Ugarit was a small kingdom around 1450 BC, a satellite of the Mitanni in northern Syria. The Egyptian influence became paramount with the advent of the Eighteenth Dynasty, as manifested by a cartouche of an Egyptian ruler on these vase fragments. The city remained under Egyptian hegemony until about 1350 BC, when the Hittites imposed their suzerainty on the tiny kingdom. In general, the Egyptians were content to simply visit the port cities along the Phoenician coast to attend to their commercial interests.





