page_title: Ebla
section_title: City layout
hierarchical_section_title: Ebla / Site / City layout
caption_attribution_description: English: sites and buildings of Ebla.
context_page_description: Ebla was one of the earliest kingdoms in Syria. Its remains constitute a tell located about 55 km southwest of Aleppo near the village of Mardikh. Ebla was an important center throughout the 3rd millennium BC and in the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. Its discovery proved the Levant was a center of ancient, centralized civilization equal to Egypt and Mesopotamia and ruled out the view that the latter two were the only important centers in the Near East during the Early Bronze Age. The first Eblaite kingdom has been described as the first recorded world power.
  Starting as a small settlement in the Early Bronze Age, Ebla developed into a trading empire and later into an expansionist power that imposed its hegemony over much of northern and eastern Syria. Ebla was destroyed during the 23rd century BC; it was then rebuilt and was mentioned in the records of the Third Dynasty of Ur. The second Ebla was a continuation of the first, ruled by a new royal dynasty. It was destroyed at the end of the 3rd millennium BC, which paved the way for the Amorite tribes to settle in the city, forming the third Ebla.
context_section_description: Ebla consisted of a lower town and a raised acropolis in the center. During the first kingdom, the city had an area of 56 hectares and was protected by mud-brick fortifications. Ebla was divided into four districts—each with its own gate in the outer wall. The acropolis included the king's palace "G", and one of two temples in city dedicated to Kura (called the "Red Temple"). The lower city included the second temple of Kura in the southeast called "Temple of the Rock". During the second kingdom, a royal palace (Archaic Palace "P5") was built in the lower town northwest of the acropolis, in addition to temple "D" built over the destroyed "Red Temple".
  During the third kingdom, Ebla was a large city nearly 60 hectares in size, and was protected by a fortified rampart, with double chambered gates. The acropolis was fortified and separated from the lower town. New royal palace "E" was built on the acropolis (during Mardikh IIIB), and a temple of Ishtar was constructed over the former "Red" and "D" temples (in area "D"). The lower town was also divided into four districts; palace "P5" was used during Mardikh IIIA, and replaced during Mardikh IIIB by the "Intermediate Palace".
  Other third kingdom buildings included the vizier palace, the western palace (in area "Q"), the temple of Shamash (temple "N"), the temple of Rasap (temple "B1") and the northern palace (built over the "Intermediate Palace"). In the north of the lower town, a second temple for Ishtar was built, while the former "Temple of the Rock" was replaced by a temple of Hadad.
caption: Ebla's landmarks
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