An important Syrian city-state of the third millennium BC, lying S of Carchemish. It traded with Anatolia, Assyria, and Sumeria, and exacted tribute from such places as Mari.
Ebla (Arabic: عبيل، إيبلا) was an ancient city located in northern Syria, about 55 km southwest of Aleppo. It was an important city-state in two periods, first in the late third millennium BC, then again between 1800 and 1650 BC.
The site is known today as Tell Mardikh, and is famous mainly for archives with more than 20,000 cuneiform tablets, dated from around 2250 BC, in Sumerian and in Eblaite — a previously unknown Semitic language similar to Akkadian.
Discovery and excavation
In 1964, Italian archaeologists from the University of Rome La Sapienza directed by Paolo Matthiae began excavating at Tell Mardikh. In 1968 they recovered a statue dedicated to the goddess Ishtar bearing the name of Ibbit-Lim, a king of Ebla. The tablets are written in a Semitic dialect that is being called 'Eblaite', as well as in Sumerian, demonstrating Ebla's close links to southern Mesopotamia, where the script had developed.
It now appears that this was not the palace library, which may yet be uncovered, but an archive of provisions and tribute, law cases and diplomatic and trade contacts, and a scriptorium where apprentices copied texts.
Ebla in the third millennium BC
The name "Ebla" means "White Rock", and refers to the limestone outcrop on which the city was built. Ebla's first apogee was between 2400 and 2240 BC;
Most of the Ebla palace tablets, which date from that period, are about economic matters; The texts are accounts of the state revenues, but they also include royal letters, Sumerian-Eblaite dictionaries, school texts and diplomatic documents, like treaties between Ebla and other towns of the region.
Economy
At that time, Ebla was a major commercial center. Its major commercial rival was Mari, and Ebla is suspected in having a hand in Mari's first destruction. The artistic style at Ebla may have influenced the quality work of the following Akkadian empire (ca.
Government
The form of government is not well known, but the city appears to have been ruled by a merchant aristocracy who elected a king and entrusted the city's defense to paid soldiers.
Religion
Some well-known Semitic deities appear at Ebla (Dagan, Ishtar, Resheph, Kanish, Hadad), and some otherwise unknown ones (Kura, Nidakul), plus a few Sumerian gods (Enki and Ninki) and Hurrian gods (Ashtapi, Hapat, Ishara).
The destruction of Ebla
Sargon of Akkad and his grandson Naram-sin, the conquerors of much of Mesopotamia, each claim to have destroyed Ebla; During the next three centuries, Ebla reached again a relevant economic position, possibly with the nearby city of Urshu, as is documented by economic texts from Drehem (a suburb of Nippur), and from findings in Kultepe/Kanesh.
Ebla in the second millennium BC
Several centuries after its destruction by the Akkadians, Ebla managed to recover some of its importance, and had a second apogee lasting from about 1850 to 1600 BC.
Ebla is mentioned in texts from Alalakh around 1750 BC.
Ebla never recovered from its second destruction.
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