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The plan of the alphabet is derived from the early Cyrillic alphabet, itself a derivative of the Glagolitic alphabet, a 9th century uncial cursiveCursive is a style of handwriting in which all the letters in a word are connected, making a word one single (complicated) stroke. In the United States, cursive is usually taught in second or third grade (around ages seven to nine). In British English, th usually credited to two brothers, Saint CyrilSaint Cyril (born Thessaloniki, Greece, 827; died Rome, February 4, 869) was a Byzantine monk, scholar, theologian, and linguist. With his brother Methodius he is credited with inventing the Glagolitic alphabet, a precursor to the Cyrillic alphabet. The t and Saint MethodiusSaint Methodius was a bishop of Great Moravia ("Moravia") (born Thessaloniki, Greece, 826; he died in the (unknown) capital of Great Moravia, April 6, 885). Saint Methodius was the main translator of the Bible into Old Church Slavonic (see also Slavic lan. The glyphs in the Cyrillic alphabet are, however, mainly ByzantineThe Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire was the eastern section of the Roman Empire, with its capital at Constantinople (modern Istanbul), which remained in existence after the fall of Rome in the 5th century. The Byzantine period is usually consider GreekThe Greek language is written in the Greek alphabet developed in classical times (around the 9th century BC) and passed down to the present. In ancient Greece, its letters were also used to represent numbers, called Greek numerals, in analogy with Roman n letters. Some of them, especially those representing sounds that did not exist in medieval Greek, retain their Glagolitic forms.
Whereas it is widely accepted that the Glagolitic alphabet, was invented by Saint CyrilSaint Cyril (born Thessaloniki, Greece, 827; died Rome, February 4, 869) was a Byzantine monk, scholar, theologian, and linguist. With his brother Methodius he is credited with inventing the Glagolitic alphabet, a precursor to the Cyrillic alphabet. The t and Saint MethodiusSaint Methodius was a bishop of Great Moravia ("Moravia") (born Thessaloniki, Greece, 826; he died in the (unknown) capital of Great Moravia, April 6, 885). Saint Methodius was the main translator of the Bible into Old Church Slavonic (see also Slavic lan, the origins of the Early Cyrillic alphabet are still a source of much controversy. Though the alphabet is usually attributed to Saint Climent of OhridSaint Climent of Ohrid (ca. 840 916) was a medieval Bulgarian scholar and writer, the first Bulgarian archbishop. Evidence about his life before his arrival in Bulgaria is scarce but according to his hagiography by St. Teophylactus of Ohrid, Climent was b, a Bulgarian scholar and disciple of Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius, the alphabet is more likely to have developed at the Preslav Literary School in northeastern Bulgaria, where the oldest Cyrillic inscriptions (dating back to the 940s) have been found. The strong Byzantine influence which Preslav experienced as Bulgaria's capital in the 9th and the 10th century is a plausible reason for the incorporation of Greek letters into the Glagolitic alphabet. The theory is further supported by the fact that the Cyrillic alphabet replaced almost completely the Glagolitic one in northeastern Bulgaria as early as the end of the 10th century, whereas the Ohrid Literary School—where Saint Climent worked—continued to use the Glagolitic alphabet until the 12th century.
There are also other theories regarding the origins of the Cyrillic alphabet, namely that the alphabet was created by Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius themselves, or that it preceded the Glagolitic alphabet, representing a "transitional" stage between Greek and Glagolitic cursive, but these have been widely disproved. Although Cyril is almost certainly not the author of the Cyrillic alphabet, his contributions to Glagolitic alphabet and hence to the Cyrillic alphabet are still recognised, as the latter is named after him.