History of the Greek alphabet Plutarch criticizes Herodotus for prejudice and misrepresentation. Furthermore, he argues that "Gephyraei" were Euboeans or Eretrians and he doubts the reliability of Herodotus' sources. Plutarch and other ancient Greek writers credited the legendary Palamedes of Nauplion on Euboea with the invention of the supplementary letters not found in the original Phoenician alphabet. The distinction between "Eta" and "Epsilon" and between "Omega" and "Omicron", adopted in the Ionian standard, was traditionally attributed to Simonides of Ceos (556-469). Plutarch goes further back to describe an older Greek writing system, similar as he attested to the Egyptian writing. In his “Discourse Concerning Socrates’s
Alphabet of the Magi the prophets used this letter and that they were forbidden to divulge it to mortal man." Thet alphabet is described in the pseudo-Paracelsian "Archidoxis magica", translated into English by R. Turner (1656). S.L. MacGregor Mathers included it in his 1888 edition of the "Key of Solomon" (plate XV) under the name "Alphabet of the Magi." Alphabet of the Magi Alphabet of the Magi is the modern name of a variant of the Hebrew alphabet used for inscriptions in talismans in 17th-century occultism. It is based on a variant of the Semitic alphabet given by Theseus Ambrosius (1469–1540) in his "Introductio