as being the earliest representative of the H’s. The character first alluded to had this form,
. The Phœnicians, who derived their Alphabet from Egypt, appear to have been desirous of “squaring the circle,” for in their hands this became
, or
. The Greek letter was at first
; but later on it changed its appearance, becoming H. As such it figures in the Sigean inscription of the sixth century, B.C. Had the Greeks imported their letters directly from Egypt, one might have supposed theta (Θ, or θ), and not eta (Η), to have been the immediate descendant of the Egyptian symbol given above. The Samaritan