# Brian E. Colless · Person

> New Zealand historian of religion and epigrapher (Massey University) who from 1992 defended and extended Mendenhall's decipherment, treats the Byblos…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/records/FIG0DEDHYN4HATX/brian-e-colless  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[People](https://mysteriesdept.com/people)Brian E. Colless

Person · in 1 mystery

# Brian E. Colless

New Zealand historian of religion and epigrapher (Massey University) who from 1992 defended and extended Mendenhall's decipherment, treats the Byblos signs as a West Semitic logo-syllabary used across the Levant, and argues that the proto-alphabet was a simplification of it.

[The Byblos syllabary](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary)[3 sources]

Brian E. Colless is new Zealand epigrapher, Massey University; advocate of the Canaanite syllabary reading of the Byblos script, and appears in the record of Byblos syllabary as new Zealand historian of religion and epigrapher (Massey University) who from 1992 defended and extended Mendenhall's decipherment, treats the Byblos signs as a West Semitic logo-syllabary used across the Levant, and argues that the proto-alphabet was a simplification of it.

Two questions rest in part on what Colless did or said, among them “Where did the Byblos signs come from, and is the script related to the Proto-Sinaitic and Phoenician alphabets?”, which stands open: 2 answers, none ahead.

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## In the mysteries

**The Byblos syllabary**

[The mystery ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary)

[Where did the Byblos signs come from, and is the script related to the Proto-Sinaitic and Phoenician alphabets?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary/questions/QST0DEDQQBGYEW6/where-did-the-byblos-signs-come-from-and-is-the-script)Open: 2 answers, none ahead

[Do the finds assigned to the script outside Byblos (Megiddo, Egypt, Italy) really belong to it?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/byblos-syllabary/questions/QST0DEDR0755DC4/do-the-finds-assigned-to-the-script-outside-byblos-megiddo)No evidence yet: No evidence yet

## Sources 3

[The Byblos Syllabary and the Proto-alphabet](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDFW7YW8WM/the-byblos-syllabary-and-the-proto-alphabet)

SRC

[The Canaanite Syllabary](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDFWHG6P2W/the-canaanite-syllabary)

SRC

[The Origin of the Alphabet: An Examination of the Goldwasser Hypothesis](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDG4C61RR1/the-origin-of-the-alphabet-an-examination-of-the-goldwasser)

SRC

## Cite it

```
Mysteries Department. (2026). Brian E. Colless [Person FIG0DEDHYN4HATX]. https://mysteriesdept.com/r/FIG0DEDHYN4HATX
```

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Key

**FIG** 0DEDHYN4HATX

Record

Person

Occupation

epigrapher, decipherer

Identity

New Zealand epigrapher, Massey University; advocate of the Canaanite syllabary reading of the Byblos script

Version

1

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