In this course we discover the ancient civilization of Ugarit through its language and its literature. The city of Ugarit was a rich Amorite kingdom, flourished on the northern Syrian coast between 1600-1200 BCE and destroyed by the mysterious Sea Peoples on 1185 BCE. In 1928 the archaeological excavations started revealing a refined civilization, with Hittite, Hurrian and Egyptian influences, and several archives, containing inscribed clay tablets. For the richness of literary, political and daily life themes and the variety of languages and alphabets, the archives of Ugarit are considered one of the greatest discoveries from antiquity. The archives reveal as Ugarit had its own language, alphabet, and strikingly original religion, mythology, and literature. Originated in the same North-West Semitic linguistic and cultural milieu as later Canaanite languages (including Hebrew), Ugaritic mythological and ceremonial tablets have been used by scholars to shade light on Biblical texts, because of their impressive linguistic similarities and stylistic parallelisms.

The course will provide students with a general glimpse on history and archeology of the city of Ugarit (and the close Ras Ibn Hani), within the larger historical, archeological and philological panorama of the Levant at the transition between Bronze and Iron Age, focusing on Amorite and Canaanite peoples, cultures and languages, and on the dissemination of literary and cultural themes and styles within the Levantine area. Particular attention will be devoted to the contact between the northern Levantine cultural sphere and the ancient kingdom of Israel. During the first semester, we will study the origin, use and values of the alphabetical signs developed in Ugarit, phonetics and phonology, morphology and syntactic issues. The second semester will be devoted to reading, transcribing, translating and analyzing texts.

 Course Requirements

Attendance is compulsory. The final course task is a paper, to be submitted in accordance to the university schedule. The grade is based on the final paper (max. 70%), and on a power point presentation to be held during the second semester (max. 30%).