When did the first letters appear? Who invented the Russian alphabet? Praise to the Great Saints

The first writing was symbolic - pictographic or hieroglyphic. It originated from primitive drawings, which can be called proto-writing. In the 9th millennium BC, the remains of stones with pictographic writing, presumably belonging to one of the cultures of Near Asia, were found in Syria. Chinese is very ancient: its history began around the 6th millennium BC, it is to this time that the inscriptions on tortoise shells, consisting of ancient hieroglyphs, date.

Hieroglyphic writing was complex, it was necessary to memorize a huge number of signs that related to different words and concepts. Such writing had nothing to do with the sound structure of the language. For a long time, there was no need for a more simplified version of the letter, this art was required infrequently, it was owned by a few.

First alphabet

The ancient Egyptians used hieroglyphic writing, but by 2700 BC, due to the development of trade and agriculture, a more simplified script was needed. The first one appeared: to designate the language, they took a set of 22 hieroglyphs, which were in. Scientists also found 23 hieroglyphs - perhaps he conveyed a certain vowel sound. This system was not the most common, hieroglyphs continued to exist, and the new alphabet was used to convey auxiliary words, grammatical structures and foreign borrowings.

Later, a similar alphabet began to be used in Canaan, it is called Semitic, it consisted of Egyptian hieroglyphs and several new signs.

Phoenician letter

Phoenician is often called the first alphabet, since it was in Phoenicia, the ancient Canaanite state, that sound designations began to be used everywhere. It consisted of 22 letters, which also denoted only consonants. Their writing came from ancient Greek hieroglyphs, but was slightly modified. The Phoenicians wrote from right to left with special ink on clay shards.

Phoenicia was located near the sea, many trade routes intersected here, so the alphabet quickly began to penetrate into other countries of the Mediterranean. This is how the Aramaic, Greek and other alphabets arose, on the basis of which the writing of many modern languages ​​\u200b\u200bis originated.

Director of the Volgograd Institute of Art Education Nikolai Taranov has many titles: calligrapher, doctor of pedagogical sciences, candidate of art criticism, professor, member of the Union of Artists of Russia. But few people know that he is still studying symbols. And while doing this, he went on the "detective trail" and made an amazing discovery.

Who invented the Slavic alphabet?

It would seem that everyone knows this: Cyril and Methodius, whom the Orthodox Church calls equal to the apostles for this merit. But what kind of alphabet did Kirill come up with - Cyrillic or Glagolitic? (Methodius, it is known and proven, supported his brother in everything, but it was the monk Kirill who was the “brain of the operation” and an educated person who knew many languages). This is still debated in the scientific world. Some Slavic researchers say: “Cyrillic! It is named after the creator. Others object: “Glagolitsa! The first letter of this alphabet looks like a cross. Cyril is a monk. It's a sign". It is also alleged that before the work of Cyril, there was no written language in Russia. Professor Nikolai Taranov categorically disagrees with this.

The assertion that there was no writing in Russia before Cyril and Methodius is based on a single document - the "Legend of the Letters" of the Chernorite Khrabr, found in Bulgaria, says Nikolai Taranov. - There are 73 lists from this scroll, and in different copies, due to translation errors or scribal errors, completely different versions of the key phrase for us. In one version: “the Slavs did not have books before Cyril”, in the other - “letters”, but the author points out: “they wrote with features and cuts”. It is interesting that Arab travelers who visited Russia back in the 8th century, that is, even before Rurik and even more so before Cyril, described the funeral of one Russian prince: “After the funeral, his soldiers wrote something on a white tree (birch) in honor of the prince, and then, having mounted their horses, they departed. And in the "Life of Cyril", known to the Russian Orthodox Church, we read: "In the city of Korsun, Kirill met a Rusyn (Russian), who had with him books written in Russian letters." Cyril (his mother was a Slav) took out some of his letters and with their help began to read those same Rusyn books. And these were not thin books. These were, as stated in the same "Life of Cyril", translated into Russian "Psalter" and "Gospel". There is a lot of evidence that Russia had its own alphabet long before Cyril. And Lomonosov spoke about the same thing. He cited as evidence the testimony of Pope VIII, a contemporary of Cyril, which states that Cyril did not invent these letters, but rediscovered them.

The question arises: why did Cyril create the Russian alphabet, if it already existed? The fact is that the monk Cyril had a task from the Moravian prince - to create for the Slavs an alphabet suitable for translating church books. Which he did. And the letters in which church books are now written (and in a modified form - our today's printed creations) are the work of Cyril, that is, Cyrillic.

Was the verb destroyed on purpose?

There are 22 points that prove that the Glagolitic was older than the Cyrillic, says Taranov. There is such a concept among archaeologists and philologists - a palimpsest. This is the name of an inscription made on top of another destroyed, most often scraped with a knife, inscription. In the Middle Ages, parchment made from the skin of a young lamb was quite expensive, and in order to save money, scribes often destroyed “unnecessary” records and documents, and wrote something new on a scraped sheet.
So: everywhere in Russian palimpsests the Glagolitic alphabet is erased, and on top of it there are inscriptions in Cyrillic. There are no exceptions to this rule.
- There are only five monuments written in the Glagolitic alphabet left in the world. The rest were destroyed. Moreover, in my opinion, the records in the Glagolitic alphabet were destroyed on purpose, - says Professor Nikolai Taranov.
- Since the Glagolitic alphabet was not suitable for writing church books. The numerical value of the letters (and then the belief in numerology was very strong) in it was different than what was required in Christianity.
Out of respect for the Glagolitic alphabet, Cyril left in his alphabet the same names of the letters as they were. And they are very, very difficult for an alphabet "born" in the 9th century, as claimed. Even then, all languages ​​were striving for simplification; letters in all alphabets of that time denote only sounds. And only in the Slavic alphabet are the names of the letters: “Good”, “People”, “Think”, “Earth”, etc. And all because the Glagolitic is very ancient. It has many signs of pictographic writing.

Pictographic writing is a type of writing, the signs of which (pictograms) indicate the object depicted by them. The latest finds of archaeologists speak in favor of this version. So, tablets with Slavic writing were found, the age of which dates back to 5000 BC.

"Glagolitz was created by a genius"

All modern alphabets in Europe are descended from the alphabet of the Phoenicians. In it, the letter A, we were told, stands for the head of a bull, which then turned upside down.
- And the ancient Greek historian Diodorus Siculus wrote: “These letters are called Phoenician, although it is more correct to call them Pelasgic, since they were used by the Pelasgians,” says Nikolai Taranov.
“Do you know who the Pelasgians are?” These are the ancestors of the Slavs, the Proto-Slavic tribes. The Phoenicians stood out among the surrounding swarthy black-haired tribes of farmers, Egyptians and Sumerians with fair skin and red hair. Yes, even with their passion for travel: they were excellent sailors.
In the 12th century BC, the Pelasgians took part in the Great Migration of Peoples, and some of their groups of desperate conquerors of new lands wandered very far. What gives the Volgograd professor a version: the Phoenicians were familiar with the Slavs and borrowed the alphabet from them. Otherwise, why did an alphabetic alphabet suddenly form next to Egyptian hieroglyphs and Sumerian cuneiform?
- They say: “The Glagolitic was too decorative, complex, so it was gradually replaced by a more rational Cyrillic”. But Glagolitic is not so bad, Professor Taranov is sure.
- I studied the earliest versions: the first letter of the Glagolitic alphabet does not mean a cross at all, but a person. That is why it is called "Az" - I am. A person for himself is a starting point. And all the meanings of the letters in the Glagolitic alphabet are through the prism of human perception. I drew the first letter of this alphabet on transparent film. Look, if you put it on other letters of the Glagolitic alphabet, you get a pictogram! I believe that not every designer will come up with such a way that each grapheme falls into the grid. I am amazed at the artistic integrity of this alphabet. I think the unknown author of the Glagolitic alphabet was a genius! No other alphabet in the world has such a clear connection between a symbol and its digital and sacred meaning!

Glagolitic and numerology

Each sign in the Glagolitic alphabet has a sacred meaning and denotes a certain number.
The sign "Az" is a person, number 1.
The sign “I know” is the number 2, the sign looks like eyes and a nose: “I see, so I know.”
The sign "Live" is the number 7, the life and reality of this world.
The sign "Zelo" is the number 8, the reality of a miracle and something supernatural: "too", "very" or "very".
The sign "Good" is the number 5, the only number that gives birth to its own kind or a decade: "Good begets good."
The sign "People" - the number 50, according to numerology - the world from where human souls come to us.
The sign "Our" - the number 70, symbolizes the connection between the heavenly and the earthly, that is, our world, given to us in sensations.
The sign "Omega" - the number 700, a certain divine world, "Seventh Heaven".
The sign "Earth" - according to Taranov, means a picture: the Earth and the Moon are in the same orbit.

The Phoenicians, who kept constant trade records, needed a different letter - easy, simple and convenient. They came up with an alphabet in which each sign - a letter - denoted only one specific sound of speech.

The Phoenician alphabet consists of 22 simple letters. All of them are consonants, because consonants played the main role in the Phoenician language. To read a word, it was enough for a Phoenician to see its backbone, consisting of consonants.

The oldest inscriptions, composed of the letters of the Phoenician alphabet, were found during excavations in the ancient city of Byblos (now the city of Jebel), at the foot of the Lebanese Range. They belong to the 13th century. BC. The Phoenicians wrote from right to left. They made their trade records in ink on potsherds. Few such shards have been found. The inscriptions carved on stone are better preserved: tombstones (on the sarcophagi of kings and priests) and building ones, telling about the construction of palaces at the behest of the Phoenician kings.

Starting from the IX century. BC e. The Phoenician alphabet began to spread rapidly in many countries. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that the ancient Greeks learned writing from the Phoenicians. Indeed, even the names of the Greek letters themselves are Phoenician words. For example, the name of the letter "alpha" (A) comes from the Phoenician word "alef" - a bull. (The original form of this letter resembled a bull's head.) The name of the Greek letter "beta" comes from the Phoenician word "bet" - house. (Originally, this letter was a simplified drawing of a house plan.) The word "alphabet" itself is essentially a combination of the Phoenician words "alef" and "bet".

The letters in the Phoenician alphabet were arranged in a certain order. This order was also adopted by the Greeks. But in Greek, unlike Phoenician, vowels play an important role. At the same time, the Phoenician language had many guttural sounds alien to the Greeks. The Phoenician letters corresponding to these sounds were used by the Greeks to designate vowel sounds. In addition, they came up with some new letters.

The Phoenician alphabet was incomparably simpler and more convenient than any cuneiform or hieroglyphs. But the Greek alphabet is even more perfect: it consists of 24 letters, denoting both vowels and consonants. The Greek alphabet formed the basis of the Latin, which in turn served as the basis for the alphabets of all Western European languages. The Church Slavonic alphabet originated from the Greek alphabet, compiled, according to legend, by the natives of the city of Thessaloniki (now the city of Thessaloniki) Cyril and Methodius. Under Peter I, the Church Slavonic alphabet was simplified, and an easier-to-read civil alphabet appeared, which we also use.

The Phoenician alphabet was the ancestor of not only the Greek, but also the Arabic, Hebrew and other alphabets. The invention of the Phoenicians was a great step in the cultural development of human society, making writing accessible to the masses.

The importance of writing in the development of mankind is difficult to overestimate. Back in the era when the alphabet did not exist in sight, ancient people tried to express their thoughts in the form of rock inscriptions.
Alphabet of Elizabeth Boehm

First they drew figurines of animals and humans, then various signs and hieroglyphs. Over time, people managed to create easy-to-understand letters and put them into an alphabet. Who was the creator of the alphabet of the Russian language? To whom do we owe the opportunity to express ourselves freely through writing?

Who laid the foundation of the Russian alphabet?

The history of the emergence of the Russian alphabet goes back to the 2nd millennium BC. Then the ancient Phoenicians came up with consonants and used them for a long time to draw up documents.

In the VIII century BC, their discovery was borrowed by the ancient Greeks, who significantly improved the letter by adding vowels to it. In the future, it was the Greek alphabet, with the help of which statutory (solemn) letters were compiled, that formed the basis of the Russian alphabet.

Who created the Russian alphabet?

In the Bronze Age, Proto-Slavic peoples lived in Eastern Europe, speaking the same language.

Primer Slavonic writings of the Greatest Teacher B. Jerome Stridon
Around the 1st century AD, they began to break up into separate tribes, as a result of which several states inhabited by Eastern Slavs were created in these territories. Among them was Great Moravia, which occupied the lands of modern Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, partly Ukraine and Poland.

With the advent of Christianity and the construction of temples, people needed to create a written language that would allow them to record church texts. To learn how to write, the Moravian prince Rostislav turned to the Byzantine emperor Michael III for help, who sent Christian preachers Cyril and Methodius to Moravia. In 863, they came up with the first Russian alphabet, which was named after one of the preachers - Cyrillic.

Who are Cyril and Methodius?

Cyril and Methodius were brothers from Thessalonica (now the Greek Thessaloniki). In those days, in their hometown, in addition to Greek, they spoke the Slavic-Thessalonica dialect, which formed the basis of the Church Slavonic language.

Initially, Cyril's name was Konstantin, and he received his second name just before his death, having taken a monastic vow. In his youth, Constantine studied with the best Byzantine teachers of philosophy, rhetoric, dialectics, and later taught at the University of Magnavra in Constantinople.

Monument to Saints Cyril and Methodius in Saratov. The author of the photo is Zimin Vasily.
In 863, having gone to Moravia, with the help of his brother Methodius, he created. Bulgaria became the center for the dissemination of Slavic writing. In 886, the Preslav book school was opened on its territory, where they were engaged in translations from the Greek language and copied Cyrillic and Methodius originals. Around the same time, the Cyrillic alphabet came to Serbia, and at the end of the 10th century it reached Kievan Rus.

Initially, the first Russian alphabet had 43 letters. Later, 4 more were added to it, and the 14 former ones were removed as unnecessary. At first, some of the letters looked like Greek in appearance, but as a result of an orthographic reform in the 17th century, they were replaced by those that we know today.

By 1917, there were 35 letters in the Russian alphabet, although in fact there were 37 of them, since Yo and Y were not considered separate. Additionally, the letters I, Ѣ (yat), Ѳ (fita) and V (zhitsa) were present in the alphabet, which later disappeared from use.

When did the modern Russian alphabet appear?

In 1917-1918, a major spelling reform was carried out in Russia, thanks to which the modern alphabet appeared. Its initiator was the Ministry of Public Education under the Provisional Government. The reform began before the revolution, but was continued after the transfer of power to the Bolsheviks.

Wikimedia Commons / Jimmy Thomas ()
In December 1917, Russian statesman Anatoly Lunacharsky issued a decree requiring all organizations to use the new 33-letter alphabet.

Although the spelling reform was prepared before the revolution and had no political underpinnings, at first it was criticized by opponents of Bolshevism. However, over time, the modern alphabet took root and is used to this day.

Such a sensational discovery was made by the Volgograd scientist Nikolai Taranov.
The author of the book “Runes of the Slavs and the Glagolitic”, Volgograd scientist Nikolai Taranov is sure that the first alphabet on Earth appeared with us.
Director of the Volgograd Institute of Art Education Taranov is the owner of many titles: Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, calligrapher, professor, candidate of art criticism, member of the Union of Artists of Russia. And besides, he is still studying symbols. In doing so, just like in Dan Brown's acclaimed novel, our "Professor Robert Langdon" is on the trail of a medieval church conspiracy and a surprising discovery.

Was the Slavic alphabet invented long before Cyril?

Who invented the Slavic alphabet? Ask any schoolboy - he will answer: Cyril and Methodius. For this merit, the Orthodox Church calls the monk brothers Equal-to-the-Apostles. But what kind of alphabet did Cyril come up with - Cyrillic or Glagolitic? (Methodius, it is known and proven, supported his brother in everything, but it was the monk Kirill who was the “brain of the operation” and an educated person who knew many languages). This is still debated in the scientific world. Some Slavic researchers say: “Cyrillic! It is named after the creator. Others object: “Glagolitsa! The first letter of this alphabet looks like a cross. Cyril is a monk. It's a sign". As an axiom, it is stated that before the work of Cyril, there was no written language in Russia. Volgograd scientist Nikolai Taranov categorically disagrees with this.
- The statement that there was no writing in Russia before Cyril and Methodius is based on one single document - "The Tale of the Letters" of the Chernoriz Khrabr, found in Bulgaria, - says Nikolai Taranov. – There are 73 lists from this scroll. At the same time, different copies, due to translation errors or scribal errors, have completely different versions of the key phrase for us. In one version we find: "the Slavs before Cyril did not have books", in the other - "letters", but the author points out: "they wrote with features and cuts." It is interesting that Arab travelers who visited Russia back in the 8th century, that is, even before Rurik and even more so before Cyril, described the funeral of one Russian prince: “After the funeral, his soldiers wrote something on a white tree (birch) in honor of the prince, and then, having mounted their horses, they departed. And in the "Life of Cyril", known to the Russian Orthodox Church, we read: "In the city of Korsun, Kirill met a Rusyn (Russian), who had with him books written in Russian letters." Then Cyril, whose mother was a Slav, took out some of his letters from the bag and with their help began to read those same Rusyn books. And these were not thin books. These were, as stated in the same "Life of Cyril", translated into Russian "Psalter" and "Gospel". There is a lot of evidence that Russia had its own alphabet long before Cyril. And Lomonosov spoke about the same thing. He cited as evidence the testimony of Pope VIII, a contemporary of Cyril, which states that Cyril did not invent these letters, but rediscovered them.
Then a legitimate question: why did Cyril create the Russian alphabet, if it already existed? Then, that the monk Cyril had a task from the Moravian prince - to create for the Slavs an alphabet suitable for translating church books. Which he did. The letters in which church books are now written, and in a modified form - all of our today's print media, textbooks and fiction, are the work of Cyril, that is, "Cyrillic".

WHY DESTROYED THE GLAGOLITCH?

“There are 22 points that prove that the Glagolitic was older than the Cyrillic,” says Nikolai Taranov.
"Palimpsest" - there is such a concept among archaeologists and philologists. This is the name of an inscription made on top of another inscription scraped out with a knife or destroyed in another way. In the Middle Ages, parchment made from the skin of a young lamb was quite expensive, and in order to save money, scribes often destroyed "unnecessary" records and documents, and wrote something new on the scraped sheet. Everywhere in Russian palimpsests, the Glagolitic alphabet is erased, and on top of it there are inscriptions in Cyrillic. There are no exceptions to this rule.
- There are only five monuments written in the Glagolitic alphabet left in the world. The rest were destroyed. Moreover, in my opinion, the records in Glagolitic were destroyed on purpose, - says Professor Nikolai Taranov. - Because the Glagolitic alphabet was not suitable for writing church books. The numerical value of the letters (and then the belief in numerology was very strong) in it was different than what was required in Christianity. Out of respect for the Glagolitic alphabet, Cyril left in his alphabet the same names of the letters as they were. And they are very, very difficult for an alphabet "born" in the 9th century, as claimed. Even then, all languages ​​were striving for simplification; letters in all alphabets of that time denote only sounds. And only in the Slavic alphabet such names of letters: “Good”, “People”, “Think”, “Earth” and so on. And all because the Glagolitic is very ancient. It has many signs of pictographic writing.

For reference: pictographic writing is a type of writing, the signs of which (pictograms) designate the object depicted by them. The latest finds of archaeologists speak in favor of this version. So, tablets with Slavic writing (the so-called Tertian writing) were found, the age of which dates back to 5000 BC.

This discovery about the antiquity of our primordial alphabet is of great importance for the entire Slavic world, - Volgograd scientist Nikolai Taranov is sure. – So the professor of the Kyiv Academy of Arts, calligrapher Vasily Chabanyk, after listening to my theory, became very interested and suggested that I give lectures in Kyiv. After all, whatever you say, but the alphabet of our peoples is the same and the ancient history is the same. But, unfortunately, due to the current political events in Kyiv, I cannot go there.
Professor Semchenko from the Minsk Academy of Arts is also very interested and supports this version. I spoke about this at two International Exhibitions of Calligraphy. And even foreign scientists, the French and the British, who, it would seem, are far from the history of the Slavic world and its writing, after listening to a lecture through an interpreter, came up to me and shook my hand. They said, "That's amazing, we've never heard anything like it."

Probably, the world will still talk about the discovery of Professor Taranov. This version, about the antiquity of the Slavic alphabet, was also seriously interested in the chairman of the Russian Union of Calligraphers Petr Chibitko. And the other day, an open lecture by Nikolai Taranov about the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets, about the sacred meaning of the symbols of the oldest alphabet on Earth, appeared on Youtube.

NUMEROLOGY OF THE GLAGOLIC

Each sign in the Glagolitic has a sacred meaning and denotes a certain number.

The sign "Az" is a person, number 1.
The sign “I know” is the number 2, the sign looks like eyes and a nose: “I see, so I know.”
The sign "Live" is the number 7, the life and reality of this world.
The sign "Zelo" is the number 8, the reality of a miracle and something supernatural: "too", "very" or "very".
The sign "Good" is the number 5, the only number that gives birth to its own kind or a decade: "Good begets good."
The sign "People" - the number 50, according to numerology - the world from where human souls come to us.
The sign "Our" - the number 70, symbolizes the connection between the heavenly and the earthly, i.e. our world, given to us in sensations.
The sign "Omega" - the number 700, a certain divine world, "Seventh Heaven". At the same time, the Omega sign, the Volgograd scientist believes, resembles a star with prominences in an older style, and in a later, stylized one, a horseshoe. Since among the ancient Slavs the star, now known as Omega, was called the Horseshoe and was considered a guiding one.
The sign "Earth" - according to Taranov, means a picture: the Earth and the Moon are in the same orbit.

"Only a genius could create the Glagolitic"!
All modern alphabets in Europe are descended from the alphabet of the Phoenicians. In it, the letter A, we were told, stands for the head of a bull, which then turned upside down.
- And the ancient Greek historian Photius of Sicily wrote: “These letters are called Phoenician, although it is more correct to call them Pelasgic, since they were used by the Pelasgians,” says Nikolai Taranov. “Do you know who the Pelasgians are?” These are the ancestors of the Slavs, the Proto-Slavic tribes. The Phoenicians stood out among the surrounding swarthy black-haired tribes of farmers, Egyptians and Sumerians, with fair skin and red hair. Yes, even with their passion for travel: they were excellent sailors.
In the XII century BC, the Pelasgians participated in the Great Migration of Peoples, and some of their groups of desperate conquerors of new lands wandered to the ends of the world. This allows the Volgograd professor to put forward a version: the Phoenicians were familiar with the Slavs and borrowed the alphabet from them. Why else, next to Egyptian hieroglyphs and Sumerian cuneiform, did an alphabetic alphabet suddenly form?

They say that the Glagolitic was too decorative, complex, so it was gradually replaced by a more rational Cyrillic. I wrote down the epithets that were “awarded” to the Glagolitic: “ugly”, “uncomfortable”, etc. But the Glagolitic was not so bad at all, Professor Taranov is sure. - I studied the earliest versions: the first letter of the Glagolitic alphabet does not mean a cross at all, but a person. That is why it is called "Az" - I. Each person for himself is a starting point. I would say: this is the most human alphabet on Earth. The whole meaning of the letters in the Glagolitic is through the prism of human perception.
I drew the first letter of this alphabet on transparent film. Look, if you superimpose it on other letters of the Glagolitic, you get a pictogram! Not every designer will come up with such a way that each grapheme falls into the grid. I am telling you this as an expert. I am amazed at the artistic integrity of this alphabet. The unknown author of the Glagolitic was a genius! There is no such clear connection between the symbol and its digital and sacred meaning in any other alphabet of the world!