The Palace of Ugarit
The Layout and Function of a Bronze Age Palace Complex
The palace we see today represents the final royal palace built in Ugarit. Covering one hectare of the city and consisting of 90 rooms, it was occupied for only 200 years after its construction between the 14-13th centuries BC.
Only the ground plan remains. Consisting of a series of interconnecting rooms and courtyards, the ground floor was designed primarily for the reception of visitors and to conduct the bureaucratic business of the palace.
There is evidence for stairways which suggests there was at least one further storey to the palace. It was in this area that the royal family’s living accommodation was probably situated.
Bronze Age Innovations in Design and Construction
The design of the palace demonstrates the influence of the cultures Ugarit traded with. The influence of Mesopotamia showed in the high, blank defensive walls that encircled the palace whilst the interior was light, airy and created from a series of courtyards, pools and internal gardens which were echoes of palace design from Minoan Crete.
However, the palace was also uniquely Ugaritic. The last incarnation of the palace was constructed from stone rather than the clay bricks that were common elsewhere in the Levant. The defensive walls, built in the 15th Century BC were constructed from a mound of earth from the previous occupation that was smoothed off at a 45 degree angle. The stone that covered them was seamless, leaving a smooth surface that would repel potential invaders. A sophisticated plumbing system was also in evidence with a network of pipes running throughout the palace, supplying the public and private areas with water collected in great cisterns and draining away sewage.
Layout of the Public Rooms
Entry today is through the west gateway in the defensive wall. Protected by a tower at the entrance, visitors would then pass through a narrow guarded portico into a courtyard specially designed to receive them. Covered in gypsum, the grooves that contained the great doors to the palace are still apparent in the stone today.
From this point, visitors would have entered the palace proper. The main bureaucratic areas of the palace are clearly defined. To the south was the throne room, through which officials and courtiers would have to pass to reach the palace archives and the main bureaucratic courtyard.
Larger than the throne room, the bureaucratic courtyard was an imposing area that was the centre of the palaces political life. It was here that much of Ugarit’s diplomatic correspondence and commercial and political documentation was produced. Close by was a room that acted as the palaces archive.
Tablets were baked in small ovens in situ in the courtyard. When the palace was excavated, fragments of the last correspondence to be produced in the palace were found in these ovens.
Royal Burial Chambers
As was traditional in Ugarit, the palace necropolis was found underneath the ground floor of the palace, with five large burial chambers being discovered in all.
Palace Garden
The one clear area on the ground floor that would have been in use for the royal family was the large interior palace garden. Constructed from a series of verandas, it would have been a shady private zone for relaxation and the ivory garden furniture in evidence demonstrates the wealth of the city. It is possible that this furniture was produced in the palace. A small room leading off from the garden contained a variety of these pieces, suggesting it was possibly a workshop for repairs if not their production.
Sources
Ugarit: History and Archaeology by Jamal Hassan Haydar
Monuments of Syria: A Historical Guide by Ross Burns. I. B Tauris Publishers. London: New York.1999.
