The coming of these illustrious strangers, was, however, the first dawn of civilization in Greece; which was, in less than a century afterwards, to receive a still greater boon—the introduction of letters, by Cadmus: i.e. the Eastern, or Red man. Cadmus was the leader of the Edomites, who were driven from their country, by David, king of Israel, in his career of victory over the Canaanitish nations. Cadmus brought only fifteen characters; answering in name and number to the old Hebrew and Latin alphabets. The majority of the seven letters, subsequently added to the Hebrew alphabet, slowly found the way, after their first-born brethren; and were, in course of time, incorporated into the Greek; making, together with those invented by some unknown genius, about the war of Troy, and those invented by Simonides, about the Persian invasion, the twenty-four; of which the Greek languages was ultimately composed.
Studies of Language: Greek, 1833