ウガリット文字の解読
◈解読に貢献した人物
ドイツの東洋学者。暗号解読の技法で3か月で解読を完成。
フランスの聖職者・言語学者。バウアーとは独立に解読へ成功。
◈どのように解読されたか
Ugaritic is an alphabet of 30 consonantal wedge-signs. Bauer was a veteran WWI codebreaker. He applied statistical frequency analysis: the most common signs would be frequently used Semitic consonants (l, m, n, b). He first identified short words (prepositions, conjunctions), then confirmed values by comparison with known Semitic languages (Arabic, Hebrew).
◈実際に解読された文字
𐎀𐎁 𐎀𐎁𐎗 = ʾb ʾdr =「父は強し」— ウガリット神話バアル叙事詩の一節。神々の父エルを描く。
◈解読の前後の物語
In 1929 a chance discovery of an ancient tomb at Ras Shamra, Syria triggered a major excavation. Clay tablets poured out, but nobody knew this script. The wedge shapes resembled cuneiform but were distinctly different.
When French scholars published photographs, Bauer applied cryptanalysis. In just 3 months he confirmed nearly all 30 consonantal values — the fastest ancient script decipherment in history.
The tablets revealed the Baal Cycle epic, the oldest known alphabet order list (abgdhwzḥṭy...), and religious texts directly related to the Hebrew Bible. The relationship between Canaanite culture and the Hebrew scriptures was fundamentally reassessed.