QuestionsByblos syllabaryWhere did the Byblos signs come from, and is the script related to the Proto-Sinaitic and Phoenician alphabets?Answer
Answer · Byblos syllabary
Local creation; resemblances to the alphabet are not ancestral
The Byblos script is a local invention loosely inspired by Egyptian writing, and its resemblances to Phoenician letters are either coincidental or borrowed from the alphabet, not ancestral to it.
Where it stands
Still possibleOne piece of evidence for, none against. It needs two reviews to be accepted.
What it predicts
- No consistent consonant mapping from Egyptian parents to Byblos signs survives the seal values.
- The letter-like Byblos signs do not carry the consonants of the letters they resemble.
What would rule it out
- A sign-by-sign derivation from Egyptian uniconsonantal signs whose predicted values read the texts.
Evidence 1 for · none against
The questions it answers
Cite it
Mysteries Department. (2026). Local creation; resemblances to the alphabet are not ancestral [Answer ANS0DEDT13MFT4Z]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0DEDT13MFT4Z
@misc{mysteriesdept_ans0dedt13mft4z,
title = {Local creation; resemblances to the alphabet are not ancestral},
author = {{Mysteries Department}},
year = {2026},
note = {Answer, catalog key ANS0DEDT13MFT4Z},
url = {https://mysteriesdept.com/r/ANS0DEDT13MFT4Z}
}