La transmission de l'alphabet phénicien aux Grecs. “Confrontation dialectique” des théories de B. B. Powell et de R. D. Woodard et synthèse de S.-T. Teodorsson

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Studies on the origin and development of the alphabet are very abundant: considering the last twenty years only, I listed more than thirty papers and monographs, which focus their attention on the mother script and antiquity of the Greek alphabet or the place and modalities of its transmission. In this paper, I shall comment three key theories, namely these of B.B. Powell (1991), related with Homeric epics, R.D. Woodard (1997), related with Cypriot syllabic writing, and S.-T. Teodorsson (2006), related with oriental literature. I chose them because they offer a global model of the alphabet’s historical reconstitution, which takes into consideration all parts of the question. Powell’s “Homer related” theory and Woodard’s, on a Cypriot origin, apparently completely opposed, seem to be combined to a certain degree by Teodorsson, who proposes a kind of compromise between literary influence and trade routes.

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