Pierre Bordreuil

Ras Ibn Hani II Pierre Bordreuil

This book presents all the texts written in cuneiform script, alphabetic and logo-syllabic, in Ugaritic and in the Sumero-Akkadian languages, found during the excavations in the northern palace at Ras Ibn Hani (Syria). Some of them were published in greater or lesser detail in preliminary reports at the time of their discovery. The Ugaritic texts aside from the ritual texts, which have recently been published together with those from Ras Shamra are here thoroughly studied and are made available by way of facsimiles and photographs. It was not possible to do the same for the syllabic texts, due to the current conditions in Syria, which made access to the tablets impossible. However, the study of photographs has permitted them to be included in this collection. The texts and their analysis give us information on various aspects of Ugaritic culture in the middle of the 13th century B. C. E.: foreign relations, trade and accounting practices, onomastics, scribal hands in particular that of ?ab?ilu, Ugaritic language, cult, poetry. While it will be of principal interest to scholars of the Ugaritic culture, who will find here a fundamental documentation, the book should also be a valuable resource for less experienced students as well as for any person wishing to learn about the daily life of a prestigious Syrian principality of the Late Bronze Age.