Which known alphabet is the oldest?
Alphabet (a set of letters) is first found in hieroglyphs, in Egypt, around 2700 BC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_uniliteral_signs
Howerver, the oldest scripts found are the Sumerian cuneiform scripts, ~3000 BC, but there's no real Alphabet used there (signs are representing words and not letters)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuneiform_script
If we are talking of actual alphabets and not pictograms such as hieroglyphics or cuneiform, then I would think that it is the Phoenecian alphabet. This alphabet although written from right to left was the precursor of the Greek alphabet (written from left to right) and later Cyrillic and Latin.
Are you both talking about the alphabet found in Egypt by Dr Darnell from Yale?
And which is the oldest writing system? They say that it's the Sumerian cuneiform in the Tigris and Euphrates Valley (present Iraq). It was pictographic until 1400BC.
But there are also some pottery fragments found in Pakistan (Harappa) dated back 5000 years that might refute that theory.
I doubt Egypt carries the oldest treasures of human intelligence. Pakistan, India and China regions were always focused on the development of man's soul and knowledge rather than conquering and expanding the political borders therefore we should look for answers there.
I would think the mesopatamian alphabet is the oldest. It was created in their "early days."But it also could have been China.
was there alphabet prior to the hebrew alphabet?
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What about the Mohenjo-Daro script from 3300 BC?
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