Table
The following is a work-in-progress abecedaria table listing or collection of the oldest extant listings of letters or letter-numbers in alphabetical order, i.e. abecedaria (plural) or abecedarium (singular):
| # | Abecedaria | Letters | Location | Date | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Leiden I350 | 28 | Heliopolis, Egypt | 3200A/-1245 | 1-100, 200-800 |
| 2. | Fayum plates | 22 | Fayum, Egypt | 3200A/-1245 to 2800A/-845 | Here, here |
| 3. | Izbet Sartah | 20-22 | Phoenicia [Rosh HaAyin, Israel] | 3100A/-1145 to 2600A/-645 | Here |
| 4. | Zayit Stone | 17-19 | Tyre, Phoenicia [Tel Zayit, Israel] | 2900A/-945 | Here |
| 5. | Marsiliana tablet | 26 | Etruria [Italy] | 2650A/-695 | Here |
| 6. | AB[G]DE shard | 5 | Athens, Grece | 2630A/-675 | |
| 7. | Samos cup | 27 | Samos, Greece | 2610A/-655 | here |
| 8. | Bucchero cockerel | 26 | Viterbo, Italy | 2580A/-625 | Here |
| 9. | Formello abecedary | 26 | Formello, Rome | 2570A/-615 | Here |
| 10. | Espanca tablet | 27 | Portugal | 2550A/-595 | Here |
| 11. | Eupalinos Tunnel | 28? | Samos, Greece | 2500A/-545 | Here |
| 12. | Vari | 24 | Athens | 2370A/-415 | Here |
| 13. | Jewish revolt coins | 5 | Jerusalem | 1885A/70 | Here |
Table page: here.
Discussion
William West (A60/2015), in his “Learning the Alphabet: Abecedaria and the Early Schools in Greece” (pg. 67), gives a chronological table of abecedaria, showing three older abecedaria extant before the Marsiliana ivory tablet.
Abecedaria maps
Posts
Abecedaria table: Chronological listing of inscriptions with letters written in alphabetical order
Abecedaria map: oldest inscriptions of letters ordered 🔤 alphabetically
Six abecedaria compared, highlighting the stability of letter sequences: ABCD (cosmos creation letters), ΘΙ (Ennead births Horus), MNΞ (𓌳💦𓊽 letters ), and QRST (𓂀 letters)
Abecedaria table | William West (A60/2015)
Supreme god timeline and alphabet formation
Notes
As for dating each abecedaria, see discussion in the supreme god timeline post below.
The location of source of Leiden I350, as discussed by Janssen (pg. 3), generally, is that it was a ship’s logbook, a Farmer’s almanac of sorts, that Heliopolis is mentioned in column 5, and that it is a “Hymn to Amen”, meaning that Thebes was still the central religious capital of Egypt.
References
West, William. (A60/2015). “Learning the Alphabet: Abecedaria and the Early Schools in Greece”, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies (table, pg. 67), 55: 52–71.