Ammurapi

Ammurapi
Ammurapi
King of Ugarit
Reign	1215-1180 BC
Predecessor	Niqmaddu III
Born	Ugarit

Ammurapi (Ugaritic: 𐎓𐎎𐎗𐎔𐎛, romanized: ʿAmmurāpʾi; Hittite: 𒄠𒈬𒊏𒁉, romanized: Ammurapi) was the last Bronze Age ruler and king (c. 1215 to 1180 BC) of the ancient Syrian city of Ugarit. Ammurapi was a contemporary of the Hittite King Suppiluliuma II.

Attestations

He wrote a preserved vivid letter RS 18.147 (Nougayrol et al. (1968 Ugaritica V): 87-9 no. 24)^{[clarification needed]} in response to a plea for assistance from the king of Alashiya.^[1]

Ammurapi wrote:

My father behold, the enemy's ships came (here); my cities(?) were burned, and they did evil things in my country. Does not my father know that all my troops and chariots(?) are in the Land of Hatti, and all my ships are in the Land of Lukka?...Thus, the country is abandoned to itself. May my father know it: the seven ships of the enemy that came here inflicted much damage upon us. ^[2]

This letter dramatically highlights the desperate situation facing Ugarit while it was also under attack by the invading Sea Peoples.

Divorce

Suppiluliuma II was responsible for the divorce settlement between Ammurapi and a Hittite woman,^[3]^[4] but it did not cause a problem between the Kingdom of Ugarit and the Hittite Empire;^[5] instead it demonstrated the relationship between both kingdoms.^[5]

Bronze Age Collapse

Ammurapi is the last known ruler of Ugarit. The city may have been destroyed around 1192-1190 BC.^[6] Ugarit would become one of the many states of the ancient Near East that were destroyed or abandoned during the Bronze Age collapse.

References

^ Bryce 1998, p. 367.
^ Nougayrol, Jean; Laroche, Emmanuel; Virolleaud, Charles (1968). Ugaritica. V: nouveaux textes accadiens, hourrites et ugaritiques des archives et bibliothèques privées d'Ugarit. Stony Brook University. pp. 87–90.
^ RS 17.226, 17.355 (PRU iv 208-210, Dossier VIII A.)
^ Astour, M. (1980). "The Netherworld and Its Denizens in Ugarit". In Alster, Bendt (ed.). Death in Mesopotamia. Copenhagen. pp. 227–238.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^ ^a ^b Bryce 1998, p. 363.
^ Kaniewski, David & Campo, Elise & Van Lerberghe, Karel & Boiy, Tom & Vansteenhuyse, Klaas & Jans, Greta & Nys, Karin & Weiss, Harvey & Otto, Thierry & Bretschneider, Joachim. (2011). The Sea Peoples, from Cuneiform Tablets to Carbon Dating. PloS one. 6. e20232. 10.1371/journal.pone.0020232.