Ebla

Ebla was one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria. Its remains form a tell about 55 km southwest of Aleppo, near the village of Mardikh, and the site is also called Tell Mardikh. Ebla was an important centre throughout the third millennium BC and the first half of the second millennium BC, growing from a small Early Bronze Age settlement around 3500 BC into a trading power that dominated much of northern and eastern Syria. It was destroyed in the 23rd century BC, rebuilt, destroyed again, and finally destroyed by the Hittite king Mursili I around 1600 BC. Excavated from 1964, it is famous for the Ebla tablets, an archive of about 20,000 cuneiform tablets dated to 2500 to 2350 BC, written in Sumerian and in the local Eblaite language. The site has been heavily damaged by military activity and looting in recent years.