Alphabet

[Francis Asis]

Why is the alphabet in alphabetical order (or any order) and why are the vowels scattered throughout and not all together at the beginning or end? Does anyone know?

[Sylday]

I was once intrigued by the same issue, and found some excellent websites on the history of alphabets. The following page has links to sites covering various aspects - http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/Bureau/8759/langlinks/wr iting-abc-hist.html