How did Phoenician trade spread the Phoenician alphabet around the Mediterranean?

The Phoenician alphabet was spread across the Mediterranean primarily through the extensive commercial networks of Phoenician merchants and colonizers. As a seafaring people, the Phoenicians established trade routes and settlements throughout the Mediterranean, including in Cyprus, North Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain.123

The development and use of the alphabet were closely tied to these mercantile activities. Because Phoenician city-states like Byblos, Sidon, and Tyre functioned as major hubs for the exchange of goods—such as cedar wood, Tyrian purple cloth, and metalwork—the script was naturally disseminated alongside their trade goods.452

This diffusion was further solidified as local populations, most notably the Greeks, adopted and adapted the 22-letter Semitic alphabet for their own languages. Consequently, the Phoenician script served as the foundational ancestor for the Greek alphabet and, by extension, all Western alphabets.1643