There seems to be no question that the final step of discarding all signs excepting the few representing the primary sounds of human speech, and thus developing an alphabet pure and simple without concurrent use of phonograms and ideograms, was made by the Phoenicians. The Phoenicians were a trading people of Semitic origin (akin to the Jews and other allied races) whose principal seats were at the eastern end of the Mediterranean. Various theories have been put forth as to the origin of their alphabet. It is clear that they did not originate it absolutely but developed it from previously existing material. Attempts have been made to connect it with the Assyrian cuneiform, and for many years it was commonly believed to have been derived from the hieratic form of the Egyptian. The evidence of later discoveries, together with the difficulty of reconciling either of these theories with all the known facts, points strongly to the conclusion that the principal source of the Phoenician alphabet was the Cretan script, probably modified by other elements derived from commercial intercourse with the Egyptians and the Assyrians. From the Phoenician came the Greek alphabet. From the Greek came the Roman, and from the Roman, with very little change, came our own familiar alphabet. But that is not all. The Phoenician, through various lines of descent, is the common mother of all the alphabets in use to-day including those as different from our own and from each other as the Hebrew, the Arabic, and the scripts of India. It will be noted that there are now four great families of alphabets. They are the Aramean which have the Hebrew as their common ancestor; the Ethiopic which now exists in but one individual; the Indian which now exists in three groups related respectively to the Burmese, Thibetan, and Tamil; and the Hellenic, deriving from the Greek. The relations of these groups are well worth study as indicating ancient lines of conquest, immigration, and literary influence. The lines of descent are shown in the table on the following page. [Illustration: Inscription in the Cretan linear character from a vase.] GENEALOGY OF THE ALPHABET