Top-down’ Re-invention of an Old Form: Cuneiform Alphabets in Context

With the aim of addressing the questions of “how” and “why” the Ugaritic alphabet was created, two key perspectives are taken into consideration. On the first point (“how”), and contrary to frequent and persistent positions in the scholarly literature, it is argued that the creation of the Ugaritic alphabet, despite being an “unusual” re-adaptation of a pre-existing template, never represented a case of typological revolution. This can be shown by a reassessment of the broader tradition that surrounded it, to show how the Ugaritic alphabet fit perfectly well into pre-existing epigraphic and linguistic contexts. On the second point regarding the intents behind its creation (“why”), which is a question that is often skirted or marginalized, it is argued that the answer is to be sought not in branding Ugaritic as an “ethnoscript” or the mere conveyor of a local vernacular, as is often suggested, but in appreciating its potential as a technological device that was naturally tied to the particularities of a specific socio-cultural package, while also designed to transcend those very boundaries.