Ras Shamra (Ugarit), Syria: Asherah
Asherah, detail from an ivory box from Mīna al-Bayḍā near Ras Shamra (Ugarit), Syria, c. 1300 bce; in the Louvre, Paris.
Ugarit
ancient city, Syria
Also known as: Raʾs Shamrah, Ras Shamra
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. Soundings made through the Ras Shamra mound revealed...