Filolog (Jun 2022)

DECIPHERING THE BYBLOS “PSEUDOHIEROGLYPHIC” SCRIPT

  • Борис Хлебец

DOI
https://doi.org/10.21618/fil2225015h
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 25

Abstract

Read online

Since the Byblos “pseudohieroglyphic” signs are graphically almost identical with the Vinča (Danube/Old European) pre-script (which originally appeared in the central Balkans, then spread to the Danube valley, southern Hungary, Macedonia, Transylvania, and northern Greece, and has also been recorded in distant countries such as the Ukraine, Spain and Portugal), the author applies his knowledge in deciphering this pre-script in order to read more than fifty lines of the Byblos signs. Thus, at least some of the Byblos “pseudohieroglyphs” appear to constitute a restricted system of mythographic “eidograms” (halfway between pictograms and ideograms) used for the invocation of goddesses throughout the Old World, rather than a syllabary, as erroneously believed by George Mendenhall, Brian Colless, Jan Best, Fred Woudhuizen and others, or an alphabet (Malachi Martin).

Keywords