Northeastern Iberian script

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Northeastern Iberian script in the context of paleohispanic scripts
A northeastern non-dual Iberian signary.
Lead plaque from Ullastret using the northeastern dual signary.

The northeastern Iberian script, also known as Levantine Iberian or Iberian because the Iberian script was the most frequently used, was the main means of written expression of the Iberian language. The language is also expressed by the southeastern Iberian script and the Greco-Iberian alphabet. To understand the relationship between northeastern Iberian and southeastern Iberian scripts, one should point out that they are two different scripts with different values for the same signs. However, it is clear they have a common origin and the most accepted hypothesis is that northeastern Iberian script was derived from the southeastern Iberian script, some researchers have concluded that it is linked to the Phoenician alphabet alone, but others believe the Greek alphabet also had a role.

Typology and variants[edit]


Location of findings[edit]

The inscriptions that use the northeastern Iberian script have been found mainly in the northeastern quadrant of the Iberian Peninsula: largely along the coast from Roussillon to Alicante, but also with a deep penetration in the Ebro Valley. The northeastern Iberian inscriptions have been found on different object types (silver and bronze coins, silver and ceramic recipients, lead plaques, mosaics, amphores, stones (steles), spindle-whorls etc.), representing 95% of the total finds (over 2000 items), and nearly all the scripts were written from left to right. The oldest northeastern Iberian script date to the 4th or maybe the 5th century BCE, the modern ones date from the end of the 1st century BCE or maybe the beginning of the 1st century CE.

In recent years four northeastern Iberian abecedaries or signaries have been published: the Castellet de Bernabé signary, the Tos Pelat signary, the Ger signary and the Bolvir signary, all of them belonging to the dual variant of the script.

See also[edit]


  • Ferrer i Jané, Joan (2005): Novetats sobre el sistema dual de diferenciació gràfica de les oclusives sordes i sonores, Palaeohispanica 5, pp. 957–982.
  • Ferrer i Jane Joan (2013): «Els sistemes duals de les escriptures ibèriques», Palaeohispanica 13, pp. 451-479.

External links[edit]

Media related to Iberian scripts at Wikimedia Commons