The first Kingdom of Ebla (now Tell Mardikh in Syria) is considered one of the earliest empires, and the first recorded world power. The influence of this cosmopolitan city state lasts for hundreds of years.
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Ebla means 'white rock', referring to the limestone outcropping where the city is built. Composed of early Syrian centralized states ruled by a King, Ebla evolves from a small Bronze Age trading settlement to a prosperous kingdom c. 3500 BCE.
Destroyed in the 23rd century BCE, Ebla is rebuilt as the Second Kingdom by a new ruling dynasty. Again it's destroyed. This time the Amorites, another Levant people, move in. They raise the city to a crowning jewel of civilization, the Third Kingdom of Ebla.
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Trade goods from Sumer, Cyprus, Egypt and Afghanistan attest to the wide-reaching exchange networks and the importance of Ebla as a trade and commerce center in the ancient world.
The Kingdom has its own official language, Eblaite, and Ebla is a vital center of administration. Regions have their own governors. A legal system develops.
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The city becomes an ally and subject of Aleppo, another great trading center. Some scholars consider Ebla part of the Kish civilization. The majority of inhabitants are Canaanite.
First Kingdom (c. 3000 - 2300 BCE)
Ebla grows to become the most significant kingdom in the Syrian lands. At the height of the First Kingdom, Elba has more than sixty vassal kingdoms and city states.
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Between c. 2400 - 2300 BCE the population of the city of Ebla is 40,000. The Kingdom's population is about 200,000. At least three temples to the god Kura exist, two near the royal palaces. Kura is the tutelary deity of Ebla and local King of the Gods.
During the First Kingdom Eblaites revere the dead kings. Deities are often worshipped in pairs, dyads or divine duos. Gods and goddesses given homage include Ishara, Ishtar, Haddad and Hepat (Hebat).
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Over thirty deities comprise the local god / offering lists Through all three periods people also keep figures or symbols of Gods, Goddesses or even demons in the home to guard the household.
In the 3rd millennium BCE the development of the Ebla tablets inspires the cross-cultural "Age of Archives". Over 20,000 clay tablets have been found. The reason for Ebla's fall in 2300 isn't known, but the fires of destruction have a positive side.
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Fire bakes the clay tablets upon which records and accounts were written. High heat hardens them into long-lasting slabs of pottery.
This changes the way archives are preserved. The tablets are full of insights to political affilications, trade records, housing, law, economic and administrative information.
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Second Kingdom (c. 2300 - 2000 BCE)
Rebuilt under a different dynasy, Ebla becomes a vassal of the city-state Ur, perhaps for political or trade reasons. Not much is known about the Second Kingdom. After three hundred years of crumbling it fell, an event again marked by burning.
According to a written epic, an Eblaite assembly led by a man named Zazalla prevents King Meki from showing mercy to prisoners from Ebla's former vassal Ikinkalis. This provokes the wrath of powerful Hurrian Storm God Teshub, who destroys the city.
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Third Kingdom (c. 2000 - 1600 BCE)
The inhabitants are Amorite, part of an empire of rapid expansion, trade and business success. They already live in much of the Levant, having spread throughout the lands in the 3rd millennium BCE.
By c. 1700 BCE, Ebla becomes a vassal of the Amorite kingdom Yamhad. Its center is Aleppo, 33 miles (53 km) northeast of Ebla.
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Worship includes the God Haddad and the Goddess Queen of Heaven, Ishtar as the two most important deities in Ebla. Some minor or previously major god/desses, such as Ishara, have fallen by the wayside.
Among the rulers of Ebla during the Third Kingdom is King Immeya, who receives gifts from the Egyptian Pharaoh Hotepibre, exemplifying the important connections and significant influence of Ebla.
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Marriage alliances include an Eblaite princess who marries a son of King Ammitaqum of Alalakh. The King belongs to a branch of the royal Yamhadite dynasty.
Despite efforts to rekindle the fading flames of glory, Ebla falls to attacks by the Hittites in c. 1600 BCE. At this time the Hittites are rising to their greatest power. Led by King Mursili I, they reduce Ebla to rubble.
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Later rebuilding attempts are ineffectual but the city stumbles along. By c. 1200 BCE it's been reduced to a small town. Early Iron Age settlers bring life back into Elba and the city continues for a few hundred years, but never reclaims its former might.
After the Bronze Age collapse, the Hittites perish (c. 1180 BCE) but the city of Ebla survives. It goes through stages of evolution until about the 7th century CE, when it's abandoned.
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Role of Women
Men and women share equal hierarchal roles. Women receive the same wage as men for the same work. They assume important positions and take part in affairs of state. Queens rule beside Kings in their own right, and have influence in affairs of state.
The Kunga
A hybrid type of horse, the Kunga is a valued draught animal and used by the elite to draw carriages. The use of Kungas grows in importance throughout the empire.
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Records of Kunga date from c. 2600 - c. 2000. Modern investigation reveals the equine animal was offspring of a female domesticated donkey and a male Syrian wild ass.
Arts & Architecture
Music, acrobatics and other arts have a strong presence among the Elbaites. Festivals and festivities abound. A training school for acrobats is found by later archaeologists.
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The King lives in a grand palace as does the royal vizier or adviser. Building materials include stone and red mud clay brick. Corbel vaults are used in tombs and other architecture.
Tombs
Royal tombs are built upon natural caves, at first outside the city then inside, in a type of necropolis. Known tombs include the tomb of the Princess (c. 1800 BCD); tomb of the cisterns, a double burial chamber (end of 17th century BCE); and the tomb of the Lord of the Goats.
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The Tomb of the Lord of the Goats is the largest tomb yet found in Ebla. It features a bronze throne with two goat heads, for which it's named by archaeologists. A silver cup identifies the burial site as belonging to King Immeya.
Administration
The government of the First Kingdom centers on a king, the grand vizier, council of elders (Abbu) and Kingdom-wide administration. The second kingdom is also a monarchy but due to lack of written records, not much is known about this period.
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The third kingdom is a city-state monarchy under the authority of Yamhad, or Aleppo. For centuries thereafter, Aleppo is the largest city in Syria.
It's one of the oldest inhabited sites. Aleppo is the westernmost stop of the Silk Road when that route comes into popular use in the 2nd century BCE.
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