Cyrillic alphabet looks and sounds different from Roman (or Latin) alphabet. For those who study Russian learning the alphabet is one of the many difficulties they have to overcome. Where do the roots of this alphabet actually lie?

       The appearance of Cyrillic alphabet is closely related to adoption of Christianity in early Russia. In the 9th century Slavic people didn't have their own written language yet. However, at that time Russia adopted Christianity and new religious books in Greek were coming to the country from the Byzantine Empire. As the legend says Slavic prince Rostislav was concerned that the common people in his country couldn't read the foreign symbols and didn't understand any words from the books. That was why he asked a Byzantine tzar to send teachers who would teach Slavic people about the holy christian books, unknown words from the books and their definitions.

       There were two well-educated and wise brothers in Byzantine Empire at that time, Constantine and Methodius. They knew Slavonic language very well and they were sent to Slavic people to educate them. The brothers came to create a Slavonic alphabet. Constantine became a monk and got a new name – Cyril. Later the new alphabet created by two brothers was named after him – Cyrillic alphabet. So now Cyrillic alphabet is considered to be a descendant of Greek alphabet. That is why many letters of the Greek alphabet look very similar to Russian letters (see the picture above).