In the 1st millennium BC, the Phoenicians added another dimension to the alphabet and came up with a new one comprised of 20 consonants and 2 vowels. This Phoenician alphabet, the oldest known example of which is the inscription dated to 10th century BC on the sarcophagus of Ahiram, the King of Byblos, was written on parchment or papyrus scrolls with rapid brush strokes and easily applied on lead or wood.
Due its simple use, the Phoenician alphabet spread rapidly and was the precursor of many other scripts. The Hebrew inscriptions of 10th century BC employed exactly the same script. The Hellenes, on the other hand, embraced this alphabet in al-Mina (Syria) in early 8th century BC. The script arrived in Hellas through the settlement the Hellenes of Euboea (Eğriboz) established in the area where the River Orontes (Asi) flows into the sea. During the same period, the Phrygians of Anatolia began using an alphabetic system they derived from the Phoenicians script.