A History of Ancient Near Eastern Law

ANATOLIA AND THE LEVANT

UGARIT

Ignacio Márquez Rowe

Ugarit, modern Ras Shamra, lies about twenty-five miles south of

the mouth of the Orontes and seven miles north of Latakia on the

Mediterranean coast. It was the flourishing capital of a North Syrian

kingdom that extended about 770 square miles in the second half

of the second millennium. Excavations began in 1929 by a French

Mission under the direction of C.F.-A. Schaeffer and are still con-

tinuing today. The ruins, which include a large palace, two temples

and many private houses, have brought to light about three thou-

sand cuneiform tablets dating from the second half of the fourteenth

century down to the destruction of Ugarit around the beginning of

the twelfth century.

1. SL

The extant corpus of legal texts^1 consists of two basic types: domes-

tic documents (over 250 texts and fragments) and international doc-

uments, such as treaties and edicts (about 100 texts and fragments).

All but a few are in Akkadian. (About ten are in Ugaritic and one

is in Hittite.)

Over two thirds of the domestic legal texts are royal deeds and

were found in the royal palace archives. The dynastic seal is regu-

larly impressed at the top of the obverse of these tablets, and the

king’s name is mentioned either as presiding over or as main party

of the transaction. Seven successive kings are attested, namely from

Niqmaddu II down to 'Ammurapi, although documents from 'Ammi∆-

tamru II constitute by far the largest group. The transaction is phrased

in objective style, and as a rule no witnesses (except sometimes for

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(^1) See Márquez Rowe, “The Legal Texts from Ugarit,” with reference to publi-
cation and principal studies.
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