Ebal (ancient state)
Ebal was an ancient oriental city-state in the 3rd millennium BC. The place is best known from cuneiform texts from Ebla , where an archive with around 20,000 texts was found. The city of Ebal was probably near Nablus , in what is now Israel .
Because of the similar names, ancient scribes seem to have confused Ebla and Ebal. The information on the city-state is very fragmentary, so it is not possible to get an approximate picture of the city. The name of King Atian is recorded in an undated text. However, a governor of Ebla is also known, which in turn suggests that Ebal was at least temporarily a vassal of Ebla. Other texts from Ebla tell of various wars. Accordingly, 3200 people from Badanu and Masanu who had fought for Ebal died. Further texts suggest that Ebal formed a coalition against Mari together with Ebla, Gakam and Manuwat .
Individual evidence
- ^ Giovanni Pettinato : Ebla, A New Look at History. Hopkins University Press, Baltimore / London 1991, ISBN 0-8018-4150-X , p. 131.
- ^ Pettinato: Ebla, A New Look at History , p. 142
- ^ Pettinato: Ebla, A New Look at History , p. 133