What is an ancient civilization known for their phonetic alphabet and indigo dyes?
“The Phoenicians” is the clear answer. BUT some of the answers listed so far are a bit off on their story about the development of the alphabet — perhaps because they base it on a slightly skewed telling in the wikipedia article. It is misleading to say that “the Proto-Canannite alphabet” of the early 2nd millennium BC was “refined” of “evolved” into the Phoenician script” of ca. 1000 BC seems to suggest that the development was the work of the group on the northern coast of Syria that we call the Phoenicians. Not quite. In fact, the Semitic languages of this WHOLE REGION were using forms of the same basic alphabet for centuries, including the “Paleo-Hebrew” script. The ONLY thing that makes the Phoenicians distinctive in this regard, is that they were traders who, as they sailed, shared the alphabet with other cultures around the Mediterranean. The did NOT invent or perfect it. As for the “Phoenician civilization”, we should not overlook their SAILING exploits and the COLONIES they e
