The city of Ugarit is identified with the mound of Ras-Shamra located in the north of the Syrian coastal strip, about 10 km from the modern city of Latakia. Excavations at the site began in 1929 following the accidental discovery of a tomb. Ugarit is of special importance due to the rich literary finds discovered there, which is an example of Canaanite literature that preceded biblical literature. From the very beginning of the discovery of writings, parallels were identified in the structure of poetry, models and literary motifs between Canaanite and biblical literature (such as the plots of the god Ba’al, mentioned in the Bible, and the plot of Akhat). It seems that the writers of the Bible knew, learned and continued to use the ways of expression that were customary in the Canaanite tradition that preceded the Bible, a tradition that continues to exist in the biblical work that is in our possession today.

The remains of the city from the Late Bronze Age (1150-1550 BCE) are the best known, but the settlement on the tel existed for about 5000 years before that, beginning with the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods, through settlement growth and the construction of a system of fortifications in the Early Bronze and Middle Bronze Ages (3000-1550 BCE approximately). It is possible that some of the city’s temples, especially the two temples in the upper city, were built on foundations from these periods.

The area of Ugarit was about 280 dunams and it was the center of a kingdom that ruled over a vast area of about 2000 square kilometers. Its geographical location helped its prosperity, as it sits near the best natural harbor on the coast, and next to rivers that are trade routes with Anatolia, Central Syria and Mesopotamia. The kingdom’s economy was based on agriculture and trade, with Ugarit’s ant, a trading point of utmost importance for trade between the Mediterranean Sea and the interior of Syria. The prosperous city included a large palace complex, an upper city with well-planned temples and quarters. The city was surrounded by a system of fortifications, walls and ramparts that are only partially known from the archaeological finds, due to their relatively poor preservation.

The history of the kingdom, similar to the other cities of the kingdom in the Late Bronze Age, depended on the relations and struggles between the great kingdoms – Egypt, the Mitanni kingdom and the Hittite empire. The golden age of Ugarit began under the rule of the Egyptian Empire. During the 14th century BCE the city experienced an earthquake and a huge fire, which weakened it. The king of Ugarit, Niqmaddu II, was forced to submit to the king of the Hittite Empire, Suppiluliuma II. Around the middle of the 13th century BCE, after the Battle of Kadesh and the Hittite-Egyptian peace agreement at the height of a period of peace and international trade, Ugarit returned to its greatness. Due to its weak military power, the city gradually began to deteriorate. At the end of the Bronze Age, probably at the beginning of the 12th century BCE, Ugarit declined due to economic, social and political reasons which led to the collapse of the imperial system, and possibly even following raids by the “Sea People” groups.

Excavations at the site began in 1929 by a French expedition, led by Claude Schaeffer. The excavations first focused on the port and soon moved to the mound itself, and immediately revealed tablets in cuneiform writing in an unknown language. The script was deciphered and identified as an alphabetic version of the cuneiform script, in a West Semitic language , which was named in the study “Ugaritic.” Except for a break during World War II, the site has been excavated continuously until today, and since 1999 as a joint French-Syrian effort.