Ras Ibn Hani

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Ras Ibn Hani (Arabic رأس ابن هاني ) was a Late Bronze Age city on the Mediterranean coast of Syria with a second residence of the royal family of Ugarit. The ruins of the fortified town dating from the 13th v. until the late 12th century AD in 1975 nine kilometers north of Latakia rediscovered and partially exposed.

Location

Ras Ibn Hani is situated in the middle of a 1.5 -kilometer-long, narrow peninsula 5 km southwest of Ugarit, the capital of the ancient kingdom, whose settlement mound after the nearby village of Ras Shamra today Ras Shamra Tell ( " fennel hill " ) is called. It was next to the city of Ugarit and the associated port Minet el- Beida ( " white port " ), 2 kilometers west of the capital, to the three central places of the kingdom. About three-quarters of the population lived outside of these cities in 150 to 200 small settlements.

From the center Lattakias the archaeological site on the coast road north 8 km to the start of Ibn Hani peninsula and another kilometer to the west. Along the " Cote d' Azur " called sand beach on the south side of the headland is lined with several luxury hotels. During the construction of these hotels were discovered in 1974 adjacent to the hotel property by chance on Late Bronze Age graves in a region lying to nine meters high above sea Tell. The archaeological area extends to the northwest at this point only about 200 meters wide peninsula. It is unclear whether the coast was in the same place in ancient times.

The coastal strip, in which lay the Kingdom of Ugarit, was 40 kilometers north of the capital by the holy mountain Zaphon (Arabic Jebel al - Aqra, Turkish Ziyaret Dagi ), seat of the god Baal, bounded and separated from the interior to the east by the Jebel Aansariye. In the south of the border was to the Kingdom Šijannu on a river halfway between the present locations Dschabla and Baniyas. With a pleasant climate, abundant rainfall gradient from the Mediterranean, the fall in winter in front of the mountain range, which also keeps the hot winds from the interior in the summer, the area is favored by nature.

History

The ancient name of Ras Ibn Hani is unknown. It was proposed Appu ( "nose" ), Biruti ( " Fountain " ) or RASU ( " main "). Mid-14th century BC Ugarit began a golden age after stable boundaries had been achieved through contracts with the Egyptians. During this period of expansion one second residence for the king, such as the Summer Palace ( South Palace ), and a residence for Aḫatmilku, the king's mother Ammistamru II were built (North Palace). Another feature of the place was in control of the sea access for the port Minet el- Beida.

After the archaeological record Ras Ibn Hani is a new plant from the mid-13th century. The residential area is excavated only to a very small part. How many residents have lived in the city, therefore, is unclear. There were probably considerably less than the 6,000 to 8,000 residents who lived in the capital, according to estimates in the 13th century. End of that century came Ugarit as a vassal in the Hittite sphere of what zugutekam of economic development. Niqmaddu II could expand within the territory of this dependence at the expense of the former anti- Hittite neighbors. The place was abandoned even before the so-called Sea Peoples destroyed Ugarit very beginning of the 12th century. Thought there was shortly afterwards a new settlement, pointed out by found imported or imitated Mycenaean pottery of the LH IIIC stage suggesting that is missing in Ugarit and is dated to the period after 1190 BC.

Due to the prominent location of the peninsula a new settlement took place in the Hellenistic period from the mid-3rd century BC. Since the Third Syrian War, was Ras Ibn Hani, such as the discovery of coins show under the control of the Ptolemies. A one kilometer-long paved road, a monumental gate and parts of a perimeter wall around the city are established from this time. The Seleucid king Antiochus IX. (r. 116-96 ) had a small attachment in the southeast corner building. After a heyday in the 2nd century BC the importance waned. During the first three centuries AD, the city was virtually uninhabited, it was probably for some of the buildings on the western tip of the peninsula, the location of which no more can be explored, since the area was built over in the meantime. Building remains, potsherds and coins found point to a settlement in the early Byzantine period from the 4th to the 6th century.

After the accidental discovery of a tomb 1974 1975 Excavations at a Syrian- German cooperation began under the direction of Adnan Bounni and Jacques Lagarce. First, the southern palace was excavated, it followed until 1981 the excavation of early Byzantine remains at the top of the hill and to the east of the fortification wall of the Hellenistic period.

Cityscape

The palace area was a total of over 7000 square meters larger than that of Ugarit. Of this total, over 5000 square feet on the southern palace, similar to the possessed in the middle of a courtyard on the east side a glacis, of which a small piece is exposed, and in this a postern ( sally port ) of Ugarit. He could have been the summer residence of the king. The palace was on an artificial terrace, from which the sea was to survey and signals could be sent to Ugarit. To the east of the southern palace simple residential buildings were excavated from the 13th to the 10th century.

In the eastern area of ​​the lying right by the sea north palace the cuneiform archive was housed. The archive contained in a public and a private section over 120 ritual texts, letters and economic texts. As in Ugarit, Mint el- Beida and 35 km south on the coast Tell Sukas here was the long alphabet Ugaritic font with 30 characters, the usual, mainly used within the empire font. It corresponds to the first time in 1929 in the West discovered archive of Ugarit earliest alphabetic script. The North Palace is regarded as the residence of the Queen Mother; he was fully excavated and the foundations were partially restored. In its center was a large, paved courtyard, adjacent to the east granted to the archaeologists a grave ( Hypogeum ) carefully assembled from limestone blocks. The upper stones of the collapsed, pointed Kraggewölbes were placed a few meters away. The stone steps and walls of the dromos, which led down to the grave are obtained. The robbed in antiquity grave also contained some pottery that show the trade relations with eastern Mediterranean countries, and jewelery from local production.

Probably soon after the death of the Queen Mother Aḫatmilku the palace was reduced to a workshop for metal working. Here is melted craftsmen oxhide ingots and cast the copper in stone molds in neighboring workshops Chalcedon were ground into beads and animal bones to household items.

From the during the Ugaritic rule 3.5 acres of urban area are so far 0.5 acres, explored mainly in the higher western area. The larger expansion in the Hellenistic period in the deeper, flat and sandy area to the east has not yet been studied for up to a part of the fortifications. The area is fenced along the road and guarded.