Ugarit

Ugarit, ancient city lying in a large artificial mound called Ras Shamra (Raʾs Shamrah), 6 miles (10 km) north of Latakia (Al-Lādhiqiyyah) on the Mediterranean coast of northern Syria. Its ruins, about half a mile from the shore, were first uncovered by the plow of a peasant at Al-Bayḍā Bay. Excavations were begun in 1929 by a French archaeological mission under the direction of Claude F.A. Schaeffer.

The Ras Shamra mound

Soundings made through the Ras Shamra mound revealed a reliable stratigraphic sequence of settlements from the beginning of the Neolithic Period. Above the ground level, five main upper levels (levels V to I) were identified. The three lowest levels have been subdivided into smaller layers. The earliest settlement on level V—already a small fortified town in the 7th millennium bce—shows a prepottery stage with flint industries. Also on level V but in a later layer, light sun-dried pottery appears. Level IV and part of level III date back to the Chalcolithic, or Copper-Stone, Age, when new ethnic groups arrived from the northeast and the east. This stage shows Mediterranean as well as strong Mesopotamian influence. During the Early Chalcolithic Age, painted pottery of the Hassunan and Halafian cultures of northern Iraq is very common. The Late Chalcolithic shows fresh Mesopotamian influence with its monochromatic, Ubaidian, geometric painted pottery. The flint industry was then in competition with the first metal tools, made of copper. The Early Bronze Age (3rd millennium) layers, immediately above, in level III, yielded no more painted ware but various monochromatic burnished wares and some red polished ware of Anatolian origin. With Early Bronze Age III, metallurgy quickly developed. In the Middle Bronze Age, newcomers, so-called Torque-Bearers, expert in bronze metallurgy, arrived (c. 2000–1900 bce). Levels II and I correspond to historical periods within the 2nd millennium bce.

The Middle Bronze Age period

A carnelian bead identified with the pharaoh Sesostris I (reigned 1971–28 bce) and a stela and statuettes, gifts to the kings of Ugarit from other Middle Kingdom pharaohs (e.g., Sesostris II, 1897–78, and Amenemhet III, 1842–1797), provided the first exact dating in the history of Ugarit. Eggshell ware from Crete (Middle Minoan period) and Babylonian cylinder seals found in the tombs of level II provided cross datings. During the 18th and 17th centuries bce, Ugarit was apparently under the control of new tribes related to the Hyksos, probably mainly Hurrians or Mitannians, who mutilated the Egyptian monuments.

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The golden age of Ugarit

The most prosperous and the best-documented age in Ugarit’s history dated from about 1450 to about 1200 bce and included periods of domination by the Egyptians (c. 1400–1350 bce) and the Hittites (c. 1350–1200 bce). That age produced great royal palaces and temples and shrines, with a high priests’ library and other libraries on the acropolis. Some of the family vaults built under the stone houses show strong Mycenaean influence. Mycenaean and Cypriot pottery in great amounts has also been found.

After the discovery of the temple library, which revealed a hitherto unknown cuneiform alphabetic script (see Ugaritic alphabet) as well as an entirely new mythological and religious literature, several other palatial as well as private libraries were found, along with archives dealing with all aspects of the city’s political, social, economic, and cultural life.

The art of Ugarit in its golden age is best illustrated by a golden cup and patera (bowl) ornamented with incised Ugaritic scenes, by carved stone stelae and bronze statuettes and ceremonial axes, by carved ivory panels depicting royal activities, and by other fine-carved ivories. Despite Egyptian influence, Ugaritic art exhibits a Syrian style of its own.

Soon after 1200 bce Ugarit came to an end. Its fall coincided with the invasion of the Northern and Sea Peoples and certainly with earthquakes and famines. In the Iron Age and during the 6th–4th century bce, there were small settlements on the site (Leukos Limen).

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The excavators of the site were fortunate in the number and variety of finds of ancient records in cuneiform script. The excavations continue, and each season throws some new and often unexpected light on the ancient north Canaanite civilization. The texts are written on clay tablets either in the Babylonian cuneiform script or in the special alphabetic cuneiform script invented in Ugarit. Several copies of this alphabet, with its 30 signs, were found in 1949 and later. A shorter alphabet, with 25, or even 22, signs, seems to have been used by 13th-century traders.

Scribes used four languages: Ugaritic, Akkadian, Sumerian, and Hurrian, and seven different scripts were used in Ugarit in this period: Egyptian and Hittite hieroglyphic and Cypro-Minoan, Sumerian, Akkadian, Hurrian, and Ugaritic cuneiform. These show clearly the cosmopolitan character of the city.

Ras Shamra texts and the Bible

Many texts discovered at Ugarit, including the “Legend of Keret,” the “Aqhat Epic” (or “Legend of Danel”), the “Myth of Baal-Aliyan,” and the “Death of Baal,” reveal an Old Canaanite mythology. A tablet names the Ugaritic pantheon with Babylonian equivalents; El, Asherah of the Sea, and Baal were the main deities. These texts not only constitute a literature of high standing and great originality but also have an important bearing on biblical studies. It is now evident that the patriarchal stories in the Hebrew Bible were not merely transmitted orally but were based on written documents of Canaanite origin, the discovery of which at Ugarit has led to a new appraisal of the Hebrew Bible.