The Early Alphabet (™) in Third Millennium Syria? Or, Spelling it Out, Lightly Baked Edition

06/01/2025 54 min Episodio 105
The Early Alphabet (™) in Third Millennium Syria? Or, Spelling it Out, Lightly Baked Edition

Listen "The Early Alphabet (™) in Third Millennium Syria? Or, Spelling it Out, Lightly Baked Edition"

Episode Synopsis

Some lightly baked clay cylinders from a late third millennium tomb in Syria have alphabetic markings. They’ve got us thinking. Does this mean -the- alphabet originated hundreds of years earlier than we thought? What is -the- alphabet anyway? Why did we think we understood any of this? Who, in fact, is lightly baked in this scenario? 

More episodes of the podcast This Week in the Ancient Near East