Glagolitic script

The Glagolitic script (/ˌɡlæɡəˈlɪtɪk/, ⰃⰎⰀⰃⰑⰎⰉⰜⰀ, glagolitsa) is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. It is generally agreed that it was created in the 9th century by Saint Cyril, a monk from Thessalonica. He and his brother Saint Methodius were sent by the Byzantine Emperor Michael III in 863 to Great Moravia to spread Christianity among the West Slavs in the area. The brothers decided to translate liturgical books into the contemporary Slavic language understandable to the general population (now known as Old Church Slavonic), and Cyril decided to invent a new script, Glagolitic, which he based on the local dialect of the Slavic tribes from around Thessalonica. After the deaths of Cyril and Methodius, the Glagolitic alphabet ceased to be used in Moravia for political or religious needs.

In 886, the students of Cyril and Methodius were expelled and they moved to the First Bulgarian Empire instead. The Cyrillic alphabet, developed at the Preslav Literary School in the late 9th century, included some letters that were likely derived from the Glagolitic alphabet. Both Glagolitic and Cyrillic were used until the 13th–14th century in Bulgaria.

Glagolitic also spread in Bohemia, and there are traces of it in Moravia and in Kievan Rus', where its use declined by the 12th century. Since then it was found largely in Croatia, preserved by the clergy mostly in Dalmatia, to write Church Slavonic, with traces also in Slavonia. It reappeared in the West Slavic area in the 14th century, but subsided by the next century. The script was attributed to St. Jerome in the Croatian lands up until the end of the 18th century, which was popular even if wrong.

With the adoption of Latin and Cyrillic alphabets in all Slavic-speaking countries, by the early modern times the Glagolitic script remained in limited liturgical use, and went out of use in the 19th century. Since then it has been a topic of academic interest, after a number of archeological discoveries.