# Benjamin Sass · Person

> Epigrapher; author of the 1988 corpus, who later moved the alphabet's date down to c. 1300 BC. In Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/people/FIG0DEDQAF6A3S3/benjamin-sass  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic)[People](https://mysteriesdept.com/people)Benjamin Sass

Person · in 1 mystery

# Benjamin Sass

Epigrapher; author of the 1988 corpus, who later moved the alphabet's date down to c. 1300 BC

[Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic)[1 event][2 sources]

Benjamin Sass is israeli epigrapher and archaeologist, Tel Aviv University, whose 1988 Genesis of the Alphabet is the corpus catalogue; he reversed his Middle Kingdom dating in 2004-2005, and appears in the record of Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet as epigrapher; author of the 1988 corpus, who later moved the alphabet's date down to c. 1300 BC.

One event on the site involves Sass: Benjamin Sass publishes the corpus catalogue and argues for a Middle Kingdom date, a position he reverses in 2004-2005 (1988).

One question rest in part on what Sass did or said, among them “When were the Serabit el-Khadim inscriptions written: in the Middle Kingdom, about 1850 BC, or in the New Kingdom?”, which stands open: 4 answers, none ahead.

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## In the mysteries

**Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet**

Epigrapher; author of the 1988 corpus, who later moved the alphabet's date down to c. 1300 BC · 1 event

[The mystery ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic)

[When were the Serabit el-Khadim inscriptions written: in the Middle Kingdom, about 1850 BC, or in the New Kingdom?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/questions/QST0DEDW70ERVE3/when-were-the-serabit-el-khadim-inscriptions-written-in-the)Open: 4 answers, none ahead

## What Benjamin Sass did 1

1988[Benjamin Sass publishes the corpus catalogue and argues for a Middle Kingdom date, a position he reverses in 2004-2005](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/events/EVT0DEDS096VSMQ/benjamin-sass-publishes-the-corpus-catalogue-and-argues-for)

## Sources 2

[The Genesis of the Alphabet and Its Development in the Second Millennium B.C.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHKE2Y383/the-genesis-of-the-alphabet-and-its-development-in-the)

SRC

[The Alphabet at the Turn of the Millennium: The West Semitic Alphabet ca. 1150-850 BCE; The Antiquity of the Arabian, Greek and Phrygian Alphabets](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDHVZV38QP/the-alphabet-at-the-turn-of-the-millennium-the-west-semitic)

SRC

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). Benjamin Sass [Person FIG0DEDQAF6A3S3]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/FIG0DEDQAF6A3S3
```

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Key

**FIG** 0DEDQAF6A3S3

Record

Person

Occupation

Corpus editor (1988), Proponent of the low chronology (2005)

Identity

Israeli epigrapher and archaeologist, Tel Aviv University, whose 1988 Genesis of the Alphabet is the corpus catalogue; he reversed his Middle Kingdom dating in 2004-2005

In

[Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic)

Version

1

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The record

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