Ebla

54 Km away from Aleppo, lies the excavation site that used to be the capital of an ancient kingdom. Ebla the ancient city found at Tell Mardikh is one of the most important archaeological discoveries in Syria.

In 1964 an Italian excavation team began to dig here and discovered this bronze age city. Ebla has been mentioned as one of the cities conquered in 2250 BC by the Akkadians from Mesopotamia under Naram Sin. It has been proved that Ebla was an important powerful kingdom, in the third and second millennia BC. Ebla has been considered something resembling a missing link, which now provides information on a kingdom that had important trading contacts with the Akkadians and Sumerians in Iraq, and north into Anatolia. 

Not much is known about the people of this kingdom, although it is thought that the founders are of Amorite descent. Their language is known as Eblaic, and it was recorded on clay tablets in the Akkadian cuneiform. Ebla flourished greatly between 2400 and 2250 BC, as a trading city with a sophisticated economic and social system. It was destroyed by the Akkadians under Naram Sin in 2250 BC, and in 2000 BC was annexed into the Aleppo kingdom of Yamkhad. In 1600 BC it was conquered and heavily damaged by the Hittites. In 1450 BC it is recorded at Karnak by the Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III as a city that the Egyptians went through on their way to the Euphrates. 

An Aramean fortress dating back to the 9th and 8th centuries BC, and other remains from the Persian and Byzantine show that it was still used, although it had lost its fame and was for the most part an abandoned city. 

The city was circular and surrounded by a 20 to 30 meter thick wall and had a citadel or acropolis in the center of it. At four points round the city, the wall was perforated by gateways guarded by bastions with towers. One of these gateways is still evident on the southwest side of the city walls. The citadel at the center includes to palaces, the main one is the royal palace on the west side that consists of the royal quarters and an administrative area. There are also three caves below this where some of the royals were buried. The palace archives were found in the southern part of this palace. North of the tell are the remains of an Amorite fortress, which was found under a villa dating back to the Persian and Hellenistic periods.Most of the artifacts and archives can be found at the Idlib museum.