Ebla - Tell Mardikh

Ancient Ebla is located to the south of the Village of. Mardikh.The discovering in 1968, of Ibbit-Lim’s torso, allowed for the first time the identification of Tell Mardikh with ancient Ebla. ¹. 

The site of the limestone outcrop was first settled in the mid fourth-millenium. Ebla flourished, between 2400 and 2300 BC as a prosperous trade and political centre. This period called Early Syrian period -Archive period.  has ended around 2300 BC with destruction by Akkadian army under the command of Sargon the first ruler of the Akkadian Empire.  It was a few years after the campaign against Mari Kingdom, probably following Isar-Damu's death. Ebla recovered , and the second kingdom lasted until Ebla's second destruction, which occured around 2000 BC (a mere formal date). Twice rebuilt Ebla never recovered from its third destruction and became a rural settlement. In the Late Roman and Byzantine periods the site, was the seat of a small monastic settlement, During the seventh century AD the site of ancient Ebla was deserted.

See:

1. Paolo Matthiae, Ebla and the early urbanization of Syria in: Joan Aruz, Ronald Wallenfels eds., Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus, New Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2003, p. 165 - 178.
2. idem: Ebla: An Empire Rediscovered, 1977
3. http://www.ebla.it/eindex.html
4. Paolo Matthiae, Nicoló Marchetti eds., Ebla and Its Landscape: Early State Formation in the Ancient Near East, London New York, Routledge 2016
5. Paolo Matthie, "The Royal Palace. Functions of the Quarters and the Government of the Chora". In Matthiae, Paolo; Marchetti, Nicolò. Ebla and its Landscape: Early State Formation in the Ancient Near East. Left Coast Press 2013
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebla
7. http://www.asor-syrianheritage.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Ebla-Bibliography.pdf

References

1. ↑Ibbit-Lim reign around 1950 BC.