In the 9th century BC, the Greeks adapted the Phoenician script for use in their own language.

The oldest text in Phoenician script is an inscription on the sarcophagus of King Ahiram.

Of particular interest are the several examples of an evolutionary variation from the original Phoenician alphabetic script.

The Greek alphabet was probably developed from the Phoenician script, which appeared somewhat earlier, and had some similar letter-shapes.

(b) the early Phoenician script before some cut-off date, typically 1050 BCE.

(c) a hypothetical ancestor of the Phoenician script, with an undefined affinity to Proto-Sinaitic.

The one big difference is that the Phoenician script had no pure vowels.

Unlike other contemporary scripts, such as Cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs, the Phoenician script consisted of only about two dozen symbols.

In other parts of the island, the Phoenician script (Kition) or the Cypriot syllabic alphabet were still used.

The inscriptions are mostly in early Hebrew with some in Phoenician script.