, 2024
There are three things that I'd like to say concerning this book, with the first being more of my personal opinion, and the next two being critiques or corrections on some of the information presented.
First, gave the book a rating of 3/5 due to the fact that it reads very much like a textbook and thus lacked the necessary engagement to keep my interest. I read the whole book, nonetheless, though it was harder than I would have wanted since the data presented was overly comprehensive (which is not necessarily bad if we posit that this work should remain as a work of REFERENCE in the academic world only, and not a book to be read and enjoyed by laymen) and somewhat lackluster.
It's more of a historiography, detailing how ancient and modern scholars have approached the subject of who, where, why, and when the alphabet originally came into being. I want to make it clear that the foundation for this work rests upon the HISTORY of alphabet studies, NOT the alphabet itself. Therefore, if you are looking for a work that explains how the alphabet was invented or created, this is certainly not the book for you.
Secondly, though one may think I'm splitting hairs, I would like to point out that on page 296, the author erroneously mentions Korean as being a character-based script. This is not true in the slightest. Korean is written using an alphabetic script called Hangul. Hangul consists of 24 basic letters: 14 consonants and 10 vowels. These letters are combined into syllabic blocks, each representing a syllable, making it appear similar to character-based scripts, but it is fundamentally alphabetic. Putting Korean script (an alphabetic script) alongside Mandarin and Japanese (character-based scripts) is something that should be frowned upon for an author of this caliber given her credentials and extensive research, though I grant that it is relatively minor in its scope of misinformation; thus I will extend grace to Joanna Drucker for a simple mistake.
And thirdly, given the fact that the book is historiographical in nature, it would seem obvious that the author include the various scholars in history who have believed that the alphabet was a Jewish invention. If Drucker points out these men, quoting them and citing their sources, then no harm is done. In fact, the purpose of the book is being fulfilled. My issue arises when Drucker implies that the Bible is inconsistent due to its telling of the story of alphabetic inception.
She begins chapter two ("Divine Gifts") by naming and citing ancient authorities who claimed the Jews invented writing either through Moses and Mount Sinai, or Seth and his pillar. It must be made clear, before further continuance, that the Bible in no way even slightly claims the Jews invented the alphabet, the tablets on Sinai were mankind's first piece of writing, or any other variation of the story that God gave Abraham's descendants an alphabet as a "divine gift" (Drucker does well to make this clear in pages 52-54).
With that point being made, Drucker states in page 41, "If, as the major biblical texts argued, Moses was the first to have writing, and in particular, Hebrew script, from God, then whatever Seth wrote had to be qualified in some way for the Bible to be consistent." I'm afraid her reasoning is invalid, particularly with her claim that this is what "the major biblical texts argued." The Ten Commandments were inscribed on stone tablets by the "finger of God." This implies divine authorship of the commandments themselves, not the invention of writing. Moses wrote down the law and gave it to the Levites to place beside the Ark of the Covenant. This implies the use of writing to preserve and communicate God's law, but, again, not the invention of writing. I can go on with the numerous verses she cited in page 38, but for the sake of the reader, I trust the point has been made.
Again, in page 36, Drucker states that "The passages in the Old Testament are repeatedly cited to explain the origin of the letters." They are cited incorrectly, cited in vain, cited to no end and with no avail, but they are nonetheless cited. Granted, that is something the author and I can both agree on. However, she continues by saying that "Ultimately, [the scholars'] authority rests on grounds of faith. Either one believes in an actual Moses and a Divine gift, or one does not." This is utterly irrational thinking. Why bring the historicity of the alphabet to a mere matter of faith? Essentially, Drucker states that those who believe the Old Testament (Jews, Christians, some Muslims) must accept the origin of the alphabet as something divinely given by God and that it is purely, for them, a matter of faith. This is shamefully wrong for two reasons: (1) The Bible does NOT give an explicit history on alphabet origins; which follows that (2) those who believe the Bible because of (i) physical evidence, (ii) logic and reason, (iii) internal consistency, (iv) historical reliability, and/or (v) faith are by no means obligated to adhere to a divine story for the alphabetical genesis. This is what Drucker seemingly implies and could not be further from the truth.
In conclusion, before anyone claims the Bible is foolish or inconsistent because of its account on the genesis of letters, it may do them well to realize first the foolishness of their claim that the Bible even HAS an account on the genesis of letters. Then perhaps we could do away with strawmanning the Biblical position on the alphabet's inception for good, as well as strawmanning those who believe the Old and/or New Testaments of Scripture.
First, gave the book a rating of 3/5 due to the fact that it reads very much like a textbook and thus lacked the necessary engagement to keep my interest. I read the whole book, nonetheless, though it was harder than I would have wanted since the data presented was overly comprehensive (which is not necessarily bad if we posit that this work should remain as a work of REFERENCE in the academic world only, and not a book to be read and enjoyed by laymen) and somewhat lackluster.
It's more of a historiography, detailing how ancient and modern scholars have approached the subject of who, where, why, and when the alphabet originally came into being. I want to make it clear that the foundation for this work rests upon the HISTORY of alphabet studies, NOT the alphabet itself. Therefore, if you are looking for a work that explains how the alphabet was invented or created, this is certainly not the book for you.
Secondly, though one may think I'm splitting hairs, I would like to point out that on page 296, the author erroneously mentions Korean as being a character-based script. This is not true in the slightest. Korean is written using an alphabetic script called Hangul. Hangul consists of 24 basic letters: 14 consonants and 10 vowels. These letters are combined into syllabic blocks, each representing a syllable, making it appear similar to character-based scripts, but it is fundamentally alphabetic. Putting Korean script (an alphabetic script) alongside Mandarin and Japanese (character-based scripts) is something that should be frowned upon for an author of this caliber given her credentials and extensive research, though I grant that it is relatively minor in its scope of misinformation; thus I will extend grace to Joanna Drucker for a simple mistake.
And thirdly, given the fact that the book is historiographical in nature, it would seem obvious that the author include the various scholars in history who have believed that the alphabet was a Jewish invention. If Drucker points out these men, quoting them and citing their sources, then no harm is done. In fact, the purpose of the book is being fulfilled. My issue arises when Drucker implies that the Bible is inconsistent due to its telling of the story of alphabetic inception.
She begins chapter two ("Divine Gifts") by naming and citing ancient authorities who claimed the Jews invented writing either through Moses and Mount Sinai, or Seth and his pillar. It must be made clear, before further continuance, that the Bible in no way even slightly claims the Jews invented the alphabet, the tablets on Sinai were mankind's first piece of writing, or any other variation of the story that God gave Abraham's descendants an alphabet as a "divine gift" (Drucker does well to make this clear in pages 52-54).
With that point being made, Drucker states in page 41, "If, as the major biblical texts argued, Moses was the first to have writing, and in particular, Hebrew script, from God, then whatever Seth wrote had to be qualified in some way for the Bible to be consistent." I'm afraid her reasoning is invalid, particularly with her claim that this is what "the major biblical texts argued." The Ten Commandments were inscribed on stone tablets by the "finger of God." This implies divine authorship of the commandments themselves, not the invention of writing. Moses wrote down the law and gave it to the Levites to place beside the Ark of the Covenant. This implies the use of writing to preserve and communicate God's law, but, again, not the invention of writing. I can go on with the numerous verses she cited in page 38, but for the sake of the reader, I trust the point has been made.
Again, in page 36, Drucker states that "The passages in the Old Testament are repeatedly cited to explain the origin of the letters." They are cited incorrectly, cited in vain, cited to no end and with no avail, but they are nonetheless cited. Granted, that is something the author and I can both agree on. However, she continues by saying that "Ultimately, [the scholars'] authority rests on grounds of faith. Either one believes in an actual Moses and a Divine gift, or one does not." This is utterly irrational thinking. Why bring the historicity of the alphabet to a mere matter of faith? Essentially, Drucker states that those who believe the Old Testament (Jews, Christians, some Muslims) must accept the origin of the alphabet as something divinely given by God and that it is purely, for them, a matter of faith. This is shamefully wrong for two reasons: (1) The Bible does NOT give an explicit history on alphabet origins; which follows that (2) those who believe the Bible because of (i) physical evidence, (ii) logic and reason, (iii) internal consistency, (iv) historical reliability, and/or (v) faith are by no means obligated to adhere to a divine story for the alphabetical genesis. This is what Drucker seemingly implies and could not be further from the truth.
In conclusion, before anyone claims the Bible is foolish or inconsistent because of its account on the genesis of letters, it may do them well to realize first the foolishness of their claim that the Bible even HAS an account on the genesis of letters. Then perhaps we could do away with strawmanning the Biblical position on the alphabet's inception for good, as well as strawmanning those who believe the Old and/or New Testaments of Scripture.
Read
August 31, 2023Few technologies are as important to our daily lives as the alphabet. But, as Johanna Drucker argues, we rarely give its history any thought at all. Despite its title, her book is not about the invention of the alphabet per se, but about how people have thought about its invention. The alphabet has been continually reinvented by each generation of thinkers in a story that meanders from Herodotus to the present day, via Jewish mystics, Arabic scholars, early modern typographers and 18th-century antiquarians.
As Drucker writes, the idea that the Greeks invented the alphabet is deeply ingrained in modern thought. But this is the opposite of what the Greeks themselves thought; they were clear that it was borrowed. From the Greek perspective, the alphabet was invented either by the Phoenicians and given to the Greeks by Cadmus (this is the account given to us by Herodotus) or invented by the Egyptian god Thoth (as in the account of Plato). Other Greek descriptions tend to riff on either or both of these basic narratives. For most of the 19th and 20th centuries scholarship lauded the ‘genius’ of the Greeks for adding vowels to the existing consonantal alphabet used by the Phoenicians. Only recently has it begun to describe the birth of the Greek alphabet as a process of cultural contact, borrowing and collaboration.
Inventing the Alphabet raises all of the questions that have vexed historians. The Bible presents insoluble problems. If God wrote the Ten Commandments for Moses, what language were they in? What alphabet? If it was the first ever written text, how did Moses know how to read it? These questions led early modern thinkers to develop an intense interest in Hebrew and other Semitic languages. But Drucker also shows how incomplete each generation’s information was. Knowledge of inscriptions and coins was very limited in the early modern period, which meant that the Hebrew alphabet known in Europe was the elegant ‘square’ script rather than the Palaeo-Hebrew script used in the earliest part of antiquity. This was, therefore, how they imagined Hebrew to have been written in the distant past as well.
Read the rest of the review at HistoryToday.com.
Katherine McDonald is Assistant Professor in Classics at the University of Durham.
As Drucker writes, the idea that the Greeks invented the alphabet is deeply ingrained in modern thought. But this is the opposite of what the Greeks themselves thought; they were clear that it was borrowed. From the Greek perspective, the alphabet was invented either by the Phoenicians and given to the Greeks by Cadmus (this is the account given to us by Herodotus) or invented by the Egyptian god Thoth (as in the account of Plato). Other Greek descriptions tend to riff on either or both of these basic narratives. For most of the 19th and 20th centuries scholarship lauded the ‘genius’ of the Greeks for adding vowels to the existing consonantal alphabet used by the Phoenicians. Only recently has it begun to describe the birth of the Greek alphabet as a process of cultural contact, borrowing and collaboration.
Inventing the Alphabet raises all of the questions that have vexed historians. The Bible presents insoluble problems. If God wrote the Ten Commandments for Moses, what language were they in? What alphabet? If it was the first ever written text, how did Moses know how to read it? These questions led early modern thinkers to develop an intense interest in Hebrew and other Semitic languages. But Drucker also shows how incomplete each generation’s information was. Knowledge of inscriptions and coins was very limited in the early modern period, which meant that the Hebrew alphabet known in Europe was the elegant ‘square’ script rather than the Palaeo-Hebrew script used in the earliest part of antiquity. This was, therefore, how they imagined Hebrew to have been written in the distant past as well.
Read the rest of the review at HistoryToday.com.
Katherine McDonald is Assistant Professor in Classics at the University of Durham.
October 25, 2024
While the subject matter is interesting, I didn't think a historiography warrants quite so long of a book. The earlier chapters came across as a list of scholars without much sense of why they are important to us today. That said, the last chapter was quite fascinating in its discussion of how the historical origins of the alphabet have been used in arguments of racial or cultural superiority. (Also I cannot stand by a book about inventing the alphabet without a single mention of hangul. 😤)
March 16, 2023
This was too dense and academic for me, but the reproductions of comparative lists of alphabets was mostly what I was looking for, and this did not disappoint.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews