The idea of asylum is a phenomenon of all times. The Hebrew Bible tells the stories of people temporarily moving elsewhere to sojourn there as foreigners due to famine or other threats. In this paper the focus will be on the Canaanite background of the institution now called asylum. Kings in the ancient Near East were supposed to take care of the needy, including the foreigner. In certain cities in Canaan, people could find protection, either in the temple or within the walls of the city, just as in Israel. The Ugaritic text KTU 1.19:iii.45–iv.9 describes how a murderer could find refuge in a certain city. He becomes a foreigner and a perpetual fugitive in the house of Ilu. This evokes the idea of the sanctuary as a place of refuge (asylum). Since the concept of asylum in this text concerns entire cities, the text may provide evidence for the existence of asylum cities in ancient Canaan. Some other texts found at Ugarit may confirm this idea.