Paolo Matthiae Livres

Excavations at Ebla started in 1964. In 2014, fifty years later, an international congress was organized to try and highlight the contribution of this excavation to the knowledge of the history, philology and art history of the Ancient Near East. This book collects the papers from this international congress. Bringing together established and junior scholars from various areas, Ebla and Beyond aims at fostering the dialogue between experts in different fields of the history and archaeology of Syria in the Bronze and Iron Ages and between experienced foreign scholars and the latest generation of scholars of the School of Oriental Archaeology of Rome. The contributions in the book on the one hand show how much the discoveries at Ebla during forty-seven years of fieldwork have changed the way of understanding the developmental trajectory of Syria from the third through the first millennium BC. On the other hand, the work of the scholars from Rome and elsewhere proves how, even in difficult times for field archaeology, it is possible to exploit the results of a long-standing enterprise of this kind in a fruitful and sometimes revolutionary way.

In Ebla, Paolo Matthiae presents the results of 47 years of excavations at this fascinating site, providing a detailed account of Ebla's history and archaeology. číst celé

The archaeological exploration of Tell Mardikh began in 1964, quickly gaining recognition from leading archaeologists as one of the most promising sites in the Levant. A significant breakthrough occurred in 1968 with the discovery of a basalt bust inscribed with the name of Ibbit-Lim, king of Ebla, suggesting that the site was indeed ancient Ebla, traditionally thought to be located north of Aleppo. The 1975 discovery of the Royal Archives dating back to 2350–2300 BC marked a revolutionary moment, prompting systematic exploration of the Lower Town. This led to the uncovering of grand residential palaces, temples, fortified structures, private housing quarters, and city gates of the ancient town. The subsequent publication of the Archives and archaeological findings prompted Ignace J. Gelb to assert that the Italians had unveiled “a new history, a new language, a new culture.” Paolo Matthiae, the expedition's director, has published numerous studies on various aspects of Ebla's material culture, artistic outputs, architecture, and historical context. These contributions, appearing in both Italian and international scientific journals, have been somewhat scattered and difficult to access. Now, forty-two significant English-language contributions from 1980 to 2010 are compiled in a volume edited by Francis Pinnock, providing valuable insights into the discoveries at Ebla.