Pettinato has the erudition, industry, and detailed command of the sources to provide a reliable introduction to this rapidly growing branch of Near East studies."-- American Journal of Archaeology
For thousands of years the ruins lay buried beneath the sands in northern Syria. Capital of a once-flourishing empire whose very existence was unknown to the modern world, the city of Ebla was a thriving center of trade during the Bronze Age and a formidable political power from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates. Its exploration by a team of Italian archaeologists beginning in 1964 led to the sensational find of a royal archive that held more than 16,000 tablets inscribed with an unknown cuneiform language. Deciphered by team-member Giovanni Pettinato, these tablets tell a story that is obliging historians to rewrite the history of the ancient Near East.
Beginning with an account of the dig at Tell Mardikh, Pettinato describes the moment of discovery when a statue’s inscription revealed the “city without a name” to be the capital of an ancient Semitic empire. He tells how the royal archives were discovered and explains how an archaeologist goes about “breaking the code” of an unfamiliar language. In Part Two of the book, Pettinato offers a comprehensive survey of what the tablets reveal. Chapters treat such topics as Ebla’s architecture, sculpture, and art; its language, literature, and religion; and its administration, commerce, politics, and cultural heritage.
Pettinato also provides annotated transcriptions and translations from the tablets themselves. While scholars continue to debate the interpretation of these texts, there is no doubt that Ebla played a key role in the ancient world. Ebla: A New Loo/{ at History represents a lively and authoritative contribution to an ongoing discussion.