The City of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra

188 Pages·2004·12.461 MB·English

by  Marguerite Yon

The City of Ugarit
at Tell Ras Shamra
ii Contents
The City of Ugarit
at Tell Ras Shamra
Marguerite Yon
Winona Lake, Indiana
Eisenbrauns
2006
ç Copyright 2006 by Eisenbrauns.
All rights reserved.
Printed in Singapore.
www.eisenbrauns.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Yon, Marguerite.
[Cité d’Ougarit sur le tell de Ras Shamra. English]
The city of Ugarit at Tell Ras Shamra / Marguerite Yon.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13 : 978-1-57506-029-3 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Ugarit (Extinct city) 2. Excavations (Archaeology)—Syria.
I. Title.
DS99.U35Y6613 2006
939u.43—dc22
2006003735
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the Ameri-
can National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. †‘
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Brief Update (2005) for the Publication of the English Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Foreword: The Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Introduction: History of Excavations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Chapter 1: Geography and History
The Site and Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Prehistory and Protohistory: 8th–2nd Millennia b.c.e. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
The Kingdom and Its Written Documents 14th–12th Centuries b.c.e. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
The End of a Civilization ca. 1190/1185 b.c.e. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
City Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Chapter 2: Description of the Tell
Tour of the Tell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
The Royal Fortress and the City Ramparts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
The Royal Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
The Royal Palace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Palace Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Palace Annexes, North of the Royal Plaza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
The Entrance on Palace Street 46
The Guardpost (the so-called “Arsenal”) 46
The Pillared Building 46
The Palatial or Royal Temple (the So-Called “Hurrian Temple”) 49
The Main Sewer 49
The House of Yabninu (The So-Called “South Palace” or “Small Palace”) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
The Northwest Area beyond the Royal Zone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Building (Sanctuary?) with a Rock-Hewn Throne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
The Northwest Plaza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
The Queen Mother’s Residence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
The House Adjoining the Queen Mother’s Residence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
The Main Sewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Residence “1975–1976” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
House with Sink (Local Tavern?) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
The North Palace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
The “Oven House” and Plaza . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
The Residential Quarter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Block 1 (west of the easternmost section of Palace Street; Fig. 36) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
vi Contents
Figure 1. Topographic map of the tell of Ras Shamra (E. Laroze and P. Rieth 2003): excavated areas. The tell is par-
titioned into four quadrants—A, B, C, and D—and divided into 10-meter squares with the squares in each quadrant
numbered sequentially from the center of the tell (point 0).
Contents vii
Block 2 (between the easternmost section of Palace Street and Merneptah Street) . . . . . . . . . 71
Block 3 (east of Merneptah Street) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
“City Center” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Access to the City from the South . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Main Street District . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
South Central District . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
The Southern Bridge/Dam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
South City Trench . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
South Acropolis Trench . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Tombs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
The House of Patilu-wa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Various Houses and Cultic Places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
An Artisan Quarter (?) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Tomb 4253 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Persian Period Settlement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Sondage SH: A Major Stratigraphic Sounding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
The Acropolis and the Great Temples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
The Temple of Baal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
The Middle Bronze Age Necropolis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
The House of the High Priest (or the Library of the High Priest) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
The Temple of Dagan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Quarter to the South of the Acropolis Temples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
The Lower City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
The Lower City West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Lower City East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
The East Terrace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Chapter 3: Artifacts Illustrating Official and Everyday Life
Tablets Written in Ugaritic (Alphabetic Cuneiform) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Tablets Written in Other Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Seals and Scarabs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Stone Statues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Metal Statues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Stone Stelae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Ivories of the Royal Palace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Objects of Ivory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Syrian Pottery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Commercial jars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Imported Pottery from the West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Syrian Vessels Related to the Cult . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Funnels Related to the Cult (Rhytons) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
viii Contents
Cultic Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Cultic Objects (Clay Models and Figurines) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Faience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Stone Vases and Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Stone Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Gold vessels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Gold Jewelry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Prestige Weapon in Iron, Copper, and Gold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Weapons of Bronze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Tools and Instruments of Bronze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Object from the Persian Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Selected Bibliography and Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Figure 2. Jabal al-Aqra / Mount Saphon, north of the kingdom of Ugarit as seen from the tell of Ras Shamra, 1984.
Preface
Prof.-Dr. Sultan Muhesen
Director General of Antiquities and Museums
The coast of Syria has been inhabited since Early Paleolithic times. In the Neolithic period, farming
villages were established along the coast. Ras Shamra was one of those early farming settlements in this
region. The tell was occupied continuously from the end of the 8th millennium until the end of the 2nd
millennium b.c.e. But it was during the Late Bronze Age, in the latter half of the 2nd millennium, that
the site experienced its heyday, and the kingdom of Ugarit was born. The archaeological excavations on
the tell, continuing now for more than half a century, have shown that Ugarit was the most important
Canaanite kingdom of the Late Bronze Age.
Because of the city’s strategic location and its natural resources, it managed to play a major role in the
political, economic, and cultural affairs of the region. Its role was not merely that of a port city; it was a
crossroads for the surrounding regions because of strategic policies that enabled it to influence culture
and commerce extending from Mesopotamia to Egypt. Although it was also influenced by neighboring
nations, Ugaritic civilization clearly possessed a distinctive Syrian character. It also managed to survive
regional conflicts involving the great powers of its time, the Hittites, Assyrians, and Egyptians, and this
too contributed to ensuring its diplomatic fame.
Among the key discoveries unearthed at the site are the palace, temples, tombs, fortifications, and
houses, along with many precious objects in metal, ceramic, and ivory, not to mention the rich archives
of tablets and the world’s first abecedaries, all of which have greatly enriched our knowledge of the re-
gion’s history and culture.
But Ugarit has yet to yield all its secrets, and new discoveries come to light with each new campaign.
The search is no longer limited to artifacts and objects to place in museums. The focus has shifted to ap-
plication of scientific and interdisciplinary methods for the study of the kingdom’s geographical, eco-
nomic, and cultural heritage.
Although a considerable number of scholarly publications have appeared on the subject of Ugarit, this
book is a rare contribution, guaranteed to make this archaeological knowledge about the ancient Near
East available to the wider public. Its author, Marguerite Yon, merits our heartfelt thanks.