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CANAANITE BRANCH
249 consists of consonants only, and it contains also special signs (not reproduced in the Fig.) for double consonants, such as gl. lt, mt, ft, nk.
The origin of this script (or scripts) is still uncertain. Various suggestions have been advanced, some considering it as an offshoot of the South Arabian or North Arabian alphabets, or of a pre-alphabetic Aegean script, or else of the early Greek alphabet, or of the Phoenician or nco-Punic alphabets, or even of Egyptian hieroglyphics. The correct solution of the problem is probably this: the early Libyans borrowed the idea of writing from the Carthaginians, but they did not adopt the whole Punic or neo-Punic alphabet: they took over some signs, the direction of writing from right to left and the consonantal method of writing. At the same time they adopted also some local signs some Berber tribes, the Dag R'ali and Kel R'ela, for instance, still employ ancient geometrical property marks-and modified some of the borrowed Punic letters, so that the external form of the Libyan signs became quite different from that of the Punic or nco-Punic alphabets.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
L. L. C. Faidherbe, Collection complète des inscriptiorts mamidiques (libyques). etc., Paris, 1870.
E. Littmann, L'origine de l'alphaber libyen, "JOURNAL ASIATIQUE, 1904
J.-B. Chabot, Inscriptions purico-libes, "JOURXAL ASIATIQUE, 1918; Les inscriptions libwues de Dougga, "JOURNAL ASIATIQUE,"1921; Recueil des Inscriptores libyques, Paris, 1940-1941 (1947).
F. Beguinot, a series of articles in L'AFIUCA ITALIANA." 1927; "ANSALI DEL R. Ist. ORIENT, DI NAPOLI 1929 and 1935: "LA Riv, D'ORIENTE, 1935, etc.
C. Meinhof, Die libyschen Inschriften, Leipsic, 1931.
E. Zyhlharz, Die Sprache Numidims, "ZEITSCHRIFT FUER EINGEBORNE SPRACHEN, 1931-1932.
M. Reygasse, Contrib, à l'étude de grati. rup, etc., Algiers, 1932.
G. Marey, Les inscriptions libyques bilingues de l'Afrique du Nord, Paris, 1936; "HESPERIS", 1937: "Rev. AFRIC." 1937.
On the Libyan inscriptions of the Canary Islands, see O. Rassler, Libyca, "WIENER ZEITSCHRIFT FUER DIE KENDE DES MORGENLANDES" 1942
Iberian Scripts (Fig. 114 and 125) About a hundred and fifty inscriptions have been found in Spain written in the Therian scripts. There were two distinct systems of writing: (a) the script of Hispania Citerior, that is, the Iberian script in the narrow sense of the word, and (b) the Turdetun or Andalusian alphabet, that is, the script of ancient Tartessus (the Biblical Tarshish) and the southern Iberian peninsula. The former is the more important.
The inscriptions are engraved on stone monuments (Fig. 125, 2) or on lead, bronze or silver, or painted on pottery (Fig. 125, 3) or on walls. Iberian coins bearing inscriptions have also been found.
The longest inscription (considered by some scholars as a forgery) is on lead and was discovered at La Serreta, nearly two miles from Alcoy,
