Ras Ibn Hani

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Ras Ibn Hani is an archaeological site on the Mediterranean coast of Syria, nine kilometers north of Latakia. The ruins of a fortified city with a second residence of the Ugarit royal family from the Late Bronze Age (13th to the end of the 12th century BC) were rediscovered and partially uncovered in 1975.

Position
Ras Ibn Hani is located in the middle of a 1.5 kilometre long, narrow peninsula, five kilometres southwest of Ugarit, the capital of the ancient kingdom, whose settlement hill is named after the nearby village of Ras Schamra Tell Ras Schamra ("Fennel hill"). It belonged next to the city of Ugarit and the associated port of Minet el-Beida ("white port"), two kilometers west of the capital, to the three central places of the kingdom. Over three quarters of the population lived outside these cities in 150 to 200 small settlements.

From the center of Latakia, the excavation site on the coastal road is 8 kilometers north to the beginning of the peninsula Ibn Hani and another kilometer west. Along the sandy beach called “Cote d’Azur” on the south side of the headland, several luxury hotels line up. During the construction of one of these hotels, in 1974, adjacent to the hotel property, Late Bronze Age graves were accidentally discovered in a tell located up to nine meters above sea level. The archaeological area extends to the north coast of the peninsula, which is only about 200 meters wide at this point. It is unclear whether and how much the coastline has changed since ancient times.

The coastal strip on which the kingdom of Ugarit was located was bounded 40 kilometres north of the capital by the sacred Mount Zaphon (Arabic Jabel al-Aqra, Turkish Ziyaret Dağı), seat of the god Baal, and separated from the interior in the east by the Jabel Aansariye. In the south, the border with the Kingdom of Šijannu was located on a river halfway between the present towns of Jabla and Baniyas. Due to a pleasant climate, abundant rising rains from the Mediterranean, which descend in winter in front of the mountain range, which at the same time prevents the hot winds from the interior in summer, the area is favored by nature.

History

The ancient name of Ras Ibn Hani is unknown. Appu ("nose"), Biruti ("fountain") or Rašu ("main") were proposed. In the mid-14th century BC, a golden age began for Ugarit after stable borders were reached through treaties with the Egyptians. During this phase of expansion, a second residence was built for the king, such as the Summer Palace (South Palace), and a residence for Aḫat-milki, the mother of King Ammistamru II (North Palace). Another function of the place was to control the sea access for the port Minet el-Beida.

According to the archaeological findings, Ras Ibn Hani is a new plant from the mid-13th century. century BC. The residential area is only to a very small extent outgrown