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Third Millennium Contacts: Observations on the Relationships between Mari and Ebla

1985; American Oriental Society; Volume: 105; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/601708

2169-2289

Piotr Michałowski,

Archaeology and Historical Studies

The discovery of large numbers of cuneiform texts at the Syrian site of Tell Mardikh, which turned out to be the ancient city of Ebla, created a sensation in scholarly circles as well as among the public at large. Soon after the discovery synthetic accounts of the culture of ancient Ebla, as well as scholarly publications of the tablets uncovered in that city, began to appear. Although some time has passed since the initial opinions on the social and political organization of Ebla were expressed, many of the first impressions of scholars working on these materials have not been supported by the evidence which has been available. In this study I reexamine some of these assumptions in light of the published documentation, concentrating on the chronology of the archives and on the relationships with the city-state of Mari.