Ras al-Bassit

Ras al-Bassit

رأس البسيط
Shown within Syria
Location	53 km north of Latakia, Syria
Coordinates	35°50′46″N 35°50′17″E / 35.846°N 35.838°E / 35.846; 35.838
Type	settlement
History
Periods	Late Bronze Age, Iron Age, Hellenistic period, Roman period, Late antiquity, Crusader period
Cultures	Canaanite, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Crusader
Site notes
Excavation dates	1971–1984, 2000
Archaeologists	Paul Courbin, Jacques Y. Perreault, Nicolas Beaudry
Ownership	Mixed public and private
Public access	Partial

Ras al-Bassit (Arabic: رأس البسيط), the classical Posidium or Posideium (Greek: Ποσιδήιον and Ποσείδιον^[1], 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.^[2]