The	Greek	alphabet	                                                              	
                 	                                                                                	
                 The	invention	of	the	alphabet	                                                   Letters	and	sounds	
                 The	earliest	examples	of	writing	in	Greek	date	from	about	1300	BC.	              Lower	    Upper	 Greek	name	             English	   Ancient	
                 Around	1000	BC,	the	Greek	world	experienced	great	change	and	the	skill	           case	     case	                          letter	   pronunciation	
                 of	writing	was	lost.	In	the	middle	of	the	700s	BC,	writing	in	Greek	                α	       Α	     alpha	                   a	      cat	
                 appeared	again.	The	Greeks	had	borrowed	the	alphabet	of	the	                        β	       Β	     beta		(beeta)	           b	      big	
                 Phoenicians,	wealthy	traders	who	lived	in	the	region	of	modern	Lebanon.		           γ	       Γ	     gamma	                   g	      got	
                                                                                                     δ	       Δ	     delta	                   d	      dim	
                                                      Here	are	the	first	four	letters	of	the	        ε	       Ε	     epsilon	                 e	      wet	
                                                      Phoenician	and	Greek	alphabets.	               ζ	       Ζ	     zeta	                    z	      wisdom	
                                                      The	Greeks	made	changes	to	the	                η	       Η	     eta	                     e	      fair	
                                                      Phoenician	alphabet	to	suit	their	             θ	       Θ	     theta	                  th	      think	
                                                      language.	You	can	see	the	                     ι	        Ι	    iota	                    i	      sit,	police	
                                                      similarities			between	the	letters	            κ	       Κ	     kappa	                   k	      keep	
                                                      and	their	names	in	Greek	and	                  λ	       Λ	     lambda	                  l	      lot	
                                                      Phoenician.	                                   μ	       Μ	     mu			(mew)	             m	       moon	
                                                                                                     ν	       Ν	     nu	                      n	      noon	
                 The	ancient	Greeks	                                                                 ξ	       Ξ	     xi				(ksie	as	in	pie)	  x	      tax	
                 used	their	alphabet	                                                                ο	       Ο	     omicron	                 o	      hot	
                 to	write	on	many	                                                                   π	       Π	     pi	                      p	      pin	
                 different	materials	                                                                ρ	       Ρ	     rho			(slow)	            r	      rob	
                 including	papyrus,	                                                               σ	or	ς	    Σ	     sigma	                   s	      send	
                 stone	and	pottery.	                                                                 τ	       Τ	     tau			(cow)	             t	      tale	
                 They	often	wrote	                                                                   υ	       Υ	     upsilon	               u	or	y	   few	
                 just	in	upper	case.	                                                                φ	       Φ	     phi	                    ph	      graph	
                 Here	are	some	                                                                      χ	       Χ	     chi	                    ch	      loch	
                 examples	of	names	                                                                  ψ	       Ψ	     psi	                    ps	      lapse	
                 of	people	and	gods	in	ancient	Greek	writing.		                                      ω	       Ω	     omega	                   o	      coat