Biblical Hebrew and occasionally other literary works, distinct from the calligraphic styles used mainly for private purposes. The Mizrahi and Ashkenazi book-hand styles were later adapted to printed fonts after the invention of the printing press. The modern Hebrew alphabet, also known as the Assyrian or Square script, is a descendant of the Aramaic alphabet. The Phoenician script had dropped five characters by the 12th century BCE, reflecting the language's twenty-two consonantal phonemes. As a result, the 22 letters of the Paleo-Hebrew alphabet numbered less than the consonant phonemes of ancient Biblical Hebrew; in particular, the letters could each mark two different
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,