Books in Brief

Biblical Cities

Ugarit (Ras Shamra)

Adrian Curtis (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985) 125 pp., $8.95

Ugarit (Ras Shamra) is a welcome addition to the Cities of the Biblical World series (reviewed in Books in Brief, BAR 10:06). This series of short, illustrated paperback books opens up the world of Biblical archaeology—its methodology, major sites and major finds—for the student of Biblical studies. As the author states in the preface: “This book attempts to introduce the reader to Ugarit and its literature. It provides a brief description of the discovery of the site and the early stages of its excavation and the decipherment of the Ugaritic language.”

Ugarit contains six chapters in addition to the introduction, which gives a very good, brief overview of the discovery of the site, its place in history, the major finds, the decipherment of the Ugaritic writing system, and the importance of the site and its finds to Biblical studies. The following chapters expand in detail on the topics touched in the introduction. Chapter 1 is devoted to the early history of the city from its founding in the Neolithic period (c. 6500 B.C.) to the Late Bronze period (c. 1400 B.C.). Chapter 2 describes Ugarit’s golden age (c. 1400–1200 B.C.) and the historical context in which it occurred. A very fascinating chapter is the third, in which daily life in the Late Bronze city is described.