Ebla

Under excavation since 1964, Tell Mardikh (near Idlib, in Syria) was discontinuously inhabited from the middle of the 4th millennium to the second century BCE. Discovered by Paolo Matthiae, its ruins refer to the ancient Ebla, identified in 1968 thanks to the inscription carved on a statue mentioning the local king Yibbit-l?¯m. Ebla was destroyed three times, first around 2300, then around 2000, and finally around 1600, when the city walls defended a settlement of 56 hectars.