ΤΟ ΑΡΧΑΙΟΤΕΡΟ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟ ΑΛΦΑΒΗΤΟ

Τὸ ἀρχαιότερο εὐρωπαϊκὸ ἀλφάβητο.

Χάλκινο Ἑλληνικὸ  χειρόγραφο, δύο κομμάτια, Κύπρος, περίπου 800 π.Χ. Ἡ γραφὴ εἶναι στὴν Ἀρχαϊκὴ Ἑλληνικὴ. Συμπεριλαμβάνονται καὶ ὁρισμένοι φοινικικοὶ χαρακτῆρες.

Τὰ δύο χάλκινα κομμάτια συγκρατοῦσαν χαρτὶ ποὺ ἂνοιγε σὰν ἀκορντεόν.

Αὐτὸ εἶναι τὸ ἀρχαιότερο εὐρωπαϊκὸ ἀλφάβητο, ὁ παλαιότερος σωζόμενος γραμμένος δίσκος καὶ ἓνα ἀπὸ τὰ παλαιότερα βιβλία τοῦ κόσμου…

THE EARLIEST GREEK ALPHABET

MS in Greek on copper, Cyprus, ca. 800 BC, 2 tablets, 21x13 cm, single column, (19x10 cm), 20-23 lines in archaic Greek capitals with some North Semitic (Phoenician) letter forms by 2 or more scribes.

Binding: Greece, ca. 800 BC, strung together on both sides so as to fold in concertina fashion with holes in all 4 corners of both tablets.

Context: This is the oldest European alphabet, the oldest writing tablets extant, and part of the world's oldest book in codex form. The other old writing tablets are 2 from Nimrod, one ivory, the other walnut wood, dated 707 - 705 BC., in addition to a 8th c. BC Neo-Hittite wood tablet. (Roberts/Skeat: The Birth of the Codex, pp. 11-12.) Apart from the present MS the oldest Greek inscription of any length is the Dipylon oinochoe from Athens, ca. 740 BC. The oldest short inscriptions are dated ca. mid 8th c. BC.

A third tablet originally bound with the present ones is: "The Würzburger Alphabettafel", published by A. Henbeck: Würzburger Jahrbücher für Altertumswissenschaft, 12, pp. 7-20, 1986 and housed at the University of Würzburg, Martin-von-Wagner-Museum; a fourth is owner by a private collector. The codex originally consisted of at least 5 tablets.

http://www.schoyencollection.com/firstalpha2.html#108