The Phoenicians were the premier maritime traders of the ancient Mediterranean, but their most enduring legacy is the Phoenician alphabet. Unlike the complex cuneiform or hieroglyphic systems that used hundreds of symbols for words or syllables, the Phoenicians developed a phonetic script where each sign represented a single sound. Consisting of 22 letters, it was much easier to learn and use, democratizing literacy beyond the professional scribe class. Because the Phoenicians were seafaring merchants, they spread this script to their trading partners across the Mediterranean. It became the basis for the Greek alphabet (which added vowels), and subsequently the Latin alphabet used by most modern Western languages. It also influenced the development of the Hebrew and Arabic scripts. The word 'alphabet' itself is derived from the first two letters of the Greek version, 'alpha' and 'beta,' which were adapted from Phoenician 'aleph' and 'beth.'