Ebla Palace

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The Palace of Ebla ( called Palace G to distinguish it from other buildings ) was a representative building in Ebla (Tell Mardikh), built around 2400 BC. And was destroyed about 100 years later when Ebla was conquered by Sargon of Akkad .

Building description

The building took up a considerable part of the acropolis of the Tell Mardikh site and possibly extended with its fortifications into the lower town. Due to its size, it is only partially known to this day. A clear functional separation of the individual building wings was found, of which in particular the administrative center, kitchens, stores and part of the living area were examined more closely.

As far as we know today, the palace had a total of three entrances. The ceremonial access via a monumental staircase with four ramps, with steps being decorated with mother-of-pearl inlays , was particularly splendid . The main entrance led through a monumental gate system. In the southern area there was another entrance to the administration wing, the entrance of which was equipped with basalt door sills and steps also decorated with mother-of-pearl inlays.

Only a few parts of the palace's decor have survived. According to these, the palace was clad with panels , some of which were covered with gold leaf and fitted with figural inlays made of various materials. Added to this are valuable items from long-distance trade, which were kept in the palace's magazines and which included 40 kg of lapis lazuli . The most important find from the temple, however, are around 17,000 clay tablets , which reconstruct the political, social and cultural history of Syria in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. Allow.

literature

  • Paolo Matthiae: The Archaic Palace at Ebla: A Royal Building between Early Bronze Age IVB and Middle Bronze Age I. In: Seymour Gitin, J. Edward Wright, JP Dessel: Confronting the past. Archaeological and historical essays on Ancient Israel in honor of William G. Dever. Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake IN 2006, ISBN 1-575-06117-1 , pp. 85-103.
  • Frank Rainer Scheck , Johannes Odenthal: Syria. High cultures between the Mediterranean and the Arabian desert. DuMont Reiseverlag, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-7701-3978-X , p. 207.