The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-10-28
ORIGIN OF THE ALPHABET.
Nsniiicance OF Ancient Tablets
Found in the Ruins
OF knossos.

IN my excavation OF the prehistoric
palace at Knossos ! came upon a ser
les OF deposits OF clay tablets. reure-
senting the royal archives, the lnsrrip-
lions on which belong TO two distinct avs
TENS OF wrtttng-ona hierogiyphlc and
quasi-pictoviai; the other for the most mart
linear and much more highly developed.
or these the h~ieroglyphic class especially
presents a ssries OF forms answering to
what. according TO the names OF the
FhDenfctan letters, we must suppose TO
have been the original pictorial designs
from which these. too. were derived, A
series OF eon1ectursl reconstructions Of the
originals of the Phoenician letters on this
line were, In fact. drawn out by my faith
sr. SIR John Evans, for a lecture on the
origin % the alphabet. given al the Royal
institution. In 1872. and Il may be satd
that two-thirds OF these resemble almost
line for line actual forms OF cretan hter-
osiyphics, The cSnead tAlephl. the house
ulsth), the window 0tel. the neg CyauA
the fence tchethl. the hand (yodl. seen
sideways and the open palm (Kaph1: the
fish (Nuni. the post or trunk tSamekhss
the eye Ainl; the mouth Uel; the teeth
tShtnli the cFnss-siRn cTaul; not TO speak
81 several ether probable examples, are all
literally reproduced
The analogy thus supplied IL, indeed,
overwhelming. II is impossible 20 halleve
that wale on enc side Of the East Medit-
srfanean basin these aiphabetlc proto-
types were naturally evolving them
selves. the people GA the opposite shore
were arriving at the same result. by a
complicated pTeerss and transformation OF
a sarie@ az hierstio Egyptian slgns derived
from cutie different eh3eets
Tho A~nalazs with the crsisn hisroxly-
rhse form certainly weighs ssrpnsiy in
favor % the sfmfle and natural explana.
FfNu AZ sNA t4YHa&r ~ Skm VnNaAwNAFm- -
tcEs which was held fran the time Of
0eFeriHa eNwards ara Was only disturbed
by the extremely Ingenious. though ever.
elaborate theory % p~ Ronge
Whether, however. the phoenicgar let.
isTs er rather their pictorial originals.
we're actually selected froEl the csetAn
characters. T. a different question ana
aa tsis ] wished TO express myself more
Enardeily The correspondence are n
deed 40 striklas that tAsy certainly seem
20 point t@ 81 isast. 4 generic connection
thupSA y furn AZ least. the raaers
bead ae& neck QtimeN must have leen
a3opssd or Syrian sell
what I veatsred 80 suggest a. the
Bradford mcetiuE was that TIE points
II ~ecmmunity might - ultimately ex-
plaiaeA ~ the powerful settlemeas Of ths
Aegean island ara peoples 0a the coast
q Canaan. represented BY tsa Phglstln~x
and the abiding narae 81 Palestine The
biblical traditions wlscA gave AZ least
part % them the name Of kvFetAlra or
crstans. have eSen Fesentiy confirmed hy
an Important piece OF Egyptian eVtdenee
g0ing FAR 10 show that kRphtSr. whence
they t-rsdftienaiiy came. Is the sArae as
the insriaT realm Of the kefts, the CHIEF
Representatives Of Myseaassn culture %
eighteenth Dynasty The pro-
ion4ed sa5uTn 81 the CAphtogim or phr-
lwtinss, in their new home, would lfSe.s
explain sec absorption Of local elements
among the hlevoxlyphie forms that they
had originally Brought sven. We knew