The mysteries of the alphabetic order

The greatest innovation in the field of writing is the invention of the alphabet. Underlying structure to many thinking systems, alphabet contributes to organization of time, from the elaboration of a tradition and to the construction of oneiric dimension of every civilization. How was the alphabetic order decided? What are the supposed origins?  What are the links between writing, zodiac and the measurement of time?

Its history isn't linear. Serres shows the long evolution of this alphabet which was not born overnight. He reveals the influence links of the Ugaritic language on Phoenician, the origin of Greek but also the links between Egyptian writing and our alphabets thanks to the divisibility of its pictograms.








  Serres also explains how, from the Mediterranean basin to China, civilizations using agrarian symbols and observation of the moon to measure time, transformed these observations into linguistic signs.








Their evolutions and metamorphosis elucidate universal roots of systems as different as calendars, the alphabet and the zodiac. But how do we establish the link between letters ans months? Between the hour system and the zodiacal system? Why do we always find the number 12?  Why did we pass from 12 to 24 hours?








And what are the links between the 24 red Chinese images (Hong Hua), the Indian chess game and the tarot de Marseilles? Here are some of these questions to which Patrice Serres answers in this 43-minutes presentation.