in their use, still lacks a satisfactory explanation. Among the East Greeks also arose the differentiation of the e and o sounds, which, after some variations, settled into denoting the short e by E, while for the long e was chosen the original aspirate (H); O was appropriated for short 0, and for long o a new symbol (B) was invented. Vau or Digamma {/:) was disused, as the sound had been early lost among the lonians. In adopting the alphabet, the Greeks seem at first to have adopted also the direction of the Phienician writing, from right to loft, but very early to have become more independent and adopted the form where the lines run alternately from right to left and left to right, like the course of the oxen in ploughing, whence the name l3ovarpo<p7j(^6i, bowttruphrdon. But the direction was unimportant, and the early inscriptions show many strange variations. It was not until the fifth century that the habit of writing from left to right supplanted the earlier forms.
Through the Greeks the alphabet was brought to Italy, and naturally in the Western form, since Chalcidians of Cuma' seem to have been the intermediaries. Here also developed many local variations: but most of the Italian alphalicts preserved throughout their history the original direction of the writing. The Latins, however, probably because of growing intimacy with the Greeks, adopted the later Greek method. The Greek alphabet was not adopted in its entirety. The aspirates (th, ph, cli) were not needed, and Z, though perhaps existing in early times, was soon dropped, and its place later taken by 6, a differentiation of C, which seems for a time to have done duty for both the k and g sounds, as K earlj- fell into disuse, if it did not actually disappear. About the time of Cicero, for the transcription of Greek names, the characters Y (U) and Z were introduced at the end of the al- phabet. This Latin alphaljet, as spread by the Roman conquests, became the alphabet of the modern European languages, with the exception of Russian, which is derived from the Byzantine Greek of the ninth century a.d., and in its early ecclesiastical form was the invention of the mis- sionary Cyril, who found it necessary to add twelve signs to express the Slavonic sounds. The number was afterward increased to forty- eight, and in the reign of Peter the Great again reduced and the alphabet modified into the pres- ent Russian alphabet of thirty-five letters. See RuxE.s and Og.^m for primitive Germanic and Irish Titing, and Gl.golitsa and Kirillitsa for the Slavic alphabets.
Bibliography. Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet (London, 1899). This is the most complete treatment in English, but must be used with caution. A convenient but rather popular sum- mary, with nui)ierous illustrations, may be found in E. Clodd, Tlic Story of llie Alphabet (London. 1900). Consult also: licrgcr, Histoirc dc I'ccri- iurc dans Vanliiui1c (Paris, 1891); Peters, "Recent Theories of the Alphabet." Journal of the Amrrican Oriental Societi/. XXII. (New Haven, 1901); Evans, Cretan Pietographs and Pre-Phoenician Script (Ixindon, 1895); Evans, Further Discoveries of Cretan and .ISgean Script (London. 1898). On the origin of the Phtenician alphabet, see the books citeil above, and comjiare Lidzbar.ski. Handbueh dcr nordsemitisrhcn Epi- graphil- (Weimar. 1898). which contains a full bibliography. For the Greek alphabet, see Kirchofr, Studien ziir Oeschichte des griechisch- en Alphahels (Giilersloh, 1887); Roberts, Intro- duction to Greek Epigraphy (Cambridge, Eng., 1887); Reinach. Truitc d'cpii/niphie grecque (Paris, 188.5); Larfeld, in Mailer's Handbueh der l:lassisehen Altertuinswissenschaft, Volume I. (Munich. 1892). For the Latin alphabet, con- sult: Ritschl, Prisew Lotinitatis Monumenti Epigraphiea (Berlin, 1802); Hiibner, Exempla Scriptiirw Latinw Epigraphiea a Cwsaris Morte, etc. (Berlin. 1885); 'also Hiibner in Mtiller's Handbueh, Volume I.
ALPHAND, al'fax', .Iean Charles Adolpiie
(1817-911. A French civil engineer. He was
born at Grenoble, studied at the Eeole Polytech-
nique, and was appointed an engineer at Bor-
deaux. He was a])pointed chief engineer of the
improvements of Paris in 1854, director of works
in 1871. and in 1878 director of water supply
and drainage. In 1857 he was chief engineer of
roads and bridges, and in the Franco-Prussian
War was colonel of an engineer corps charged
with the task of strengthening the fortifications
of the capital. He divides with Baron Hauss-
mann the honor of having reconstructed Paris.
ALPHE'US (Gk. 'A/^c/oc, .l?;)/iC!'os) . The
chief river of the Peloponnesus ( Morea) , rising
in the southeast of Arcadia, and flowing west
through Elis and past the famous Olympia, into
the Ionian Sea. This river is one of the most
celebrated in ancient song, and is connected with
a beautiful and characteristic Greek legend.
The upper course of the Alpheus was of a charac-
ter likely to afl'eet strongly the imagination of
the Greeks. In its passage through Arcadia, a
country consisting of cavernous limestone, and
abounding in shut-in basins and valleys, it twice
disappears under ground and rises again. After
these feats it was deemed capable of anything —
even of flowing under the sea — and the Greek
colonists of Sicily thought they recognized it in
their new country. Close on the margin of the
sea in the island of Ortygia (the site of Syra-
cuse), was the beautiful and copious fountain of
Arethusa. and its fresh water was believed to be
that of the Aljibcus. As evidence it was asserted
that when the river overflowed its banks, the
refuse of Ol.ympia polluted the fountain, and
that a golden cup, thrown into the Alplieus at
Olympia, reappeared in Arethusa. This popu-
lar belief was reflected in a favorite story pf
the later classical times. The river-god Alpheus
became enamored of the nymph Arethusa Ahile
she was bathing in his stream. To escape him.
she prayed to Diana, who changed her into a
fountain, and opened up an underground passage
for her to Ortygia. The river still pursued, and
passing from Greece to Sicily below the sea. with-
out mingling his waters with it, united with his
love in Die fountain.
ALPHONSE, al'foN-s' (1220-71). Count of
Poitiers and Toulouse, son of Louis VIII. of
France. He took part in the Sixth Crusade
(1249-50), led by his brother. Louis IX. (St.
Louis), with whom he was taken prisoner at
Mansurah. He also accompanied King Louis in
the Seventh Crusade (1270). against Tunis,
where he fell fatally ill. His administration of
the affairs of his domains was prudent and just,
and made in general toward increased autonomy
and cpiitraliz;>timi.
ALPHON'SINE TA'BLES. See Alfonsine.
