𐤀𐤁𐤂𐤃 Learn to read Phoenician
Read the alphabet that started all alphabets.
Greek, Latin, Arabic and Hebrew all descend from the 22 letters the Phoenicians carved in Byblos, Tyre and Sidon. Learn them in a few minutes a day, then read the kings' own inscriptions, word by word.
The whole alphabet is free forever. No ads, no hearts, no card.
Try it: tap each letter, right to left
Phoenician is read right to left, like Arabic.
- 22
- letters, the whole alphabet
- 79
- words from real inscriptions
- 65
- with an Arabic relative
- 6
- real inscriptions to read
If you know أبجد هوز, you already know the order.
The Arabic abjad mnemonic is the Phoenician alphabet, letter for letter. Alep teaches through that connection, so Arabic readers recognise most letters and many words on sight.
𐤀𐤁𐤂𐤃
أبجد
𐤄𐤅𐤆
هوز
𐤇𐤈𐤉
حطي
𐤊𐤋𐤌𐤍
كلمن
𐤎𐤏𐤐𐤑
سعفص
𐤒𐤓𐤔𐤕
قرشت
22 letters, in the order Phoenician scribes learned them three thousand years ago.
Built on how memory actually works
Short lessons, real retrieval, and reviews timed for the moment you are about to forget. Nothing to lose, nothing to grind.
Learn the letters through their pictures
Every letter began as a picture: an ox, a house, a hand. Learn its shape, its sound and the Arabic letter it became, then trace it yourself.
Read real words
Words attested on stone, most with an Arabic relative: ملك، بيت، شمس، سلام. Spell them from tiles, match them, type them.
Read real inscriptions
Decode the coffin of Ahiram, the stela of Yehawmilk and the vows of Carthage, with every word's meaning one tap away.
Spaced repetition
Every letter and word comes back just before you would forget it, at ever-wider intervals.
Recall, not only recognition
Exercises move from choosing, to building, to typing as you improve. Producing the answer is what makes it stick.
Mistakes cost you nothing
No hearts, no lives. A missed question comes back later in the same lesson and again in your reviews.
Five minutes is enough
A lesson takes three to six minutes, and a daily goal you choose turns it into a habit.
Streaks with a safety net
Keep a daily streak, and earn a streak freeze every seven days so one busy day doesn't erase it.
English and Arabic
The whole app, every lesson and every gloss, in both languages.
Where you're headed
Read what the kings of Byblos wrote
The coffin of King Ahiram, carved around 1000 BCE, holds the oldest long text in the finished Phoenician alphabet. By the last unit you will read it yourself.
Browse inscriptionsSarcophagus of Ahiram · c. 1000 BCE
Simple pricing
The whole alphabet is free. Pro unlocks the rest of the course for less than a coffee a month.
Free
The complete alphabet
$0
forever
- All 22 letters (units 1–4)
- Daily spaced-repetition reviews
- Letter drills and mistake review
- Streaks, daily goals and the leaderboard
- Three real inscriptions
Pro
The whole course
Pro is not available right now.
- Every unit: people, numbers, gods, kings
- All six inscriptions, word by word
- Word drills and timed speed rounds
- Unlimited practice, any time
- Everything in Free
- Cancel any time in two clicks
7 days free, then billed. Cancel before and pay nothing.
Questions
What exactly will I learn?
To read Phoenician: all 22 letters, the most common words found on inscriptions, and real inscriptions from Byblos, Sidon and Carthage, word by word. It is a reading course: nobody has spoken Phoenician for over 1,500 years.
Is Alep for Arabic speakers?
It is built around them. The app works fully in Arabic, every letter is shown with the Arabic letter it became, and most words come with their Arabic relative. English speakers get the same course in English.
How accurate is the content?
Spellings and meanings follow the standard scholarly editions (cited as KAI). Pronunciations are conventional reconstructions, and where scholars disagree about a letter's origin we say so.
Why are there no listening or speaking exercises?
There are no recordings and no native speakers, so any audio would be invented. Phoenician survives as writing, so Alep teaches reading, and it does it thoroughly.
How much time do I need?
Five to ten minutes a day. Most learners can read the whole alphabet within two weeks.
What is free?
The complete alphabet (the first four units), daily reviews, letter drills and the first three inscriptions. There are no ads and no limits on mistakes.
Can I cancel any time?
Yes, in two clicks from Billing. Your first subscription starts with a 7-day free trial, and you keep Pro until the end of the period you paid for.
Is it suitable for children and classes?
Yes, from about ten years old. Teachers can write to us about class access.
𐤔𐤋𐤌
Your first word is three letters away.
Start with the ox, the house and the father. It takes two minutes.
Start learning, free