Archaeology Magazine - July/August 2021 - 30

But with about 650 GLɱHUHQW FKDUĥ
acters, cuneiform was hard to teach,
and some scholars believe Ugarit's
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wanted a simpler way in which to
record transfers of goods and moveĥ
ments of laborers and skilled artisans.
Alphabetic scripts had begun to be
Ugarit's royal palace dominated the city's western half. Once inside the palace, visitors
would have entered this reception hall featuring a small square pool.
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WDNLQJ EXVLQHVV RXWVLGH WKH SDODFH´ VD\V 5RFKHĥ+DZOH\ ³7KHUH
are more letters addressed to the king at Urtenu's house than
were found at the palace. That says something. "
RTENU'S HOUSE WASN'T RQO\ XVHG IRU VWRULQJ RɷFLDO
records. It may also have functioned as a scribal
school, where people learned to read and write
Babylonian cuneiform and Ugarit's own alphabetic script.
Archaeologists have discovered pedagogical tablets there,
with both scripts side by side, similar to those found in larger
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tablets to learn the new script and, in the 1930s, archaeoloĥ
gists did so again to decipher Ugaritic.
The local script appears abruptly and fully formed on
tablets, almost overnight in archaeological terms, says Philip
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DEO\ DURVH IURP D GHOLEHUDWH SROLF\ RI $PPLVWDPUX ,,¶V ĪU
1260Ħ1235 B.Cī RU DQRWKHU NLQJ LQ WKH VHFRQG KDOI RI WKH
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says Boyes, although he adds that the new script may have
been tested on perishable materials before being etched in
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the founder of modern Turkey, imposing the Latin alphaĥ
bet on Turkey in the 1920s, or the state of Israel reviving
ancient Hebrew to create a national language. Ammistamru's
PRWLYHV DUH QRW DV FOHDU &XQHLIRUP LQ ZKLFK HDFK FKDUDFWHU
UHSUHVHQWV DQ LQGLYLGXDO ZRUG ZDV D ÀH[LEOH VFULSW WKDW KDG
H[LVWHG LQ GLɱHUHQW IRUPV IRU PRUH WKDQ 1,000 years. It could
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VXFK DV 8JDULWLF RU ,QGRĥ(XURSHDQ WRQJXHV VXFK DV +LWWLWH
30
U
used a few centuries earlier in southĥ
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spread far. They were based on pictoĥ
graphic symbols associated with sounds.
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human head represented a sound like " r "
EHFDXVH ORFDO 6HPLWLF ZRUGV IRU KHDG
such as rosh and ras, began with that
sound. These scripts had only about 20
characters, enough to represent almost
any consonant used in local languages,
and were simple enough for even a child
WR OHDUQ ([DFWO\ KRZ 8JDULW¶V PHUFKDQWV
came across the alphabetic concept is
unknown, but with typically Ugaritic
pragmatism, they used cuneiform signs
as letters and created a script with 30
characters. These included written vowels, which earlier alphaĥ
betic systems lacked. " Alphabetic cuneiform could be considered
WKH ¿UVW DOSKDEHWLF VFULSW WR WDNH DFFRXQW RI YRZHO GLɱHUHQFHV´
says Boyes. The new vowel renderings were little more than
breathing marks next to consonants, " closer to syllabic signs
rather than vowels per se, " he adds. But a key innovation had
WDNHQ SODFHħDQ DOSKDEHW WKDW LQFOXGHG YRZHOV FDPH LQWR EHLQJ
an event that Hawley calls " the alphabetic leap. "
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myths, poems, and religious texts using it, jotted administrative
records, and scratched it on everyday objects including axes,
jar handles, weights, and spindle whorls, sometimes to indicate
ownership, says Boyes, but other times, according to Hawley,
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UHYHOLQJ LQ LW 1HDUO\ KDOI RI DOO WKH WH[WV IURP 8JDULW DSSHDU LQ
WKH QHZ VFULSW HYHU\ ZRUG RI WKHP ZULWWHQ LQ WKH FLW\¶V ¿QDO
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project, Ugarit's lettered classes took to the new script enthusiĥ
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in a globalized world. " There was an emotional attachment to
this alphabet, " says Hawley. " One, it was easy to learn. Two, it
was theirs. We have seals that have the word 'seal' inscribed
on them. They're fascinated with this local alphabet. They're
excited about it. The scholars who were training themselves
WR ZULWH %DE\ORQLDQ DQG 6XPHULDQħZH KDYH WKH WDEOHWV ZLWK
VFKRRO WH[WV WKDW WKH\ ZHUH FRS\LQJħZRXOG GRRGOH WKH QHZ
alphabet in the margins. " Only a small percentage of Ugarit's
residents could read and write texts, though many more could
write well enough to scribble basic records.
There are other signs, too, that Ugarit's citizens, despite, or
perhaps because of, their bustling trade ties, grew even more
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Archaeology Magazine - July/August 2021

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