The Paleo-Hebrew alphabet was used between about 1,000 BC and 135 AD to write Ancient Hebrew in the Biblical regions of Israel and Judah. It developed from the Proto-Canaanite script, which was used in Canaan (the Levant) during the Late Bronze Age. Paleo-Hebrew is also known as the Proto-Hebrew or Old Hebrew script.
The earliest known inscription in Paleo-Hebrew was found on a wall in Tel Zayit in the Beth Guvrin Valley in southern Israel in 2005. It dates from about the 10th century BC. By the 6th century BC the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet was gradually replaced by the Imperial Aramaic alphabet, which developed into the Hebrew square script. The Paleo-Hebrew alphabet continued to be used for some texts of the Toarh, and also on coins, until the 2nd century AD.
Download an alphabet chart for Paleo-Hebrew (Excel)
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleo-Hebrew_alphabet
Information about Paleo-Hebrew
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleo-Hebrew_alphabet
https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/ancient-alphabet/paleo-hebrew-alphabet.htm
https://www.bible.ca/manuscripts/Septuagint-LXX-Hebrew-ancient-earliest-writing-Bible-scripts-alphabets-origin-Mosaic-heiroglyphic-Paleo-Aramaic-Masoretic-Jewish-Greek.htm
https://www.academia.edu/37043663/The_Paleo_Hebrew_Alphabet_The_Complete_Scientific_Research
https://www.oocities.org/gali_al_bulgari/Hebrew_Scripts.html
https://www.soamibooks.com/paleohebrewnumbers
Ancient Berber, Arabic, Aramaic, Chorasmian, Elymaic, Hatran, Hebrew, Manichaean, Nabataean, North Arabian, Pahlavi, Palmyrene, Parthian, Phoenician, Paleo-Hebrew, Proto-Sinaitic / Proto-Canaanite, Psalter, Punic, Sabaean, Samaritan, Sogdian, South Arabian, Syriac, Tifinagh, Ugaritic
Page last modified: 14.04.24
[top]
Note: all links on this site to Amazon.com
You can support this site by Buying Me A Coffee, via PayPal or Patreon, or by contributing in other ways.
If you find all the adverts annoying, there is now an Ad-free version of Omniglot which you can access for a small monthly or annual donation.
This website and its content is copyright of Simon Ager - © Simon Ager 1998-2026. All rights reserved. All images were created by me, unless otherwise indicated. More details
[top]
