One of the most important results, to the Greeks, of commerce or piracy—at first the two are scarcely distinct—was the acquisition of the art of writing.
——Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy, Chapter I
希臘人在採納腓尼基字母後做出一項決定，將幾個對希臘語無用的子音符號改作標示元音。這一步使書寫能準確對應語音的關鍵成分，朗讀與抄寫不再仰賴口傳。從此，長短母音、音節結構與詞形變化都能在字面上被清楚保存。書寫的精確度提高，進而促進學校教育與跨城邦的交流。
