Egyptian hieroglyphs were used sometimes to represent 1-3 consonants, rather than words or ideas. Egyptian Hieratic script simplified the forms down for writin

Egyptian hieroglyphs were used sometimes to represent 1-3 consonants, rather than words or ideas. Egyptian Hieratic script simplified the forms down for writing with ink. Canaanites simplified it further by tossing all the ideograms, logograms and multi-consonant symbols to create an abjad. The Greeks added the first vowels to create a true alphabet.