Ancient Alphabets

Carl Shank • October 28, 2023

Ancient Alphabets. How did our alphabet come to exist? Much of what we know about the alphabet comes from Middle Eastern and Egyptian sources. In my previous BLOG ("What's In A Name?") I investigated the creation of the alphabet and how our modern letters were formed. Again, I refer the interested reader and researcher to the excellent work by David Sacks, Letter Perfect: The Marvelous History of Our Alphabet from A to Z, available at Amazon.com. This particular blog offers readers and historical users the opportunity to see and download several ancient alphabetic fonts that history has uncovered.


It should be noted that in the computer world, Google fonts has produced several ancient fonts, only in Unicode offerings. They are Noto Sans Cuneiform, Noto Sans Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Noto Sans  Ugaritic, Noto Sans Old Persian and Noto Sans Imperial Aramaic. These are extensive fonts with hundreds or even thousands of characters in Unicode format. What that means is that finding a particular pictogram or etching (what ancient fonts look like) for a particular letter is next to impossible, unless one knows the exact letter font coding. They are also open source fonts, available for use and reconstitution.


Using a reliable historical source, we can match letters or numbers to font glyphs. Consequently, what CARE Typography has been able to do is to recreate some of these ancient fonts that match the alphabet's capital lettering. Thus, in the Noto Sans font for Egyptian Hieroglyphs when you type the letter "A" you get back "A," not the Egyptian Hieroglyph for "A." The same holds true for the other Noto Sans fonts. We were able to reformulate some of the ancient fonts so that "A," for instance, gives you the correct ancient letter or pictogram. Note the diagrams below.


EgyptHiero. This is the reconstituted Noto Sans Egyptian Hieroglyph only for the capital letters of our alphabet. A bit of history here. Egyptian hieroglyphics were used for writing the Egyptian language from about 3000 BC until 400 AD. Symbols resembling hieroglyphs had been used by artisans in the region since 4000 BC, but with no ascertainable linguistic content. The first hieroglyphs were used for making inscriptions on buildings and tombs. Later they came to be used to decorate jewelry, record events on papyrus and to put a royal or divine signature, called a cartouche on an item. The Egyptian hieroglyphic system of writing consisted of both phonetic symbols and pictographs. There were about 30 symbols representing single consonants.


UgariticCuneform. This is the reconstituted Noto Sans Ugaritic font only for the capital letters of our alphabet. Ugaritic is a historical Middle Eastern abjad, written left-to-right. Was used in today’s Syria in 1500-1300 BC for the Ugaritic language, and also for Hurrian. Has 30 letters that visually resemble cuneiform. The Ugaritic script was used from about 1500-1300 BC to write the Ugaritic language, spoken in modern-day Syria. It was also occasionally used for writing documents in the Hurrian language. Visually, the script resembled Cuneiform, with each letter written as one of a combination of short, linear wedges.


OldPersianA. This is the reconstituted Noto Sans Old Persian font, again only for the capital letters of our alphabet. Old Persian cuneiform was the main script for writing the Old Persian language from 525-330 BC. Visually it resembles Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform; most of the letters are arrangements of between two and five horizontal, vertical or angle-shaped wedges. However, there appears to be no derivational relationship between the sound-to-symbol mapping of individual letters in the two scripts, nor has any other script been found which links the forms of the scripts. For this reason, Old Persian cuneiform is generally believed to have been an independent invention.




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More Fournier

By Carl Shank • August 20, 2025
(UPDATE FROM POST DECEMBER 23, 2024) Pierre-Simon Fournier — In our history of typography series, Pierre-Simon Fournier (1712–1768) was a French typographer and type designer, renowned for his contributions to the field of typography in the 18th century. He is best known for his work in creating typefaces that reflected the elegance and sophistication of the time. Fournier's work in type design focused on creating typefaces that were both visually appealing and functional. His types were characterized by their clarity, beauty, and legibility. The typeface Fournier is an aristocratic roman typeface. It is transitional, almost modern, in character, with a distinct French flavor, but with more grace and style than traditional French oldstyle designs. This modern character influenced the later work of Bodoni.(See Sample) One of Fournier's significant contributions to typography was his establishment of a typographic point system. He invented a system that standardized measurements for type, which provided consistency and made it easier for printers to produce high-quality texts. This innovation helped printers achieve consistency in their work. Fournier published a seminal work in the history of typography titled Manuel de la Typographie ( Manual of Typography , two volumes published in 1764 and 1766), which included detailed descriptions of his typefaces along with examples. This work served as a reference for printers and typographers. The Introduction gives an overview of the principles of typography. In his Classification of typefaces, Fournier emphasizes the distinction between different styles, such as Roman, Italic, and Gothic types. The manual includes practical tips for setting type, including spacing, alignment, and layout, aimed at improving the quality of printed materials. Fournier includes numerous type specimens, showcasing his designs and providing examples of how different types can be used effectively in printing. Throughout the text, Fournier discusses the historical development of typography and its evolution, reflecting on the influence of various cultures and periods on the art of type. Other contemporaries elsewhere, such as J.M. Fleischman and J. Enschedé, started imitating Fournier's style. In the 1750s, his career was at its peak. He advised royalty in Sweden and Sradinia on types, and set up a printing shop for Madame de Pompadour. He developed musical types in cooperation with J.G.I. Breitkopf in 1756. Fournier's designs influenced future generations of typographers and established a foundation for modern type design. His methods and styles contributed to the evolution of typography, leading to the development of various typefaces we see today. The ORNAMENTS display is a careful digitized reproduction by CARE Typography of Fournier's original ad as seen in the "Fournier Specimen Book" by Lanston Monotype, 1927, in London.

A Cross Inspired Typeface

By Carl Shank • July 24, 2025
A Cross Inspired Typeface. CARE Typography has been able to craft a typeface of Christian crosses from the history of the Christian Church throughout the world. We named it CrossesTwo to simply distinguish it from other writings. It is a FREE font, available to all who ask. Christian crosses are used widely in churches, on top of church buildings, on bibles, in heraldry, in personal jewelry, on hilltops, and elsewhere as an attestation or other symbol of Christianity. Crosses are a prominent feature of Christian cemeteries , either carved on gravestones or as sculpted stelae . Because of this, planting small crosses is sometimes used in countries of Christian culture to mark the site of fatal accidents. Not far from where we are, there is a huge Christian cross built by a Virginia church marking not merely the site of the church building, but announcing the central message of the Bible there. Christian crosses are powerful symbols that convey theological meaning, cultural identity, and historical legacy. Over centuries, many distinct styles of the cross have developed across Christian traditions, regions, and periods. Some of the most prominent crosses are the traditional Latin Cross (Letter "L" in CrossesTwo typeface), where the vertical beam extends beyond the horizontal cross bar, the Greek Cross , a cross with four arms of equal length (Letter "V" in the typeface), the Orthodox (Eastern) Cross (Letter small "o" in typeface), with three horizontal bars — the top for the inscription (INRI), the middle for the hands, and the slanted bottom bar for the footrest, the Celtic Cross (Letter "1" in the typeface), which is a Latin cross with a circular ring connecting the arms. The traditional Latin cross symbolizes the crucifixion of Jesus, with the empty cross signaling that He rose again from the dead, and is used in Western Christianity, Roman Catholic, Protestant, and many global Christian contexts. The Greek Cross is common in early Christian art and Byzantine Christianity and used in Eastern Orthodox, Byzantine, and early Christian monuments and mosaics. In the Orthodox Eastern Cross the slanted bar represents the two thieves crucified beside Christ — one rose to heaven, the other descended. It is used in Russian, Greek, Serbian, and other Eastern Orthodox Churches. The Celtic Cross had its origins in early medieval Ireland and Britain, associated with Celtic Christianity. It has been used in Irish Christianity, Anglican, some Protestant denominations, and decorative gravestones. The Coptic Cross (Letter "5" in the typeface and note Letter "e" where the Ethiopian Cross is a close match to the new Coptic Cross) is a a variation with intricate, symmetrical designs — sometimes with equal arms or surrounded by circles. It is used by Christians in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Jerusalem Cross (Letter "j" in the typeface) has a large central cross surrounded by four smaller Greek crosses, used by the Crusades in the eleventh century, is the Heraldic symbol of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and used by Franciscans and in modern Jerusalem-related contexts. The Russian Orthodox Cross (Letter "o" in the typeface) Features three horizontal bars — top (INRI), middle (hands), and slanted bottom (feet). The Tau Cross (Letters "T" and "t" in the typeface) is shaped like the Greek letter tau and has been adopted by St. Anthony and Franciscans to symbolize Old Testament sacrifices and God's protection (Ezekiel 9:4). St. Andrew's Cross (Saltire) (Letter "s" in the typeface) is an X-shaped cross from the tradition that Andrew the Apostle was crucified on a diagonal cross. It is the symbol of Scotland and the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Papal Cross (Letter "P" in the typeface) is a vertical staff with three horizontal bars, decreasing in length, representing the pope’s triple office: bishop of Rome, patriarch of the West, and successor of Peter. The Cross of Lorraine (Letter "l" in the typeface) is a vertical bar crossed by two horizontal bars — the lower one longer, has been used in Western Europe during the Crusades and was a symbol of French resistance in World War 2. The Patriarchal Cross (Letter "p" in the typeface) is similar to the Cross of Lorraine, but primarily associated with ecclesiastical hierarchy, and used by archbishops and patriarchs in Eastern and Western churches. Each cross reflects regional theological emphases, cultural aesthetics, and historical developments. While the Latin Cross remains the universal Christian emblem, the variety in form reveals Christianity's global and historical richness. Note the CrossesTwo typeface below with the description of these and many other crosses. (Credit for the opening image is given to Matteo Corti - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Muiredach_s_Cross.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1393567)
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