Ugarit - History

Ugarit (modern site Ras Shamra رأس شمرة; in Arabic) 35°35´ N; 35°45´E) was an ancient cosmopolitan port city, sited on the Mediterranean coast of northern Syria a few kilometers north of the modern city of Latakia. Ugarit sent tribute to Egypt and maintained trade and diplomatic connections with Cyprus (called Alashiya), documented in the archives recovered from the site and corroborated by Mycenaean and Cypriot pottery found there. The polity was at its height from ca. 1450 BC until 1200 BC. Ugarit - T ...

Including:

• Ugarit - The site
• Ugarit - History
• Ugarit - Alphabet
• Ugarit - Ugaritic literature
• Ugarit - Ugarit religion
• Ugarit - Kings of Ugarit

Read more here: » Ugarit: Encyclopedia - Ugarit

Though the site is thought to have been inhabited earlier, Neolithic Ugarit was already important enough to be fortified with a wall early on, perhaps by 6000 BC. The first written evidence mentioning the city comes from the nearby city of Ebla, c. 1800 BC. Ugarit passed into the sphere of influence of Egypt, which deeply influenced its art. The earliest Ugaritic contact with Egypt (and the first exact dating of Ugaritic civilization) comes from a carnelian bead identified with the Middle Kingdom pharaoh Sesostris I, 1971 BC-1926 BC. A stela and a statuette from the Egyptian pharaohs Sesostris II and A ...

See also:

Ugarit, Ugarit - The site, Ugarit - History, Ugarit - Alphabet, Ugarit - Ugaritic literature, Ugarit - Ugarit religion, Ugarit - Kings of Ugarit

Read more here: » Ugarit: Encyclopedia II - Ugarit - History

Ugarit's location was forgotten until 1928 when an Alawite peasant accidentally opened an old tomb while plowing a field. The discovered area was the Necropolis of Ugarit. Excavations have since revealed an important city that takes its place alongside Ur and Eridu as a cradle of urban culture, with a prehistory reaching back to c. 6000 BC, perhaps because it was both a port, and at the entrance of the inland trade route to the Euphrates and Tigris lands. Most excavations of Ugarit were undertaken under extreme political conditions by archaeologist Claude Schaeffer from the Prehistoric an ...

See also:

Ugarit, Ugarit - The site, Ugarit - History, Ugarit - Alphabet, Ugarit - Ugaritic literature, Ugarit - Ugarit religion, Ugarit - Kings of Ugarit

Read more here: » Ugarit: Encyclopedia II - Ugarit - The site

Apart from royal correspondence to neighbouring Bronze Age monarchs, Ugaritic literature from tablets found in the libraries include mythological texts written in a narrative poetry, letters, legal documents such as land transfers, a few international treaties, and a number of administrative lists. Fragments of several poetic works have been identified: the "Legend of Kirtu," the "Legend of Dan-el" the Ba'al tales that detail Baal-Hadad's co ...

See also:

Ugarit, Ugarit - The site, Ugarit - History, Ugarit - Alphabet, Ugarit - Ugaritic literature, Ugarit - Ugarit religion, Ugarit - Kings of Ugarit

Read more here: » Ugarit: Encyclopedia II - Ugarit - Ugaritic literature

Ugaritic religion centered on the chief god, Ilu or El, the "father of mankind", "the creator of the creation". The Court of El or Ilu was refered to as the 'lhm -- titles that were to have counterparts in the Elohim of Israel. In 1 Kings 22:19-22, we read of Yahweh meeting with his heavenly council -- the very description of heaven that one finds in the Ugaritic texts. The most important of the lesser gods were Baal-Hadad (familiar to all readers of the Bible), Athirat or Asherah (also familiar to readers of the Bible), Yam (t ...

See also:

Ugarit, Ugarit - The site, Ugarit - History, Ugarit - Alphabet, Ugarit - Ugaritic literature, Ugarit - Ugarit religion, Ugarit - Kings of Ugarit

Read more here: » Ugarit: Encyclopedia II - Ugarit - Ugarit religion