Letters used in Hebrew handwriting ca. 600 BCE (1), Aramaic writing on stone, ca. 400 BCE (2) and on papyrus or leather, ca. 400 BCE (3).

Context in source publication

Context 1

... both consonants and long vowels (e.g. one sign for w and û, one for y and î). Under the Persian Empire (539-331 BCE), the Aramaic language and form of script, which had been spreading widely under Assyrian and Babylonian rule, became the common vehicle of administration from the Indus to the Aegean, from the Black Sea to Egypt and the Red Sea (Fig. 4). The Jews used it for writing Hebrew and, slightly developed, it has been the Hebrew alphabet ever since. Aramaic speakers in southern Turkey, in the area around Urfa and Haran, derived from it the forms of cursive script known as Syriac (Estrangelo and Serto) still read among Christian churches of the Middle East. Another form arose ...