"archival practices have not changed much in over 4,000 years"

August 20, 2021 1:47 PM

Ebla, the Official Site of the Italian Archaeological Mission in Syria gives details about the excavation of Ebla, the capital of a bronze age empire in what is now northern Syria which flourished in the third millennium BCE. Archaeologist Paolo Matthiae first explored the Tell Mardikh mound in 1963, but the site didn't receive global attention until 1975, when the discovery of Ebla's state archives was announced, an ancient library with over seventeen thousand clay tablets, casting light on life in Ebla. Outside the Ebla website, besides Wikipedia, there is historian Trevor Bryce's short overview of the history of Ebla, an interview with Matthiae from 1978 by Tor Eigeland, and archivist Greg Bradsher's essay about the Ebla archive and how it compares to modern archives.
posted by Kattullus (6 comments total)

Albe was I ere I saw Ebla.
posted by y2karl at 2:38 PM on August 20, 2021 [11 favorites]

(Darn, ninja'd)
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 2:39 PM on August 20, 2021 [3 favorites]

Interesting early organization, too, not a hereditary divine kingship:

the Eblaite empire was primarily an economic-cultural one, not a military one. It was a major export-import center, specializing in textiles and metals, with an economic zone of influence encompassing most of the Fertile Crescent. Many of the translated treaty tablets indicate that the Eblaites expended considerable energy to ensure, by peaceful means-such as dynastic marriages-the safety of their commercial routes. When peaceful means did not suffice, Ebla hired mercenary military forces to fight its battles, not having its own army. Ebla, unlike other Sumerian city-states, was essentially a secular society, and a sharp distinction was maintained between political and religious life.

The Eblaite empire was ruled by a king, who was elected for a seven-year term, and his royal family. Executive power resided in bodies of elders and ex-kings, as well as in the hands of fourteen regional governors[...]

Later the article on archiving remarks that they don't know if women ever trained as scribes, but they do know that other trained professions had women in them.
posted by clew at 3:29 PM on August 20, 2021 [5 favorites]

I clicked around a little in the Ebla Digital Archives but although each digital tablet has a "Translation" tab, I couldn't find any tablets that actually had translations. Does anybody know if there are translations (English or otherwise) of Eblaite legal texts?

Or of any good dictionaries or learning materials for Eblaite?
posted by Not A Thing at 4:06 PM on August 20, 2021

the Eblaite empire was primarily an economic-cultural one, not a military one. It was a major export-import center, specializing in textiles and metals

Just don't buy any copper from that Ea-nasir fucker.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:32 PM on August 20, 2021 [6 favorites]

"Papyrus, the faithful witness of all human actions, eloquent of the past, a sworn foe of oblivion."

Cassiodorus (ca. A.D. 487-580),

Does anybody know if there are translations (English or otherwise) of Eblaite legal texts?

Possibly these titles can prove useful. Good luck

Pettinato, G. The Archives of Ebla: An empire inscribed in clay. Doubleday, 1981

Archi, A. Ebla and its Archives: Texts, history, and society. De Gruyter, 2015.
posted by BWA at 4:55 AM on August 21, 2021 [2 favorites]