Page:History of Art in Phrygia, Lydia, Caria and Lycia.djvu/24

 HISTORY OF ART IN ANTIQUITY. Greek inscriptions (Fig. i). 1 Not only do we no longer find any trace of those Hittite hieroglyphs which still await decipherment, but the alphabet that may be restored from them (Fig. 2) is not derived, as was probably that of Cyprus, from an old system of writ- ing, which seemingly ob- tained throughout Asia Minor before the introduc- tion of Phoenician characters. What is more, it does not contain, as the Lycian, Pam- phylian, and Carian sylla- baries, letters of Punic origin, along with others borrowed from that Asianic alphabet which is found in outline in the literary docu- ments of Cyprus. There is not one letter here which we may not expect to find in Greek inscriptions. The Phrygian alphabet was not derived directly from the Phoenician ; for it does not contain all its letters, whilst it has a few not possessed by the latter ; it was in all likelihood allied to it through one or other of the archaic Greek alphabets, either the Ionian, or rather that called fit /) A b B B 9 r d A A e fcEE v P F x J"5^ i 1 h I K i A 711 f A / v * r^ 71 ^

o O p r r r p p 3 Hi t T T U Y J>h 4>

FIG. 2. Phrygian alphabet. FR. LENORMANT, under the head- ing ' ' Alphabet, " in Daremberg and Saglio's Dictionary. 1 Excellent copies of most Phrygian inscriptions will be found in the three plates subjoined to Professor Ramsay's interesting memoir, bearing the title, " On the Early Historical Relations between Phrygia and Cappadocia " (Journal of the Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. xv. part i.). The third section of the memoir, " Archaic-Phrygian Inscriptions," is devoted to the Phrygian alpha- bet and its origin, together with a tentative decipherment and translation.