# Christopher A. Rollston 2010: The Probable Inventors of the First Alphabet: Semites Functioning as rather High Status Personnel in a Component of the Egyptian Apparatus

> Christopher A. Rollston, 2010. 3 records on Mysteries Department cite it. Rollston Epigraphy (also carried on the ASOR blog), 2010. The counter-position…

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDMFHMXVQQ/the-probable-inventors-of-the-first-alphabet-semites  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

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[Sources](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources)[Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic)Christopher A. Rollston 2010

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# The Probable Inventors of the First Alphabet: Semites Functioning as rather High Status Personnel in a Component of the Egyptian Apparatus

Christopher A. Rollston, 2010.

**Proto-Sinaitic and Wadi el-Hol: the first alphabet** Post-weblog0

## What it's used for here

Rollston Epigraphy (also carried on the ASOR blog), 2010. The counter-position to Goldwasser: writing in the Bronze Age was an elite skill, so the inventors were Semites who knew Egyptian writing and worked within the Egyptian administration; answered by Goldwasser 2012.

## Cited by on this site 3 records

[Writing in the Bronze Age was a skill of trained elites, and the Wadi el-Hol texts sit beside Egyptian inscriptions of…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/evidence/EVD0DEEATHYMEKG/writing-in-the-bronze-age-was-a-skill-of-trained-elites-and)

Evidence

EVD

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

The mystery article

MYS

[Who invented the alphabet, and could they read Egyptian?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/proto-sinaitic/questions/QST0DEDW7RNZZQM/who-invented-the-alphabet-and-could-they-read-egyptian)

Question

QST

## Cite it

```
Christopher A. Rollston (2010). The Probable Inventors of the First Alphabet: Semites Functioning as rather High Status Personnel in a Component of the Egyptian Apparatus. http://www.rollstonepigraphy.com/?p=195
```

[Find it at rollstonepigraphy.com](http://www.rollstonepigraphy.com/?p=195)

Key

**SRC** 0DEDMFHMXVQQ

Kind

Post-weblog

Rights

The publisher's

Kept

31 Oct 2026, for editors

Added by

[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

The record

Bibliographic records are CC0. Take this one as CSL-JSON, BibTeX or RIS.

[CSL-JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0DEDMFHMXVQQ/the-probable-inventors-of-the-first-alphabet-semites/csl.json)
