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
History of the Greek alphabet of the same name, he would have lived at the time of Oedipus. The third tripod bears the inscription again in hexameter verse: . (""Laodamas, while he reigned, dedicated this cauldron to Apollo, the sure of aim, as a lovely offering""). Hyginus recounts the following legend about the introduction of Phoenician letters to Greece: Some ancient Greek scholars argued that the Greek alphabet should not be attributed to the Phoenician alphabet. Diodorus Siculus in his Historical Library, Book 5, suggests that the Phoenicians merely changed the form and shape of earlier letters: In his book On the malice of Herodotus,