A chronology from the primitive symbols to today's alphabet.
Primitive types, 15,000 BC:
Simple pictorial representations, primarily painted on cave walls and pottery.
Sumerian cuneiform writing, 4,000 BC:
The oldest documents found were created by Sumerians. The Sumerians are now considered to be the real inventors of writing.
Egyptian hieroglyphics, 3,000 BC:
These hieroglyphics are an essential basic of our alphabet because this is were signs were abstracted.
Phoenician letters, 1,300 BC:
The Phoenician letters are the foundation for Latin, Greek and Cyrillic characters.
Ancient Greek letters, 600 BC:
The geometrical forms of Ancient Greek characters were the basis for the Roman Capitalis.
Roman Capitalis letters, 300 AD:
Roman Capitalis was carved in stone. The serif of today's fonts originate from it.
Roman uncial letters, 400 AD:
The unicial font made writing with brush and pen much easier.
Carolingian Minuscule, 800 AD:
It was introduced by Charles the Great and was a lower-case letter font.
Roman type letters, 1,500 AD