Script - Ugaritic

Ugaritic is a script used for writing the Ugaritic language, an ancient Semitic tongue spoken in the city-state of Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra, Syria) during the Late Bronze Age, roughly from the 14th to 12th century BCE. This cuneiform script, which has 30 signs representing consonants, is notable for its alphabetic nature, making it one of the earliest known alphabets. Unlike Mesopotamian cuneiform, which used hundreds of syllabic and logographic signs, Ugaritic was purely consonantal, with each sign corresponding to a single consonant sound. The script is written left to right, and its signs were impressed into clay tablets using a stylus. Scholars deciphered it in the early 20th century, revealing a wealth of literary, religious, and administrative texts, including the famous Baal Cycle. Ugaritic thus provides crucial insights into the language, culture, and writing systems of the ancient Near East.