Ammurapi (
Hittite: ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ ''am-mu-ra-pรญ'') was the last
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
ruler and king (c. 1215 to 1180 BC) of the ancient
Syrian city of
Ugarit
)
, image =Ugarit Corbel.jpg
, image_size=300
, alt =
, caption = Entrance to the Royal Palace of Ugarit
, map_type = Near East#Syria
, map_alt =
, map_size = 300
, relief=yes
, location = Latakia Governorate, Syria
, region = ...
. Ammurapi was a contemporary of the
Hittite King
Suppiluliuma II. He wrote a preserved vivid letter RS 18.147 (Nougayrol ''et al.'' (1968 Ugaritica V): 87-9 no. 24) in response to a plea for assistance from the king of
Alashiya
Alashiya ( akk, ๐๐ท๐
๐
''Alaลกiya'' -la-ลกi-ia uga, ๐๐๐๐ ''แบขLแนฎY''; Linear B: ๐๐จ๐ฏ๐ ''Alasios'' -ra-si-jo, also spelled Alasiya, also known as the Kingdom of Alashiya, was a state which existed in the Middle ...
.
Ammurapi wrote:
This letter dramatically highlights the desperate situation facing Ugarit while it was also under attack by the invading
Sea People
The Sea Peoples are a hypothesized seafaring confederation that attacked ancient Egypt and other regions in the East Mediterranean prior to and during the Late Bronze Age collapse (1200–900 BCE).. Quote: "First coined in 1881 by the Fren ...
s.
Ugarit would become one of the many states of the
ancient Near East
The ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq, southeast Turkey, southwest Iran and northeastern Syria), ancient Egypt, ancient Iran ( Elam, ...
that were destroyed or abandoned during the
Bronze Age collapse
The Late Bronze Age collapse was a time of widespread societal collapse during the 12th century BC, between c. 1200 and 1150. The collapse affected a large area of the Eastern Mediterranean (North Africa and Southeast Europe) and the Near ...
.
Suppiluliuma II was responsible for the divorce settlement between Ammurapi and a Hittite woman,
but it did not cause a problem between the Kingdom of Ugarit and the Hittite Empire; instead it demonstrated the relationship between both kingdoms.
References
Bibliography
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Ugaritic kings
13th-century BC rulers
12th-century BC rulers
Late Bronze Age collapse
13th-century BC people
{{Phoenicia-stub