Cyprus and Ugarit: Connecting Material and Mercantile Worlds

This study considers the detailed archaeological and documentary records of Cyprus and Ugarit (Syria) to gain new insights into the long-term relations between two of the best known, well-connected polities in the Late Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean. I engage with concepts such as maritime space and spheres of interaction, merchants and mercantilism, actors and agents. Some background on both Ugarit and Cyprus is presented, followed by examination of the common material features of both (e.g., ashlar masonry, urban mortuary practices, composite anchors, the Cypro-Minoan script). The study then zeroes in more specifically to present the Cypriot material uncovered in Ugarit (especially seals, metals and pottery), followed by some of the Levantine materials found on Cyprus. All known documentary evidence related to these two polities is presented and discussed with respect to three factors: people, politics and professions. The discussion section that follows takes a broader look at material and mercantile connectivity in the Late Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean, considering in turn the merchants of Ugarit and Cyprus, maritime spheres of interaction, and the actors and agents involved in these mercantile worlds. Although Ugarit and Cyprus were two very different kinds of society, they shared a vital, commercial link, one that — over time — had a transformative impact on Cyprus.

About the Author :
Prof. A. Bernard Knapp is Emeritus Professor of Mediterranean Archaeology in the division of Archaeology, Department of Humanities, University of Glasgow, and Honorary Research Fellow at the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institute, Nicosia. He co-edits the Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology with John F. Cherry and Peter van Dommelen and is the general editor of the series Monographs in Mediterranean Archaeology (both published by Equinox Press, Sheffield, UK). He is the author and editor of several books including, most recently, The Archaeology of Cyprus: From Earliest Prehistory through the Bronze Age (Cambridge University Press, 2013), The Cambridge Prehistory of the Bronze-Iron Age Mediterranean (Cambridge University Press, 2014), co-edited with Peter van Dommelen, and Mediterranean Connections: Maritime Transport Containers and Seaborne Trade in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean (London: Routledge, 2017), co-authored with Stella Demesticha.