EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY

RE WR

ic. We start with the pictures or rough drawings which have been found among the remains of the

(Dakota Indian); 2, "morning" (Ojibwa Indian); 3, "nothing" (Oji

nemy." A "fight" could then be shown simply by drawing two arrows directed against each other. Many uncivilized tribes still employ picture writing of this sort. The American Indians devel

ITING; T

the use of the rebus, that is, writing words by pictures of objects which stand for sounds. Such rebuses are found in prehistoric Egyptian writing; for example, the Egyptian words for "sun" and "goose" were so nearly ali

"Our Father," is written by a flag (pan), a stone (

ICTURE WRITING AND LATER

AND SY

of entire words, but of separate syllables. Since the number of different syllables which the voice can utter is limited, it now becomes possible to write all the words of a language with a few hundred signs. The Japanese, who borrowed some of the Chinese symbols

TT

f the voice are analyzed and each is represented by a single sign or letter. Wit

tion: CRE

ear script found in the

of writing, with a tot

s, which appear to mark

of s

N HIERO

pon alphabetic signs alone. Egyptian hieroglyphics [11] are a curious jumble of object- pictures, symbols of ideas, and signs for ent

CIAN A

two letters, each representing a consonant. The Phoenicians do not seem to have invented their alphabetic signs. It is generally believed tha

o systems, however, were not distinct; they were as identical as our own printed and written characters. The third line illustrates old Babylonian cuneiform, in

THE PHOENIC

d sailors and traders who bought and sold throughout the Mediterranean. Wherever they went, they took their alphabet. From the Phoeni

monument records the victory of Mesha king of Moab, over the united armies of Israel and Judah about 850