MOABITE ALPHABET

eastern subdivision of the Canaanite branch of the early Semitic alphabet, closely related to the early Hebrew alphabet. The best-known example of the Moabite alphabet is from the Mesha', or Moabite, Stone (Louvre, Paris), which was discovered in 1868 at Dibon, east of the Dead Sea. The stone bears a 34-line inscription of Mesha', king of Moab, dating from the middle of the 9th century BC. Until the discovery of the Ahiram inscription in 1923 at Byblos, the Mesha' Stone was considered the earliest extant alphabetic inscription.