Ras al-Bassit

Ras al-Bassit (رأس البسيط), the classical Posidium or Posideium (Ποσιδήιον and Ποσείδιον, Posidḗion), is a small town in Syria named for a nearby cape. It has been occupied since at least the late Bronze Age and was a fortified port under Greek and Roman rule. Herodotus—although not later classical geographers—made it the northwestern point of Syria. Its beaches have a distinctive black sand and are a popular resort destination within Syria. "Raʾs" () is the Arabic word for "head", used for headlands and capes. "Bassit" is a transcription of its former name Posidium, as standard Arabic is only able to voice bilabial stops. The Roman name Posidium or Posideium was a latinization of the Greek name Posideion, meaning "[place] of Poseidon", the Greek seagod. It was known as "Bosyt" under Ottoman rule. The Syrian municipality is also known as simply Al-Bassit. Ras al-Bassit is a small cape on the Syrian coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It is located about south of Mount Aqra, the highest mountain on the Mediterranean's eastern coast, and about north of Latakia, modern Syria's principal port. As Mount Aqra—the Phoenician Sapan, Biblical Zaphon, and classical Casius—marked the coastal border between the regions of Cilicia and Syria under the Persians, Ras al-Bassit functioned as a kind of border town at times. Ras al-Bassit is located, however, about south of the later Syrio-Cilician border at the line between the Syrian Gates in the Nur Mountains and Myriandrus on the coast. Local sealife include crustaceans, molluscs, sea turtles, and dolphins. The oldest known settlement at Ras al-Bassit was a Bronze-Age outpost with a fortified citadel established by Ugarit between 1550 and 1200 BC. It traded extensively with Cyprus and Phoenicia and survived Ugarit's destruction by the Sea Peoples. It was eventually abandoned or destroyed in the early Iron Age. Greek legends credited the establishment of Posideion to the wandering Argive king and seer Amphilochus or his identically-named nephew.