Ebla Tablets

Ebla Tablets is the name used for sun-baked mud tablets found at the ancient kingdom of Ebla. An estimated 16,000 to 20,000 tablets and fragments have been discovered.

Discovery of Ebla[edit]

A very large tell known as Tell Mardikh in Syria was excavated, starting in 1964, by a team of Italian archaeologists from the University of Rome La Sapienza. Paolo Matthiae was the chief excavator. Test excavations on several locations confirmed that there was indeed an ancient town buried under this tell.

The first breakthrough about the identity of the town came when in 1968 they discovered a statue dedicated to the goddess Ishtar. The inscription mentioned the name of Ibbit-Lim as the king of Ebla. This inscription identified this town as ancient Ebla which was so far known only from from Egyptian and Akkadian inscriptions. Eventually they discovered 1800 complete clay tablets, 4700 fragments and several thousand pieces—approximately 16,000 pieces in all. The largest tablet was almost 12 inches square. They were all written 2500 BC and a destruction of the city ca. 2250 BC though the actual history of the ciy spans many more centuries.