Phoenician alphabet - one of the first recorded in history of phonetic letters. Now about the XIII century BC. e. and became rodonachalnitsey most modern writing systems.
Konsonantny made use of the principle, that is to record the words used only in accordance with sound, and the value of vowels was left to the reader understanding. The text was recorded from right to left.
Phoenician letter is one of the first alphabet languages in the world, but it is Phoenician alphabet gave rise to several branches of alphabetical writing, and, to date, virtually all of alphabetic writing world (except for Korean letters) have roots in Phoenician letter. Other writing with alphabet structure - drevnepersidskaya cuneiform and Meroitic writing, not root.