Final answer:
The Phoenician writing system is accurately described as phonetic, with one symbol representing one sound, which simplified literary acquisition compared to complex systems like hieroglyphics or cuneiform. The correct answer is option 1.
Step-by-step explanation:
The writing system of the Phoenicians, where one symbol represented one sound, is best described as phonetic. The Phoenician writing system was developed around 1300 BCE and eventually had a lasting influence on Greek and Roman writing, as well as most European languages today.
It was a syllabic alphabet, considerably less complex than symbolic writing systems like hieroglyphics used by the Egyptians, which represented both sounds and ideas, or cuneiform adopted by various Mesopotamian cultures as a highly flexible writing system for complex record-keeping and literature.