Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 19:4 (Fall 1976)
Article: Further Information About Tell Mardikh
Author: William Sanford LaSor

JETS 19:4 (Fall 1976) p. 265

Further Information About Tell Mardikh

William Sanford Lasor*

Authoritative information about the startling discoveries at Tell Mardikh in Syria has been slow in reaching the United States.1 Since the preliminary reports are in Italian (and one in French), I have undertaken to summarize here the salient facts. For this report I am relying largely on the articles by the principal archaeologists, published in a recent issue of Orientalia2 (a publication of the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome). The excavations at Tell Mardikh have been carried out since 1964 by the Italian Archeological Mission in Syria of the University of Rome, with the cooperation of the Director General of Antiquities at Damascus. The chief archaeologist is Paolo Matthiae, and the chief epigrapher is Giovanni Pettinato.

Tell Mardikh is a large tell of 56 hectares (140 acres), located 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) south of Aleppo. The imposing mound is 1,100 meters (about 3,600 feet) in diameter and rises sharply from the surrounding area. It is one of the largest and most impressive mounds in northern Syria, and indeed in the Middle East. Unfortunately the tell is not noted in any atlas, geography, or travel guide that I have consulted.

Excavations between 1964 and 1973 uncovered the remains of a city from the period of the Amorite dynasty, Middle Bronze (MB) I and II, ca. 2000-1600 B.C. In 1968 the torso of a male figure was found. It was carved in basalt and had a 26-line inscription, of which lines 18–26 are incomplete. The text was in Akkadian, but the formulae were entirely new. The statue had been dedicated by Ibbiṭ-Lim son of Ikris̆-Ḫepa, king of Ebla. An unusual date-formula dated it in the eighth year of the goddess Ishtar, and it is assumed that the statue was dedicated to her. Only one city is mentioned—Ebla—and that is named twice. Tell Mardikh was thereupon identified as Ebla. Although the identification was challenged by M. C. Astour,3 later discoveries support it.

Ebla was known by name, since it occurs in Old Akkadian texts as one of the two or three main centers on the way from Marl to the Mediterranean. It had been conquered by Sargon and by Naram-Sin.

*William S. LaSor is professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California.

JETS 19:4 (Fall 1976) p. 266

Gudea of Lagash records that he imported wood from the mountain of Ebla. A governor had been appointed in Ebla during the Third Dynasty of Ur. Ebla is mentioned in Alalakh t...