Paleo-Hebrew alphabet those of the Paleo-Hebrew and the present Hebrew alphabet, with names traditionally used in English. According to contemporary scholars, the Paleo-Hebrew script developed alongside others in the region during the course of the late second and first millennia BCE. It is closely related to the Phoenician script. The earliest known inscription in the Paleo-Hebrew script is the Zayit Stone discovered on a wall at Tel Zayit, in the Beth Guvrin Valley in the lowlands of ancient Judea in 2005. The 22 letters were carved on one side of the 38 lb (17 kg) stone, which resembles a bowl on the
Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva fact, there exists a third version, called Midrash de-Rabbi Akiva 'al ha-Taggin we-Ẓiyunim, a Midrash of Rabbi Akiva treating on the ornamentations of the letters of the alphabet with a view to finding in each of them some symbolic expression of God, Creation, the Torah, Israel, and the Jewish rites and ceremonies. This version is published in Jellinek's "B. H." v. 31-33. Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva Alphabet of Rabbi Akiva (, "Otiot de-Rabbi Akiva") is a Midrash on the names of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Two versions or portions of the same are known to exist. Version A,