Decipherment of Ugaritic
◈Key Scholars
German orientalist who used cryptanalysis to decipher the script in just 3 months.
French cleric-linguist who independently succeeded in decipherment.
◈How Was It Deciphered?
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).
◈Decoded Characters
ʾb ʾdr = "the father is mighty" — from the Ugaritic Baal Cycle epic, describing El, father of the gods.
◈The Full Story
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.