CHAP. PAGE
I. INTRODUCTORY[ 9]

II.

 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE ALPHABET

[ 23]

III.

 MEMORY-AIDS AND PICTURE-WRITING

[ 37]
   (a) Mnemonic[ 39]
   (b) Pictorial[ 51]
   (c) Ideographic[ 72]
   (d) Phonetic[ 79]

IV.

 CHINESE, JAPANESE, AND COREAN SCRIPTS

[ 82]

V.

 CUNEIFORM WRITING

[ 89]

VI.

 EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS

[113]
   (a) Hieroglyphic Writing[115]
   (b) Hieratic Writing[125]
   (c) Demotic Writing[127]

VII.

 THE ROSETTA STONE

[128]

VIII.

 EGYPTIAN WRITING IN ITS RELATION TO OTHER SCRIPTS

[134]

IX.

 CRETAN AND ALLIED SCRIPTS

[157]

X.

 GREEK PAPYRI

[198]
  The Diffusion of the "Phœnician" Alphabet—
   (a) Aramean[207]
   (b) Sabean[212]
   (c) Hellenic[213]

XI.

 RUNES AND OGAMS

[223]


 INDEX

[229]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS



Indian Petition to the United States Congress

[Frontispiece]

FIG.


PAGE
1.Magical Pictograph against Stings[ 18]
2.Magical Device against Skin Disease[ 20]
3.Aboriginal Rock Carvings (Australia)[ 27]
3a.Aboriginal Rock Paintings (Australia)[ 28]
4.Bushman Paintings[ 30]
4a.Bushman Paintings[ 31]
4b.Specimen of Bushmen Rock Sculptures[ 32]
4c.Engravings found on Rocks in Algeria[ 33]
5.Bushman Rain-Charm[ 34]
6.Semang Rain-Charm[ 35]
6a.Record of Expedition[ 35]
6b.Various Types of the Human Form[ 36]
7.Quipu, for Reckoning, &c.[ 39]
8.Double Calumet Wampum[ 48]
9.Double Calumet Council Hearth[ 48]
10.Jesuit Missionary Wampum[ 49]
11.Four Nations' Alliance Wampum[ 49]
11a.Penn Wampum[ 50]
12,13.Indian Grave-posts[ 53]
14.Tomb-board of Indian Chief[ 54]
15.Hunter's Grave-post[ 54]
16.A Cadger's Map of a Begging District[ 57]
17.Ojibwa Love-letter[ 58]
18.Love-song[ 58]
19.Mnemonic Song of an Ojibwa Medicine-man[ 59]
20.Wâbeno destroying an Enemy[ 61]
21.Etching on Innuit Drill-bow[ 62]
22.Ojibwa Hunting Record[ 62]
23.Hidatsa Pictograph on a Buffalo Shoulder-blade[ 63]
24.Alaskan Hunting Record[ 63]
25.Record of Starving Hunter[ 63]
26.Alaskan Hunting Life[ 66]
27.Indian Expedition[ 66]
28.Biography of Indian Chief[ 66]
29.War-song[ 68]
30.Letter offering Treaty of Peace[ 70]
31.Census Roll of an Indian Band[ 71]
32.Record of Departure (Innuit)[ 72]
33.Statue from Palenque[ 76]
34.Itzcoatl[ 80]
35.Rebus of Itzcoatl[ 80]
36.Paternoster Rebus[ 81]
37.Chinese Picture-writing and Later Uncial[ 83]
38.Chinese and Tibetan Triglot[ 88]
39.Rock Inscription at Behistun[ 94]
40.Cylinder Seal of Sargon I.[107]
41.Tell-el-Amarna Tablet[109]
42.First Creation Tablet[110]
43,44.Deluge Tablet (Chaldean Epic)[111]
45.Hieroglyphic, Hieratic, and Demotic Signs for Man[115]
46.Comparative Ideographs[122]
47.Ptolemy[131]
48.Cleopatra[131]
49.Kaisars (Cæsar)—A. Takrtr (Autokrator)[131]
50.Facsimile of Hieratic Papyrus Prisse[140]
51.Inscription on the Eshmunazar Sarcophagus[141]
52.Inscription on Sacred Bowls (Baal Lebanon)[146]
53.The Moabite Stone[147]
54.Maneh Weight[151]
55.Vase with Incised Characters (Crete)[160]
56.Incised Characters on Cup (Crete)[160]
57.Characters on Vase (Crete)[160]
58.Signs on Bronze Axe (Delphi)[160]
59.Signs on Blocks of Mycenæan Buildings (Knôsos)[166]
60.Symbols on Three-sided Cornelian (Crete)[166]
61.Symbols on Four-sided Stone (Crete)[166]
62.Symbols on Four-sided Stones, with larger faces (Central Crete)[166]
63.Symbol on Single-faced Cornelian (Eastern Crete)[166]
64.Symbol on Stone of ordinary Mycenæan type (Athens)[166]
65.Egyptian Scarabs, XIIth DynastyEarly Cretan Seal-stones[178]
66.Signs on Potsherds at Tell-el-Hesy compared with Ægean Forms[178]
67.Hittite Inscription at Hamah[181]
68.Signs on Vase-handle (Mycenæ)[183]
69.Signs on Amphora-handle (Mycenæ)[183]

Acknowledgments are gratefully tendered to Messrs. Macmillan, Messrs. Longmans, Mr. John Murray, Messrs. Eyre & Spottiswoode, Mr. Edward Arnold, Messrs. Witherby, the Cambridge University Press, and the Anthropological Institute for permission to reproduce Illustrations from their several publications.


THE STORY OF THE ALPHABET


CHAPTER I