The City of Ugarit

The City of Ugarit

This flourishing second-millennium city, which had been known by scholars from Egyptian inscriptions from the Tell el-Amarna Lettersand Hittite documents, was located on the north Syrian coast opposite the island of Cyprus, about eight miles north of Latakia and fifty miles southwest of Antioch. It was situated on a bay and had a port that could be used by seagoing trade ships. It was a harbor town known in Greek times as Leukos Limen, the white harbor. It is now called Ras Shamra, “hill of fennel,” because fennel grows there.

The hill that comprises the ruin of the ancient city has the form of a trapezium with the long side about 670 yards north and south and the longer diagonal about 1,100 yards. The hill is about twenty-two yards high. The site was located on the important trade route along the coast from Egypt to Asia Minor, which was connected by a road with Aleppo, Mari on the Euphrates, and Babylon. The sea route from Ugarit to Alashiya—that is, Cyprus—was a short one.

Very early, Ugarit struck up a brisk trade with the Aegean Islands. It became an important harbor. One of the main exported articles was copper, which was used in the production of bronze. Copper was imported from Asia Minor and Cyprus. Bronze was produced in Ugarit. Being a Phoenician town, Ugarit, like its sister cities, delivered timber to Egypt. Not only cedars from the interior were exported but other kinds of wood as well. There were also blue dye factories. Great heaps of murex shells indicate this. These shells, abundantly found along the east Mediterranean coast, produced a famous dye of antiquity.