Negotiating Imperialism and Resistance in Late Bronze Age Ugarit
The Rise of Alphabetic Cuneiform
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6045002 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Philip J Boyes (0000-0002-3453-7987, University of Cambridge, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 185-199 |
| Publication date | 2019-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Cambridge Archaeological Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0959-7743 • E-ISSN: 1474-0540 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0959774318000471 |
| OpenAlex | W2903658720 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 24 |
Ugarit was a highly cosmopolitan, multilingual and multiscript city at the intersection of several major Late Bronze Age political and cultural spheres of influence. In the thirteenth centurybc, the city adopted a new alphabetic cuneiform writing system in the local language for certain uses alongside the Akkadian language, script and scribal practices that were standard throughout the Near East. Previous research has seen this as ‘vernacularization’, in response to the city's encounter with Mesopotamian culture. Recent improvements in our understanding of the date of Ugarit's adoption of alphabetic cuneiform render this unlikely, and this paper instead argues that we should see this vernacularization as part of Ugarit's negotiation of, and resistance to, their encounter with Hittite imperialism. Furthermore, it stands as a specific, Ugaritian, manifestation of similar trends apparent across a number of East Mediterranean societies in response to the economic and political globalism of Late Bronze Age élite culture. As such, these changes in Ugaritian scribal practice have implications for our wider understanding of the end of the Late Bronze Age
Akkadian · Ancient history · Bronze Age · Cuneiform · Negotiation · Political science · Politics · Ancient Near East History · Eurasian Exchange Networks · History · Law · Linguistics and language evolution
Merenptah y los Pueblos del Mar
Amarna in Global History and as a Global City
Remarks on the Ugarit Diplomatic Relations with Ḫatti and Egypt in the Late 13th Century b.c
Urban Squares in Late Bronze Age Ugarit
The Wider World of Writing. Networks of People, Practice and Culture Underpinning Writing in Late Bronze Age Ugarit
The West Semitic Alphabetic Inscriptions, Late Bronze II to Iron IIA
Zimri‐Lim of Mari
Negotiating Empire
The Amarna Letters
The House of the Father As Fact and Symbol
The Scribal Culture of Ugarit
The Archaeology of Colonialism
Ambiguous Identities
The Ugaritic Cuneiform and Canaanite Linear Alphabets
Digraphia in Mongolia
Rethinking the Hittite System of Subordinate Countries from the Legal Point of View
Canaanite in Cuneiform
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2025 (5) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |