Side A: Slender, lightly crescentic hull rendered by two lines which do not join. Mast amidships with forestays and backstay. Five oars below.

Side B: Hull rendered using two parallel lines which do not join. Mast somewhat off center. Short line parallel to the hull midway up the mast. Almond-shaped element possibly representing a poorly rendered bunched-up sail. Five oars below. Ostensibly the same ship as side A but rendered rather unsuccessfully.

The house of Yabninu, also previously published as the so-called "South Palace" or "Small Palace" is a private house located near the southern part of the royal palace. It is a large single architectural unit at least one thousand square meters in size (not fully excavated) surrounded by public roads. The northern part of the residence (203, 204) has provided 67 written texts, including 60 in Akkadian, 2 in Ugaritic (including an abecedary), and 2 in Cypro-Minoan. These are primarily economic texts, such as maritime bills of lading, transactions of commodities and lists of foreigners residing in Ugarit. Together, the texts and artifacts indicate that Yabninu was in charge of maritime commercial activities linking Ugarit with Cyprus, the southern Levantine coast, Egypt, and the Aegean (Courtois 1990: 116–117, 127). These point to a close connection with the Levantine city states in particular, as many important ones are singled out by name (Arwad, Byblos, Tyre, Akko, Ashdod, Ashkelon). The scaraboid bearing the ship was found in sector 203 which is a large hall, near a statue base inscribed with Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Relevant tablets from Yabninu’s archives (loci 203 and 204) that relate to maritime matters include:

RS 19.028 mentions textiles intended for ships

RS 19.046 lists payments for ship crews

RS 19.090 lists cities and payments, with a ship mentioned

RS 19.107 provides a bill of landing and crews

RS 19.112 lists an inventory of a ship’s equipment

RS 19.126 is a list of captains or owners of br ships

Analysis of this important depiction from Ugarit used to rest entirely on a drawing by Schaeffer, without access to the original. Recent republication of the object showing the modern impressions of the lost object have revealed significant inaccuracies with these oft cited drawings (Matoïan 2021). Most notably, what used to be interpreted as a down-curving yard has been argued to simply be the border/frame around the edge of the seal (Ibid: 186).

While Matoïan argues that the depiction is too schematic to allow for a typological classification (Ibid: 192), the morphology in fact fits well with the br ship type of Levantine origin and finds a close parallel in particular with the ship graffito from the Uluburun shipwreck (L16). This is further supported by the textual attestation of br ships at Ugarit, most notably from the archive of Yabninu himself.

Basch, L. 1987. Le musée imaginaire de la marine antique. Athens: Institut Hellénique pour la preservation de la tradition nautique.

Courtois, J.-C. 1979. “Ras Shamra (Ugarit ou Ougarit). I. Archéologie du site,” In: Supplément au Dictionnaire de la Bible 52. Paris: Letouzey et Ané, col. 1124–1295.

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―――. 2022. "Un bateau en or dans la “maison du Grand-Prêtre” à Ugarit." Comptes-rendus des séances de l’Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, April-June 2022. Paris: Editions de l’académie 23, quai de conti, pp. 657-691.

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Schaeffer, C.F.A. 1957. "Résumé des résultats de la XIXe campagne de fouilles à Ras Shamra-Ugarit, 1955." Les Annales Archéologiques Syriennes 7: 35-66.

―――. 1962. Fouilles et découvertes des XVIIIe et XIXe campagnes, 1954-1955. Ugaritica 4. Paris: Imprimerie Générale, pp. 1-150.

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―――. 1998. Seagoing Ships & Seamanship in the Bronze Age Levant. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press.

Yon, M. and C. Sauvage. 2015. “La navigation en Méditerranée orientale à l'Âge du Bronze Récent,” in : B. Argémi and P. Tallet (eds.) NeHeT 3. Entre Nil et mers : La navigation en égypte ancienne. Actes des rencontres de Provence Égyptologie Musée Départemental Arles Antique le 12 avril 2014, pp. 73-103.