Syria in the ^3rd millennium BC from the Ebla archives

During this period, Syria was divided into kingdoms structured like that of Ebla, ruled by a king (known by the Sumerian title of "en"), assisted by a number of elders and Mashkim officials; the king of Ebla had at his service a variable number of "lords" (varying between fifteen and twenty-five), attested in the kingdom of Ebla alone, who appear to have been supervisors of the major productive sectors of the economy or tax collectors. It was they who brought large quantities of goods, especially silver and gold, to the palace.

The queen played an important role at court, as did, at one time, the queen-mother.

The history of the court of Ebla during the reign of the three kings who succeeded each other in the period documented in the archives, is now known in great detail.

While there are few texts concerning his predecessor, King Igrish-Kalab, during whose reign the first known international treaty between Ebla and Abarsal was drawn up, many more document the reign of the penultimate king, Irkab-damu. With him, Ebla intensified its political expansion, seeking to counter Mari's predominance.

Diplomatic relations, even matrimonial alliances with many of the rulers of the Syrian kingdoms, and gifts sent by the Eblaite king, all contributed to strengthening Ebla's commercial network. It's clear that Ebla not only transported its precious fabrics throughout much of the Near East, but was also a trading center for lapis lazuli and other goods, such as precious woods from the Mediterranean coast, receiving gold, silver and other goods in exchange, such as the horses needed for transport.

In the final years of Irkab-damu's reign, a woman called Dusigu took first place at court among the harem's wives; she surely became the king's last wife.

Probably with the help of a family member, Ibrium, who became vizier, she succeeded, on the death of the sovereign, in putting on the throne her son, Ishar-damu, the king's last born, still a child.

Dusigu then became the queen mother, and Ibrium the vizier who, with her, was to hold the reins of power for many years to come.

Ibrium began a series of wars to punish rebellious allies, both to strengthen the trade network and to expand it, guiding Eblaite armies in annual military campaigns.

Under the long reign of its last king, Ishar-Damu, thanks to the victories of first Ibrium, then his son Ibbi-zikir, reinforced by a policy of alliances, interdynastic marriages and sworn pacts, Ebla became a considerable regional power, Ebla became a considerable regional power, with borders stretching as far north-east as Karkemish on the Euphrates, south to Hama, east to Emar on the Euphrates, and even as far as Alalakh and the Mediterranean Sea.

Important kingdoms such as Harran in present-day Turkey were linked to Ebla by kinship, and at the end of Ebla's existence, the powerful kingdom of Nagar in Upper Mesopotamia was also linked to Ebla by a matrimonial bond between the daughter of the king of Ebla, Tagrish-Damu, and the son of the king of Nagar. In the Mesopotamian kingdom of Kish, too, the princess Keshdut, daughter of the royal couple, was to be sent as wife.

Despite links with the most powerful kingdoms of the time, and a great victory in open country, Ebla was destroyed after a few years by an enemy who, according to some, may have come from Mesopotamia and been King Sargon of Akkad, and according to others, may have been a Syrian enemy, like Mari or Armi, a state with which relations have always been difficult or fluctuating.

Thanks to the archives, we also have knowledge of the oldest Syrian religion, with a pantheon of divinities that were to be well documented in Syria in the second millennium, such as Dagan and Hadad, Rasap, Ishkhara and Ishtar, as well as other divinities such as the Sun god and Enki, already known in the Sumerian world; but deities such as the dynastic god Kura, his consort Barama and the god Adabal seem to have subsequently disappeared from the West Semitic pantheon.

Some important rituals have also been found at Ebla, including the great ritual of royal renewal, which may have been known even in Egypt, where the Sed festival also represented a ritual of royal renewal.