Paleo-Hebrew

Paleo-Hebrew is an ancient script used by early Israelites around 1000 BCE, derived from the Phoenician alphabet. It is a consonant-based writing system that predates the more familiar Hebrew script used today. Paleo-Hebrew resembles other Semitic scripts of the time and was employed for inscriptions, religious texts, and everyday writing. Over centuries, it evolved into the square Hebrew script seen in modern Hebrew texts, but Paleo-Hebrew remains significant for understanding the linguistic and cultural origins of the Hebrew people. Its discovery helps scholars trace the development of written language in the ancient Near East.