Where did the ancient alphabet originate? What was the first alphabet The very first alphabet in the world

The first writing was symbolic - pictographic or hieroglyphic. It originated from primitive drawings, which can be called proto-writing. In the 9th millennium BC, the remains of stones with pictographic writing, presumably belonging to one of the cultures of Near Asia, were found in Syria. Chinese is very ancient: its history began approximately in the 6th millennium BC, and it is from this time that inscriptions on turtle shells, consisting of ancient hieroglyphs, date back.

Hieroglyphic writing was complex; it was necessary to memorize a huge number of characters that related to different words and concepts. Such writing had nothing to do with the sound structure of the language. For a long time, there was no need for a more simplified version of writing; this art was rarely required; only a few mastered it.

First alphabet

The ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphic writing, but by 2700 BC, due to the development of trade and agriculture, the need for a more simplified writing arose. The first one appeared: to designate the language, they took a set of 22 hieroglyphs, which made up . Scientists also found 23 hieroglyphs - perhaps they conveyed a certain vowel sound. This system was not the most widespread, hieroglyphs continued to exist, and the new alphabet was used to convey auxiliary words, grammatical structures and foreign borrowings.

Later, a similar alphabet began to be used in Canaan; it is called Semitic; it consisted of Egyptian hieroglyphs and several new characters.

Phoenician letter

The first alphabet is often called the Phoenician alphabet, since it was in Phenicia, the ancient Canaanite state, that sound notations began to be used everywhere. It consisted of 22 letters, which also denoted only consonants. Their writing came from ancient Greek hieroglyphs, but was slightly modified. The Phoenicians wrote from right to left with special ink on clay shards.

Phenicia was located near the sea, many trade routes intersected here, so the alphabet quickly began to penetrate other Mediterranean countries. This is how Aramaic, Greek and other alphabets arose, on the basis of which the writing of many modern languages ​​originated.

The importance of writing in the development of mankind is difficult to overestimate. Even in that era, when there was no trace of the alphabet, ancient people tried to express their thoughts in the form of rock inscriptions.
ABC of Elisabeth Boehm

First they drew figures of animals and humans, then - various signs and hieroglyphs. Over time, people managed to create easy-to-understand letters and put them into an alphabet. Who was the creator of the Russian alphabet? To whom do we owe the opportunity to express ourselves freely through writing?

Who laid the foundation of the Russian alphabet?

The history of the appearance of the Russian alphabet dates back to the 2nd millennium BC. Then the ancient Phoenicians came up with consonant letters and used them for quite a long time to compose documents.

In the 8th century BC, their discovery was borrowed by the ancient Greeks, who significantly improved the letter by adding vowels to it. Subsequently, it was the Greek alphabet, with the help of which statutory (solemn) letters were compiled, that formed the basis of the Russian alphabet.

Who created the Russian alphabet?

In the Bronze Age, Eastern Europe was inhabited by pre-Slavic peoples who spoke the same language.

Primer Slavonic writings of the Greatest Teacher B. Hieronymus of Stridon
Around the 1st century AD, they began to break up into separate tribes, as a result of which several states inhabited by the Eastern Slavs were created in these territories. Among them was Great Moravia, which occupied the lands of modern Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, partly Ukraine and Poland.

With the advent of Christianity and the construction of temples, people had a need to create a writing system that would allow them to record church texts. To learn to write, the Moravian prince Rostislav turned to the Byzantine emperor Michael III for help, and he sent Christian preachers Cyril and Methodius to Moravia. In 863, they came up with the first Russian alphabet, which was named after one of the preachers - the Cyrillic alphabet.

Who are Cyril and Methodius?

Cyril and Methodius were brothers originally from Thessaloniki (now Greek Thessaloniki). In those days, in their hometown, in addition to Greek, they spoke the Slavic-Thessalonica dialect, which formed the basis of the Church Slavonic language.

Initially, Cyril’s name was Konstantin, and he received his middle name just before his death, having taken a monastic vow. In his youth, Constantine studied with the best Byzantine teachers of philosophy, rhetoric, and dialectics, and later taught at Magnavra University in Constantinople.

Monument to Saints Cyril and Methodius in Saratov. Photo by Vasily Zimin.
In 863, going to Moravia, with the help of his brother Methodius, he created. Bulgaria became the center of the spread of Slavic writing. In 886, the Preslav Book School was opened on its territory, where they translated from Greek and rewrote the Cyril and Methodius originals. Around the same time, the Cyrillic alphabet came to Serbia, and at the end of the 10th century it reached Kievan Rus.

Initially, the first Russian alphabet had 43 letters. Later, 4 more were added to it, and the previous 14 were removed as unnecessary. At first, some of the letters resembled Greek ones in appearance, but as a result of spelling reform in the 17th century, they were replaced with those that we know today.

By 1917, there were 35 letters in the Russian alphabet, although in fact there were 37 of them, since E and J were not considered separate. Additionally, the alphabet contained the letters I, Ѣ (yat), Ѳ (fita) and V (izhitsa), which later disappeared from use.

When did the modern Russian alphabet appear?

In 1917–1918, a major spelling reform was carried out in Russia, thanks to which the modern alphabet appeared. Its initiator was the Ministry of Public Education under the Provisional Government. The reform began before the revolution, but was continued after the transfer of power to the Bolsheviks.

Wikimedia Commons/Jimmy Thomas ()
In December 1917, Russian statesman Anatoly Lunacharsky issued a decree requiring all organizations to use a new alphabet consisting of 33 letters.

Although the spelling reform was prepared before the revolution and did not have any political background, at first it was criticized by opponents of Bolshevism. However, over time, the modern alphabet took root and is used to this day.

And it is written in all history textbooks who were the first to create the alphabet for the Russian language - these are the brothers Cyril (Constantine) the Philosopher and Methodius (Mikhail) of Thessalonica, Greek missionaries, later recognized as saints equal to the apostles. In 862, by order of the Byzantine Emperor Michael III, they went on a mission to Great Moravia. This early feudal Slavic state occupied the territory where today Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and part of Ukraine are located. The main task that Patriarch Photius of Constantinople set for the brothers was the translation of sacred texts from Greek into Slavic dialects. However, in order for the records not to be forgotten, it was necessary to record them on paper, and this cannot be done in the absence of our own Slavic alphabet.

The basis for its creation was the Greek alphabet. However, phonetically, ancient Slavic dialects were much richer than Greek speech. Because of this, the educational missionaries of this country were forced to come up with 19 new letters to display on paper the sounds and phonetic combinations that were missing in their language. Therefore, the first alphabet (alphabet), which has survived to this day among Belarusians, Bulgarians, Russians, Serbs and Ukrainians, with minor changes, included 43 letters. Today it is known as the “Cyrillic alphabet”, and the writing of these peoples belongs to the Cyrillic alphabet.

Who was the first to create the Russian alphabet?

However, when considering the question of who was the first to create the Slavic alphabet, it is necessary to take into account that in the 9th century there were two alphabets (two alphabets) - Cyrillic and Glagolitic, and which of them appeared earlier is impossible to answer. Unfortunately, the original texts written during the time of Cyril and Methodius have not survived. According to most researchers, the 38-letter Glagolitic, but more complex in writing characters, has a more ancient history. It was called in the ancient Slavic language “Kirillovitsa”, and its authorship is attributed to the “creative team” led by Cyril and Methodius, which included their students Clement, Naum and Angelarius. The alphabet was created starting in 856, before Cyril’s first educational campaign in the Khazar Kaganate.

Palimpsests - texts written in it, later scraped off from parchment and replaced with Cyrillic writing - also speak in favor of the originality of the Glagolitic alphabet. In addition, its ancient spelling is quite close in appearance to the Georgian church alphabet - “khutsuri”, which was used until the 9th century.

According to supporters of the above hypothesis, the first Russian alphabet - the Cyrillic alphabet - was developed by Kirill's student, Kliment Ohritsky and named after the teacher. The alphabet got its name from the names of its first two letters - “az” and “buki”.

The most ancient Slavic alphabet

However, the question of who first created the alphabet is not so simple, and Cyril and Methodius are only the first enlighteners who brought writing to the early Slavic states, the historicity of which is not in doubt. The same Cyril, describing his journey to the Great Khaganate, points to the presence in the churches of Chersonese (Korsun) of “the Gospel and Psalter written in Roussian writing.” It was acquaintance with these texts that prompted the Greek enlightener to think about dividing the letters of his alphabet into vowels and consonants.

Veles’s book, written in “strange” letters called “v(e)lesovitsy,” is still controversial. According to the discoverers (hoaxers) of this book, they were carved on wooden tablets before both the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabet became widespread.

Unfortunately, the alphabet for the Russian language, “v(e)lesovitsy”, and the authorship of the “Russian letters” cannot be established today.

The director of the Volgograd Institute of Art Education, Nikolai Taranov, has many titles: calligrapher, doctor of pedagogical sciences, candidate of art history, professor, member of the Union of Artists of Russia. But few people know that he is still studying symbols. And while doing this, he went on a “detective trail” and made an amazing discovery. Who invented the Slavic alphabet?

It would seem that everyone knows this: Cyril and Methodius, whom the Orthodox Church calls equal to the apostles for this merit. But what kind of alphabet did Kirill come up with - Cyrillic or Glagolitic? (Methodius, this is known and proven, supported his brother in everything, but it was the monk Kirill who was the “brain of the operation” and an educated person who knew many languages). There is still debate about this in the scientific world. Some Slavic researchers say: “Cyrillic alphabet! It is named after its creator.” Others object: “Glagolitic! The first letter of this alphabet looks like a cross. Kirill is a monk. This is a sign." It is also argued that before Cyril’s work there was no written language in Rus'. Professor Nikolai Taranov categorically disagrees with this.

The assertion that there was no written language in Rus' before Cyril and Methodius is based on one single document - the “Tale of Writing” by the monk Khrabra, found in Bulgaria, says Nikolai Taranov. — There are 73 copies from this scroll, and in different copies, due to translation errors or scribe errors, completely different versions of the key phrase for us. In one version: “the Slavs before Cyril did not have books,” in the other, “letters,” but the author indicates: “they wrote with lines and cuts.” It is interesting that Arab travelers who visited Rus' back in the 8th century, that is, even before Rurik and even more so before Cyril, described the funeral of one Russian prince: “After the funeral, his soldiers wrote something on a white tree (birch) in honor of the prince, and then, mounting their horses, they departed.” And in the “Life of Cyril,” known to the Russian Orthodox Church, we read: “In the city of Korsun, Cyril met a Rusyn (Russian), who had with him books written in Russian characters.” Kirill (his mother was Slavic) took out some of his letters and with their help began to read those same Rusyn books. Moreover, these were not thin books. These were, as stated in the same “Life of Cyril,” the “Psalter” and “Gospel” translated into Russian. There is a lot of evidence that Rus' had its own alphabet long before Cyril. And Lomonosov spoke about the same thing. He cited as evidence the testimony of Pope VIII, a contemporary of Cyril, which states that Cyril did not invent these writings, but rediscovered them.

The question arises: why did Kirill create the Russian alphabet if it already existed? The fact is that the monk Cyril had an assignment from the Moravian prince - to create for the Slavs an alphabet suitable for translating church books. Which is what he did. And the letters with which church books are now written (and, in a modified form, our printed creations today) are the work of Cyril, that is, the Cyrillic alphabet.

Was the Glagolitic alphabet destroyed on purpose?

There are 22 points that prove that the Glagolitic alphabet was older than the Cyrillic alphabet, says Taranov. Archaeologists and philologists have such a concept - palimpsest. This is the name of an inscription made on top of another destroyed inscription, most often scraped out with a knife. In the Middle Ages, parchment made from the skin of a young lamb was quite expensive, and in order to save money, scribes often destroyed “unnecessary” records and documents, and wrote something new on the scraped sheet. So: everywhere in Russian palimpsests the Glagolitic alphabet is erased, and on top of it are inscriptions in Cyrillic. There are no exceptions to this rule.

There are only five monuments left in the world written in Glagolitic alphabet. The rest were destroyed. Moreover, in my opinion, the records in the Glagolitic alphabet were destroyed deliberately,” says Professor Nikolai Taranov. — Because the Glagolitic alphabet was not suitable for recording church books. The numerical meaning of the letters (and then there was a very strong belief in numerology) in it was different from what was required in Christianity. Out of respect for the Glagolitic alphabet, Kirill left in his alphabet the same letter names as they were. And they are very, very complex for an alphabet that was “born” in the 9th century, as stated. Even then, all languages ​​strived for simplification; the letters in all alphabets of that time denoted only sounds. And only in the Slavic alphabet are the names of the letters: “Good”, “People”, “Think”, “Earth”, etc. And all because the Glagolitic alphabet is very ancient. It has many features of pictographic writing.

Pictographic writing is a type of writing whose signs (pictograms) indicate the object they depict. The latest finds by archaeologists speak in favor of this version. Thus, tablets with Slavic writing were found, the age of which dates back to 5000 BC.

“The Glagolitic alphabet was created by a genius”

All modern alphabets in Europe originate from the Phoenician alphabet. In it, the letter A, as we were told, represents the head of a bull, which then turned over with its horns down.

And the ancient Greek historian Diodorus Siculus wrote: “These letters are called Phoenician, although it would be more correct to call them Pelasgic, since the Pelasgians used them,” says Nikolai Taranov. - Do you know who the Pelasgians are? These are the ancestors of the Slavs, the Proto-Slavic tribes. The Phoenicians stood out among the surrounding dark-skinned, black-haired tribes of farmers, Egyptians and Sumerians with their fair skin and red hair. Moreover, their passion for travel: they were excellent sailors.

In the 12th century BC, the Pelasgians just took part in the Great Migration of Peoples, and individual groups of desperate conquerors of new lands wandered very far. Which gives the Volgograd professor a version: the Phoenicians were familiar with the Slavs and borrowed their alphabet. Otherwise, why did a letter alphabet suddenly appear next to Egyptian hieroglyphs and Sumerian cuneiform?

They say: “The Glagolitic alphabet was too decorative and complex, so it was gradually replaced by the more rational Cyrillic alphabet.” But the Glagolitic alphabet is not so bad, Professor Taranov is sure. — I studied the earliest versions: the first letter of the Glagolitic alphabet does not mean a cross at all, but a person. That is why it is called “Az” - I. A person for himself is a starting point. And all the meanings of letters in the Glagolitic alphabet are through the prism of human perception. I drew the first letter of this alphabet on transparent film. Look, if you superimpose it on other letters of the Glagolitic alphabet, you get a pictogram! I believe: not every designer will come up with such a way that every grapheme falls into the grid. I am amazed by the artistic integrity of this alphabet. I think the unknown author of the Glagolitic alphabet was a genius! In no other alphabet in the world is there such a clear connection between a symbol and its digital and sacred meaning!



Glagolitic alphabet and numerology

Each sign in the Glagolitic alphabet has a sacred meaning and denotes a specific number.

The sign “Az” is a person, the number 1.
The sign “I know” is number 2, the sign looks like eyes and a nose: “I see, that means I know.”
The sign “Live” is the number 7, the life and reality of this world.
The sign of “Zelo” is the number 8, the reality of a miracle and something supernatural: “too”, “very” or “zelo”.
The sign of “Good” is the number 5, the only number that gives birth to its own kind or decade: “Good gives birth to good.”
The sign “People” is the number 50, according to numerology - the world from where human souls come to us.
The sign “Ours” - the number 70, symbolizes the connection between the heavenly and the earthly, that is, our world, given to us in sensations.
The Omega sign is the number 700, a certain divine world, the “Seventh Heaven”.
The sign “Earth” - according to Taranov, means a picture: the Earth and the Moon in the same orbit.

Sveta Evseeva-Fedorova