(modern TELLMARDIKH)
City in the Orontes valley in Syria, a land well known for the fertility of its fields and rich pasture. The history and economy of Ebla are unusually well known, due to the voluminous archives discovered by Italian archaeologists in 1974. The texts were written in a Semitic language, now simply called Eblaite.
Ebla had been first inhabited during the Chalcolithic period (Mardikh I, 3500–3000). This is followed by Level II, subdivided into phases A, B1, and B2.
The most illustrious period was II B1, when the Royal Palace (with the archives) was built. The palace was the main institution of the Old Ebla kingdom; it employed some 4,700 people and entailed numerous workshops, such as forges and textile manufactories. The city was destroyed in c. 2250, probably by an Akkadian ruler. Ebla revived after an interval (Mardikh III Aand B) in the Old Babylonian period and was finally destroyed in c. 1600. Sources for this period are far fewer.
Historical Dictionary of Mesopotamia. EdwART. 2012.