Syria is home to Ugarit, the ancient city associated with one of the earliest known alphabets. Its ruins lie at Ras Shamra near Syria's Mediterranean coast, close to modern Latakia.
Ugarit flourished during the Bronze Age and became an important port and diplomatic centre. Archaeologists discovered clay tablets there written in several languages, including Ugaritic, Akkadian, and Hurrian.
The Ugaritic writing system used a small set of cuneiform signs to represent consonants and vowels. Its alphabetic structure is important evidence in the development of later alphabetic writing traditions, although it was written with wedge-shaped impressions rather than the linear letters used by Phoenician scribes.
Ugarit was destroyed around the end of the Bronze Age, probably in the early twelfth century BCE. It should not be confused with Ebla, another major Syrian archaeological site from a different period.