ABSTRACT
The introduction of the Greek letters into inscription somewhere about 700 b.c. was to alter the character of human culture, placing a gulf between all alphabetic societies and their precursors. The Greeks did not just invent an alphabet, they invented literacy and the literate basis of modern thought. The letter shapes and values had to pass through a period of localization before being standardized throughout Greece. The Greek system by its superior analysis of sound placed the skill of reading theoretically within the reach of children at the stage where they are learning the sounds of their oral vocabulary. Uncritical students of the history of writing will make it a reproach against the Greek system that the names became "meaningless" in Greek. There were limits set to classical literacy by the character of the materials and the methods employed to manufacture the written word.
