The Medieval Origins of the Cyrillic Alphabet

The Cyrillic alphabet is used today to write languages such as Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian and Ukrainian. But despite its name, it was not actually invented by Cyril.
In this video, we trace the origins of the Cyrillic script back to the ninth century, when the Byzantine brothers Cyril and Methodius were sent to Great Moravia to translate Christian texts for its Slavic population. Their work led to the development of Old Church Slavonic as a literary language and to the creation of the first major Slavic alphabet: Glagolitic.
So how did Cyril's Glagolitic script eventually give way to the very different Cyrillic alphabet?
The story takes us from Great Moravia to the First Bulgarian Empire, where the disciples of Cyril and Methodius continued their work at centres such as Preslav and Ohrid. It was here that a new, heavily Greek-based alphabet emerged around the end of the ninth and beginning of the tenth century.
This was Cyrillic — an alphabet named after Cyril, but created after his death.
In this video, we look at how Glagolitic was created, why Cyrillic looks so different, the role of medieval Bulgaria in its development, and how one of the world's most recognizable writing systems got its name.
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Дата на публикация: 10 октомври, 2026
Категория: Наука и технология
Ключови думи: The of origins alphabet medieval Cyrillic